Does this look like a good recipe to you guys?

[Greekdude]

I’m new to everything. I went and found a strawberry wine recipe and I wanted to get your opinions on what you think of it...ingredient proportion-wise.

If I wanted to up the amount of strawberries to get a more strawberry flavor would that be ok? How much more strawberries could I add without knocking anything out of whack?

Also, if it comes out to dry, I can back sweeten, right? I mean I have no idea when or how to do that so if someone can give me pointers or point me in the right direction, I’d be very grateful.

 

[day_trippr]

Might want to ask a moderator to move this to the Wine Making forum https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/forums/winemaking-forum.25/

Cheers!

 

[IslandLizard]

Might want to ask a moderator to move this to the Wine Making forum https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/forums/winemaking-forum.25/

Cheers!

Just saw this. Done!

 

[Seamonkey84]

With strawberry, I’ve made it with almost all strawberries with barely any water added.

 

[Blacksmith1]

Also switch you sodium bisulfite for potassium metabisulfite. Sodium will leave a flavor you wont want compared to potassium.
Backsweeten after you stabilze (finish fermenting, add potassium sorbate and potassium metabisufite) the wine, just before you bottle.

 

[Greekdude]

So I used that recipe. It instructs to squash the berries, empty into fermentation vessel, add sulfate, tannin, pectilase, and acid blend then leave it for 24 hours before adding yeast and fermenting. This is what it looks like. It’s a bit pale and I’m wondering if it will pick up that beautiful pink color.

 

[Greekdude]

Also switch you sodium bisulfite for potassium metabisulfite. Sodium will leave a flavor you wont want compared to potassium.
Backsweeten after you stabilze (finish fermenting, add potassium sorbate and potassium metabisufite) the wine, just before you bottle.

forgive for asking a dumb question, but what is the potassium sorbate for? I don’t have any. Can it wait a day or two till it gets sent from amazon? Also, how much potassium sorbate?

 

[Blacksmith1]

It may come out with a pale yellow-pink. Hopefully it will be a bright pink.

 

[Seamonkey84]

The Sorbate is for when it’s finished. It prevents the yeast from restarting fermentation if you add sugars to sweeten your wine.
The sulfites will make change it’s color, but it’ll come back as it gases out.

 

[Blacksmith1]

Potassium sorbate is a preservative that, along with the K-meta, keeps yeast from breeding so they cant restart fermentation
The package will have the dosage.

 

[Greekdude]

Potassium sorbate is a preservative that, along with the K-meta, keeps yeast from breeding so they cant restart fermentation
The package will have the dosage.

and the sorbate I put it after I feel that it has stopped fermenting, reracked, and backsweetened to a specific gravity of something, no?

 

[Greekdude]

So I just strained it, added water, yeast, and yeast nutrient. I also took a SG reading and it was 1.062.

With strawberry, I’ve made it with almost all strawberries with barely any water added.

Now I feel like I didn't make it right. When I strained it I got about a gallon or so of strawberry juice and I added about 4 gallons of water to make it 5 gallons.

I really hope it turns out great. Recipe says to rack after about a week, as that's how long it should take for primary fermentation to be completed. Rack it for 4-6 weeks and backsweeten if I want.

In your experience, how much sugar should I add to backsweeten it? Also, if I do backsweeten and I do not use campden tablets, will it carbonate?

 

[Seamonkey84]

if you want to sweeten it, you’ll need both Sorbate and sulfites to prevent it from restarting fermentation. But if you want to bottle carbonate it, you won’t be able to have a sweetened product. it’ll continue fermenting and make bottle bombs unless you pasteurize it.

 

[Greekdude]

if you want to sweeten it, you’ll need both Sorbate and sulfites to prevent it from restarting fermentation. But if you want to bottle carbonate it, you won’t be able to have a sweetened product. it’ll continue fermenting and make bottle bombs unless you pasteurize it.

I added the campden tablets which are K-meta in the very beginning because that’s what the recipe said. To kill off any bacteria already in there. Was that wrong of me to do? Then I waited a day and added the yeast and sugar after I strained it. Do the campden tabs stay in the liquid or do they stop working after a while so the yeast doesn’t die?

 

[Greekdude]

So I just woke up to go to work. Went to check on it. I left cheesecloth on top of the open mouth of the carboy so it doesn’t explode just in case. It’s not going nuts fermenting like I thought it would be. I just added the lid with the airlock. Right now, it pushes a bubble out every 40 seconds or so. Grrrr

 

[Seamonkey84]

the campden tablets in the beginning is correct. It goes away in the day or so you let it breath.
It takes time for the yeast to grow, by the end of the day it should be going aggressively.

