New Year's Day Strawberry Wine - help out a n00b :D

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

lady_brewer

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 20, 2009
Messages
428
Reaction score
3
Location
Newfoundland, Canada
So I am trying to figure out what I can make for my "New Year's Day strawberry wine" - I have a goodly amount of frozen strawberries in the chest freezers, as well as a small amount of frozen cranberries. I figure I can bump up the color with the cranberries. I am thinking some golden raisins to add a little body. Anybody have a good recipe I can adapt? Also, never done a scratch fruit wine before (only kits), so the more ABCs it is the better :D

TIA... will prolly turn this thread into a continued update and help request thing...
 
There's a strawberry-kiwi recipe in the Recipes section (here). I haven't made it so I can't say how well it works.
 
If you flip though fruit winemaking books, the general "recipe" is 3 lbs of fruit, 2 lbs of sugar, and 1 gallon of water, and then all the extas like acid blends, tannins, yeast, etc. That's what I did, and it smells great. I'll be bottling this week. I'm not sure how raisens fit into that for you.
 
Thanks all... I had looked through the batch 23 thread... was curious how it turned out :D How did you find the color? I hear strawberry really does come out pretty straw colored...

And Boo, I appreciate the link, and the local craft email :D - hope your Christmas is going well...

:mug:
 
Mine ended up with great color. It's more on the orange side of red, pictures are in the thread I posted earlier towards the end. :mug:
 
I had to be at home before I could really confirm what color mine is - it dark, like the color of cranberry juice. Then again, I made it from good Oregon strawberries that were cut up and frozen for a few months by my mother.

Looking at it, I was going to bottle it this week, but now I think I need to rack it tonight because it isn't clear.
 
Well I have enough fruit picked up, still need to get some raisins and all the wine shop type stuff :D Everything was closed yesterday, silly LHBSs not open on Sundays...

When I put it all together I will take pics and post my recipe... so far it is roughly shaping up to (for 5 Imperial Gallons/ 6 US gallons)

15 3/4 lbs Strawberries... frozen grocery store, various brands
1 1/3 lb Frozen Cranberries (for colour)
1 1/4 lb Golden Raisins (for body)

Going to add some mix of sugar and honey... 12 lbs
Think I may pick up an acid test kit, otherwise I am guessing at about 5 tsp acid blend.
About 5tsp pectic enzyme
Do I need/ want tannin?

Thinking of using champagne yeast...

Thoughts are welcome, especially since nothing is started yet and it isn't too late to change things :D
 
You'll get the tannins from the golden raisins. The mouthfeel is perfect in my opinion. The acidity proportions are just right, strawberries aren't very acidic.

I used Lalvin EC-1118, it's a clean fermenting strain & works quickly.

You'll get a good bit of color from the brown sugar (I used light brown). I did add a little bit of honey after the 1st racking. Using more honey will lengthen the fermentation a bit from what I've heard.
 
Im a noob myself but doesnt wine have to age for a long time? or maybe your talking new years day next year
 
New Years Day was more when I was planning on starting it... I can promise that I wasn't hoping to have wine that was drinkable by the end of the week...

If I make this on New Years I am thinking about being able to try it in Sept, maybe for my birthday... I was a New Years baby, born about 3 weeks early on 9/9 - if that was long enough to make me, I figure that might be okay for my wine, of course I got better with age and I expect it will too...
 
lol going to say if you can get wine that quick tell me how I have a hard time waiting that long:(
 
The only way I know of to get wine that quick is to go to the local liquor store... :eek:

I think there are some kits that you can do from start to bottling in about 4 weeks, but that is on the short end, and it will always do better with some time in the bottle, not that I have a lot of experience.

Wine takes planning ahead and patience. I think that the trick is not to wait for any one batch to be ready before starting another one... depending on how much you drink this can create problems and frustrations...

I bought all my gear today (acid blend, yeast (went with champagne), pectin enzyme, yeast nutrient, straining bag, etc.)

Still need to get sugar (not sure what kind I want to use... leaning away from brown, any other suggestions?) honey and raisins... well on track to put it on on New Years Day (although I also have a lot of beer that wants to be bottled then...)
 
this batch is almost the same as #23 the color is good without cranberries I think, you decide. I dont really like strawberry wine but every one else I know seem to, that's why I make it. Tasters will be over tomorrow to help bottle. Bummer I cant post attachment so, Let me ask if I can post a link, OK I will make it my Aviator for now
 
So I have all my things, going to start by soaking the raisins overnight, going to start a new thread with the exact recipe I use and pics of the process. May or may not be of use to anybody else doing the wine in the future.

As to the cranberries, I have heard from a few people (local) that strawberry wine needs a bit of a push to get the most out of the flavour. I am hoping the cranberries and the grapes will give it that, without taking away the fact that it is a strawberry... mostly it is just a place to start.

I picked up fine white sugar, had it in bags in the bulk store and then saw the organic grain sugar... may try it next time, but didn't feel like spending the extra cash or pouring my sugar back in the bin (although hubby suggested it might be good for making cookies... seems like the brewing of beer and wine has stopped his supply of backed goods... alas)
 
So... I have been away from the forums for a long while... instead of beer and wine I made an awesome little man who will be one in February...

Bumping this because today I am actually getting around to bottling the strawberry wine I started TWO years ago... here is hoping time has made it awesome and not vinegar... good for wine to bulk age right? LOL.

Of course I no longer remember what I am doing for the most part, so this should be fun.
 
Well it seems potable (and potent! Eeep) Will have to run it by my sisters for a wider sampling of opinion.

Glad not to have simply felt it should be poured onto the compost...
 
Back
Top