Strawberry wine...?

MadBoozer · 03-14-2008, 11:59 AM

Hi everybody,
I made a batch of 5 gallons of strawberry wine yesterday. I was told that campden tablets were not really necessary if I clean the berries very well. So I washed them with hot water and I didn't use campden tablet.
The recipe was:
10 lbs of strawberries
6 kg of sugar
lemon juice
yeast nutrient
yeast
I got three lemon and I put the juice in the worth. I'm now wondering if the result will be OK. The fermentation is started and it seems pretty good. I would like also to have some comments on the recipe.
Thank you.

**Yooper** · 03-14-2008, 12:08 PM

I've never seen a strawberry wine that used less than 3 pounds of fruit per gallon, so I think you're a little light on the strawberries there. I would use about 1 KG per sugar per gallon, so I also think you're a little low on the sugar. Did you check the sg? It seems like it might be a very light wine.

I would add some pectic enzyme so your wine will clear- strawberries have lots of pectin. I'm also concerned that you didn't use campden or sanitize your fruit. Fruit (even washed) will have wild yeast spores and maybe bacteria on it that might cause an issue. After primary is over, I'd had 1 crushed campden per gallon of wine when you rack. You really want to protect your wine and campden also helps prevent oxidation, too.

What kind of yeast did you use?

MadBoozer · 03-14-2008, 03:58 PM

I used 6 kg of sugar, so 1,2 kg per gallon.
The yeast I used is some Lalvin EC1118 wine yeast, the only wine yeast I can get from my local brewing store. I didn't checked the density, my hydrometer is broken : /.
If I put campden tablet when putting to secondary, will it kill the wine yeast? Maybe I should put campden tablets, let sit for a night and then add yeast again. what do you think about that?
Thank you again.

**Yooper** · 03-14-2008, 04:24 PM

Oh, ok, thanks for clearing that up about the sugar. You should be ok, then, as far as ABV, but a little light on the strawberries.

EC-1118 is a good choice, but it' won't leave any residual sweetness, and maybe not much in the way of fruitiness. It'll still work out ok for you, I think, since I like that yeast and use it often.

Campden does NOT inhibit wine yeast, that is why it is used for winemaking. However, since it's already going, I'd just leave it alone and let it finish primary, planning to rack around 1.020- 1.010 (or approx. 5 days after fermentation begins) to secondary. (I suggest replacing your hydrometer as soon as possible, as they are really indispensible in wine making). Like I said, dissolve the campden in a little water, and then rack the wine into it.