 

[Blacksmith1]

Take the lid off. Put a towel over it so the yeast can get some O2. This will help the colony grow faster. Stir once or twice a day for at least 2-3 days. Do not count on bubbles in the airlock. Even a little pressure leak can make it not bubble or do so slowly.

 

[Greekdude]

Take the lid off. Put a towel over it so the yeast can get some O2. This will help the colony grow faster. Stir once or twice a day for at least 2-3 days. Do not count on bubbles in the airlock. Even a little pressure leak can make it not bubble or do so slowly.

When I woke up this morning it was bubbling away in airlock so I'm happy as can be. It's still going strong and I see stuff churning in the liquid. It's all good....I hope.

 

[Greekdude]

So it's 4-5 days after fermentation started to go crazy. It has now gone to one bubble every 45 seconds in the airlock. The directions say to rack into another carboy and leave it for a month or so till it has stopped completely and THEN rerack again until it completely clear. Do I really have to rack right now or can I just leave it to stop fermenting and clear up and then rack after that?

 

[Seamonkey84]

You need to rack it into a smaller vessel to reduce the headspace. Once primary is done, the less surface area exposed to “air” the better.

 

[Greekdude]

This is how much airspace is in there now:

should rack it now and rack it again when it clears?

 

[Seamonkey84]

Yes and yes.

 

[Greekdude]

So I have this carboy to transfer it into. It’s 5 gallons, whereas the one it’s in now is 6.5. Should be snugger. Problem is I don’t have an airlock big enough for that opening. Since it’s done fermenting, can I just top it off or put a towel or something over it?

 

[Blacksmith1]

Airlock a a buck or two, bungs about a dollar. Make the investment.
I have various sizes now to fit a variety of bottles so I can keep the extras at racking to top up later rackings.

 

[Greekdude]

Damn. The plastic carboy has head space also. Don’t know what to do

 

[Greekdude]

 

[Greekdude]

The SG was 0.988 just now also. Jesus it’s gonna be dry as heck

 

[Blacksmith1]

That looks like a 6 gallon carboy. Your options are
Add water. (Might cause minor referment)
Add juice (will cause minor referment)
Or add marbles, shot glasses or some other clean sterile glass that you can get out when finished
To get the level of the liquid closer to the top.

 

[Greekdude]

I put it back in the carboy it was in because the top is wider and I could fit glasses and stuff in it. When I get home from work I will put in some heavy stuff. Thanks!!!! Happy turkey day!

 

[Greekdude]

Maybe I’ll buy some of that Goya strawberry juice and throw that in there it’ll sweeten it up too

 

[Blacksmith1]

The extra sugar will ferment back to dry unless you stabilize the wine.

 

[Greekdude]

And that’s the last step, right. Not yet time for that.

 

[Seamonkey84]

if you want to use juice to sweeten, then you’ll have to stabilize. If you restart the ferment, it’ll protect against that head space either way.
Since it’s now back in a wide mouth fermenter, I’d personally get a few bags of frozen strawberries and put them in a brew bag. use that to restart ferment and fill up some of that head space. When you pull the fruit in a week or so, you’ll have more fluid to fill up that 5gal all the way.

 

[Greekdude]

So I went and got a bunch of those Goya strawberry juice cans and filled it so there’s an inch of headspace only. I did that yesterday. There’s no action from the yeast yet. Not a single bubble. But, there is a layer of stuff on the bottom...and this after I racked and got rid of it supposedly.

Also, the SG is 0.989

 

[Blacksmith1]

That could be solids from the goya. The use real fruit pulp and puree which is why their stuff is so tasty. It can take a few days for the restart to get up and running. You did remove most of the yeast when you racked.

 

[Greekdude]

Should I add another half packet of yeast or something?

 

[Greekdude]

I also have a gallon of blackberry wine that was in a tub that I’d forgotten for a month of so. I strained and racked it. The SG is 0.989. It’s not bubbling at all. Shall I let it sit before I bottle it?

 

[Seamonkey84]

If it’s completely clear, then it’s up to you. Often one this young will still be a bit fizzy/petillant, you can degas it all the way then bottle, or let it sit for a while longer and degas over time.

 

[Greekdude]

Should blackberry wine become completely clear? It smells crazy alcholy so I’ll leave it and forget a while.

 

[Blacksmith1]

Was it made from fruit or juice? Tho' both should become clear given enough time. My banana has gotten very clear my watermelon is still kinda cloudy.