Woohoo! Sampled my first batches

I've been dreading today, sampling what I've been working on as these are my 1st ever attempts. But overall has been a rousing success according to the wife. 2 types of strawberry, a white grape and of course apfel. My wife who is not wine drinker said "I'd drink this" to every batch except for 1 glass of $20/bottle I snuck into the middle I don't think I could have asked for a better review. I regularly give her a glass to sample as I try new wines, didn't tell her these were mine until after the 2nd sample.

The winner according to her... the apfelwein :laugh: It cleared about 3 weeks ago and I needed the carboy so it got bottled and sampled for the first time. It's still in a large bottle to bulk age and I'm really looking forward to it aging. I've been doing 1 gal batches so far as I get my feet wet, but I've got 1 6g carboy that will be getting apple juice this week.

Thanks to everyone for all the reading I've done!

Do you mind posting the recipe for the strawberry? Maybe with some tasting notes...

My wife has been wanting to do a strawberry wine for a while now.


thanks,

These are the 2 I'm working with

Strawberry Wine (1)


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


Place all ingredients except yeast in crock. Crush fruit with hands and cover with 5 pints boiling water. Stir with wooden paddle to dissolve sugar and simultaneously mash the strawberries. When cooled to 85 degrees F., add yeast. Cover and stir daily. Strain on 7th day, transfer to secondary fermentation vessel, top up to one gallon, fit fermentation trap, and set aside. Rack after 30 days and again after additional 30 days. Bottle when clear. Allow to age at least 6 months. Will improve to one year.

Strawberry Wine (2)


* 3 lbs. fresh strawberries
* 1/2 lb. chopped golden raisins
* 2-1/2 lbs. light brown sugar
* 2 tsp. citric acid
* 1/4 tsp. grape tannin
* water to make 1 gallon
* wine yeast & nutrient


Place all ingredients except yeast in crock. Crush fruit with hands and cover with 5 pints boiling water. Stir with wooden paddle to dissolve sugar and simultaneously mash the strawberries. When cooled to 80-85 degrees F., add yeast. Cover and stir daily. Strain on 7th day, transfer to secondary fermentation vessel, top up to one gallon, fit fermentation trap, and set aside. Rack after 30 days and again after additional 30 days. Add additional one cup sugar and 1/3 tsp citric acid dissolved in 1/2 cup water and ferment another 30 days. Rack, ferment additional 30 days, then rack again. Bottle when clear. Allow to age at least 9 months.

Which strawberry recipe did you like best?

They were both in the OK category. I had high hopes for a strawberry and so far they didn't reach them. They were on the first racking and definitely tasted young, I think they'll improve with time and finishing the 2nd steps for the 2nd recipe. The 2nd has a terrific color and I think a lot of potential. The 1st smells very nice after fermenting, smelled amazing when it was in the primary. Right now just a very light flavor for my tastes.