Sorry for a late reply, life! This is the recipe from the vintners harvest strawberry wine base can: I followed the directions and recipe to a T and the wine has a strong alcoholic taste to it. When it came time to sweeten to taste I added a whole bottle of strawberry fruit flavoring, 4 oz, and simple syrup of about a little less than 1 cup of sugar and added extra water of about 4 bottles of water to try and help cut it. I wanted a sweet wine so I added sugar until the specific gravity reading was 1.025 sweet. Now we forgot to take an initial gravity reading (our bad!) At this point it still tasted very alcoholic but I thought it would mellow over time. Did I accidentally make a moon shine I didn’t mean to make? Any way to help it taste better?
3 Gallon Recipe:
One 96 oz. can Strawberry Base
3-1/2 cans warm water (2.6 gallons)
7 lbs. Sugar
3-1/2 tsp. Acid Blend
2-1/2 tsp. Yeast Nutrient
1 tsp. Pectic Enzyme
1/2 tsp. Wine Tannin
5 Campden Tablets or 5/16 tsp. Potassium or Sodium Metabisulfite
1 Pkg. Red Start Premie Cuvee Wine Yeast
1-1/2 tsp. Potassium Sorbate to stabilize
Directions:
1. Clean all equipment and utensils with an oxygen based cleaner, then sanitize with a sulfite solution.
2. Put straining bag in fermenter, add fruit and tie off bag.
3. Stir in all other ingredients EXCEPT yeast and potassium sorbate (stabilizer).
4. Cover primary and allow to sit for 24 hours.
5. Sprinkle yeast on top of must and re-cover primary. Temperature of must should be 70-80° F for best results.
6. Next day, gently stir top half of must. Repeat daily until specific gravity (S.G.) lowers to 1.040 (4-5 days),
7. When S.G. reads 1.040, remove bag of fruit. Press and strain juice from pulp and discard pulp. Syphon wine off of the sediment into clean secondary. Top off with water and attach airlock.
8. Rack wine again in 3 to 4 weeks when S.G. reaches 1.010 to 1.000. Add 1 Campden Tablet or 1/16 tsp. of Potassium or Sodium Metabisulfite, per gallon and top off.
9. After wine is clear (2 or 3 months) stabilize to prevent renewed fermentation, sweeten to taste if too dry. Enhance flavor and aroma with natural fruit flavor at this time, if desired.
10. Wine can be consumed at this point but will benefit with aging of 6 months to one year.
Note: When adding Potassium Sorbate to stabilize, always add 1 Campden Tablet or 1/16 tsp. Potassium or Sodium Metabisulfite prior to adding the sorbate; otherwise, you wine could throw an off-aroma that smells like geraniums.