Strawberry/Rhubarb-Flat-No Taste

[timothyap]

Hello, this is my second year of wine making.

2015 the strawberry/rhubarb was excellent, great flavor, even had that little zip that my wife really enjoyed.

Not sure what I did wrong this time around, 2016, strawberry/rhubarb is flat with just a little rhubarb flavor, and no hint of any alcohol.
Has been bottled for 3 months.

The recipe called for 11 lbs sugar so maybe I didn't add all I should have, or could it be I used a different yeast, 2015 I used K1-V1116 (this was the good wine) in 2016 I used Red Pasteur Champagne (this is the bad wine) not sure why I used that unless I made a mistake there to.

I have 48 bottles, can I put it all back in the primary and start over?
or will the potassium sorbate not allow that.

It's not so bad that it has to be thrown but sure isn't enjoyable to drink.

Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Tim

 

[GeneDaniels1963]

i would wait at least 6 months, maybe one year before doing anything drastic

 

[madscientist451]

So you did everything exactly the same except for the yeast?
Same fermentation temperature?
What did it taste like 3 months ago when you bottled it?
My advice would be to keep a notebook for your wine/beer/cider/mead making and then you can refer to it later and see what works, what doesn't.
Also, its pointless to bottle a wine that doesn't suit your taste. If you want to make some changes its better to do it before the wine is bottled.
You can add some flavor to the current wine using frozen concentrates. Experiment with frozen strawberry juice products from the supermarket and see if that works for you. Just put a teaspoon of concentrate in a wine glass and pour the wine. Add more or less depending on what you like and what you can get.

 

[timothyap]

Everything was the same except the different yeast, and maybe I didnt add the right amount of sugar.

I do keep notes, thats how I knew I used a different yeast.

It seemed to tasted good at bottling time. More rhubarb flavor than strawberry, just like 2015, then more of the strawberry flavor come out with time. Thats why I wonder what happened.

If I thought something was wrong at that time I sure would not have bottled 10 gallons of off flavored water.

There is really no point in flavoring it with something else, I could of just bottled some juice, corked it, open it, drink it, lot of work when I could just pour juice out of original bottle and drink it.

Anyway...

I think the best option is to dump it and forget about it.

Thanks

 

[lukebuz]

No! Don't dump yet. I assume there really is alcohol in it? Is your SG at least 1.000 or less? If so, you are good there. Your next step: Add some ACID BLEND. 1-2 TSP per Gallon (or 1/4 tsp a bottle) and try that. I bet it helps. Add to taste.

If that doesn't work - go buy some frozen fruit (strawberries) or juice concentrate (sour cherry?) and use the juice you get (even with fruit sediment) to remix into the batch, and bottle. Then, use it for Sangria base mix in the future.

Don't want to mess with all that? I have a FOR SURE winner.
Freeze Concentrate it! It'll concentrate the flavor, sugar, and alcohol. You'll be left with a 18% sweeter, heavy body, wine. 1/2 the volume, but 1/2 the water. Super easy, a sure winner.

 

[timothyap]

Boy, this was a close call, my job today was to dump wine,,,,,

SG .998

Good ideas here, from everyone.:rockin:

Now I have options that I never would have thought of..

Really appreciate it

Thanks Again...

I'll sure let you know how it turn out.

Tim

 

[timothyap]

Hi, couldnt find any type of strawberry concentrate so used strawberry daqari mix, after 6 weeks it taste pretty good, at least good enough to keep and get a good zip,

Cheers,
Tim

 

[jgmillr1]

Since you added sorbate, it would seem that you intended the wine to be finished somewhat sweet which is what I would expect for a strawberry/rhubarb. However the 0.998 SG suggests it is still a relatively dry wine. And since there is sorbate in the wine now, it is too late to attempt to re-ferment it.

If you have the means, I would titrate the acid and get an estimate of the TA. Probably want it in the 6.5-8.5 g/L range.

Did you measure the brix at the beginning of fermentation? I like to have around 21 brix for a standard table wine. Enough alcohol for balance without being too hot.

I doubt the yeast strain choice this time would make that much of a difference from what you described. From what I've tasted and seen, differences in yeast will produce variation in mouthfeel, color or intensity of aromatics. But the wine should not end up flat or flavorless due to the yeast strain.

It is possible that the wine is oxidized. That can dramatically change and depress the aromas.

I've noticed large differences in the flavor of strawberries depending on when in the season they were picked. My strawberry wine made with the huge first ones available in the stores was very weak in flavor compared to some made with mid-season berries. Likewise, the acidity was different.

Definitely need to have a detailed notebook with measurements so you can rule out sources of variation between batches.

 

[bernardsmith]

what was the final gravity of last year's batch? It may be that to bring the fruit further forward you need to back sweeten the wine. If you added sorbate then you ought to be able to add sugar without any fear of increasing the gravity. The other thing is that you may have been lucky the first year you made this. In my opinion (and I know many others here will likely disagree) you need to use about 10 lbs of strawberries to make ONE gallon of strawberry wine - either that or you are fermenting a wonderfully flavor-rich heirloom variety of strawberries (not all strawberry varieties are the same!) but adding water to strawberries is like making wine from water..

 

[jgmillr1]

In my opinion (and I know many others here will likely disagree) you need to use about 10 lbs of strawberries to make ONE gallon of strawberry wine - either that or you are fermenting a wonderfully flavor-rich heirloom variety of strawberries (not all strawberry varieties are the same!) but adding water to strawberries is like making wine from water..

No disagreement from me! I use 100% fruit with no additional water. Water will only dilute your flavor and acid.

 

[bernardsmith]

and I agree with your comment about large strawberries - In my experience they are all but tasteless - it's the smaller berries that seem more packed with sugar and flavor.. But I generally make strawberry wine in the summer when I can get to one of the "pick your own" farms in our part of the state.