modified Keller's strawberry...

[T_Baggins]

I'm about to use a slightly modified Jack Keller's recipe for a simple strawberry...

3 lbs. fresh strawberries
2 lbs. granulated sugar
2 tsp. citric acid
water to make 1 gallon
wine yeast & nutrient...

The only thing is I don't have straight citric acid, so will replacing it with acid blend (which contains citric/tartaric/malic acids) be ok?

 

[T_Baggins]

ok, so it has been modified a little more than originally stated...

First off I upscaled to two gallons, and when I say two gallons I don't mean water to two gallons, I mean two gallons of water PLUS the rest of the ingredients.

2 gals water
2 cambden tabs
8lbs frozen whole strawberries
4lbs granulated white cane sugar
2tsp Yeast Nutrient
1tsp Yeast Energizer
4tsp acid blend

I brought 10 cups water to boil in a large stockpot and added the sugar, stirring a few times till the liquid looked clear again like water then removed heat. Add semi thawed strawberries and mashed with tater masher. Add the rest of the water (1 gal plus 6 cups) Add chems. Take temp and SG which came to 1.066@68F

I will let stand about 24 hrs then pitch yeast, probably Montrachet.
I made water "2gals plus ingreds" instead of water "TO two gals" So I will have some reserve for topping off during racking.

I will stir/agitate daily after pitching yeast for 7-10 days at room(70F+-) Then strain and drain and move to two 1gallon secondaries and save any extra in an appropriately sized fermentation vessel(s) with airlocks.

 

[WVMJ]

I would suggest not the heat up your strawberries ever again, no point in pushing off their aroma. You can add and couple of pounds of strawberries to this in the primary to give it a really really good strawberry taste and fragrance. If you like oak you can even add a little bit of oak to this in the carboy. Your sg is a bit low only giving 8.5% which is a little low for a wine to keep. If you drop some tannins in there you will get a bit of body plus help protect it a little from oxidation which is a problem with strawberry wines. WVMJ

 

[T_Baggins]

thx for the input, not too late for a few adjustments. I'll bump the SG a bit, I did seem to think it was a little low myself. As far as heat, I was just doing as directed by Jack Keller, but if better results without heat, then in the future.

 

[T_Baggins]

ok, just brought SG up to 1.086@69F with raw cane sugar and added 1 tsp wine tannin. Rehydrating yeast right now...

 

[axehead]

Please keep this thread updated as much as you can. I hope to make a batch of this as soon as the strawberries are ripe!

 

[T_Baggins]

WILL DO, but I MAY keep updates in "A few pics of various progressions" check it out for other wines and a little more details on the strawberry!

 

[WVMJ]

There are much better recipes for strawberry, WVMJ

 

[nozzleman]

If there are much better recipes give us an example of your favorite. Just making a statement like that is like complaining of a problem and not having a solution!

 

[WVMJ]

Sorry, of course there are a 1000 recipies, we prefer just a method to put the most fruit in as we can that works for many fruits. Put 50 pounds of sliced strawberries in a big bucket, add some sugar and yeast and a bit of tannin. Just before its finished in the primary dump in another 10 pounds but dont crush them, just let the yeast eat at the red outside flesh for a couple of days. Winemaker did a good article years ago on a winery that used 100% strawberry, no water added, its how we try to make it but now we use honey instead of water, and oak it a bit also. When you open up a bottle the strawberry fills the room, I know people say if it smells up the room you have lost the flavor, but when you make it 100% you got plenty extra. WVMJ

 

[T_Baggins]

There are much better recipes for strawberry, WVMJ

Yes, please enlighten us!

 

[T_Baggins]

Well. here we are 11 months later! I was a bit discouraged at first, as on the 4th day of primary the rhino fart took place of the sweet strawberry smell. I bulk aged it a few months and tried degassing, even with vacuum. Zero results..peww. Even after a few more mos it still STUNK. I thought jacking it might alleviate some of fartish residue. Nope. But after bottle aging in the fridge for maybe 6 mos (after jacking) ...WOW! The sweet fruity aroma returned and the flavor was spot on. Next time I'll use a mesh bag though, I think the fart may have come from the fact thaat on the fourth day I noticed the krausen turning gray and drying (rotting) so this is when I removed the berry slime and chunks etc...

 

[WVMJ]

Our strawberry is simple for 5 gallons, 50 pounds of frozen strawberries from Dole, thaw and crush with pectinase overnight, hit with KM 12 hrs, take sample SG reading, add honey or sugar to get desired gravity, add some optired, a little oak powder and fermaid K. This all goes into an open primary covered with a teatowel to keep bugs out. Keep pushing down the cap and stirring it up good 2x a day until it reaches around 1.020 and add 10 more pounds of strawberries, not mashed up but in slices. When down to around 1.000 set up a bottling bucket by putting a straining bag in it and dipping the must into it to strain out the berries right into a carboy. We use a good yeast like Pasteur Red or K1V-1116 that are good clean fermenters, making sure they get enough nutrients keeps the sulfur smells away easily. WVMJ

 

[T_Baggins]

Thanks for the tips! I just happened to pick up a bunch of Pasteur Red today

 

[T_Baggins]

Here I am, back again! ...man this recipe/methods was absolutely perfect! Even with the rhino fart. I took a bottle to my buddy for Bday, which happens to be Halloween. There was a bunch of BEER DRINKERS there who "don't drink wine." They loved it, I loved it. When I do another batch I will do my best to recreate this one exactly.