Strawberry Wine - Need to bring the acid down

[ARittner]

Hello! I've been making beer for about 6 years, and gotten pretty decent at it. However, between work and kids, I don't have as much time anymore. It seemed like wine might have a shorter brew day, and I'd still get to make use of the investment I have in equipment.

So I decided to take a whack at doing a strawberry wine as my first. I'm about 6 days into it now, and I think I goofed in two places:

1. My LHBS owner makes some award-winning wines and beers, but at he's been doing it so long I think he does it by instinct now. His advice tends to be really vague. So as I was in there picking up the things I needed, he recommended using apple juice instead of water.

2. I didn't realize I had to test for acidity until today, almost a week into primary fermentation.

The reason the apple juice might have been a goof is it had ascorbic acid included.

So now I have all this must fermenting away happily, the SG is about where I expect it to be at this point. The fruit is pale and turned to mush. Everything is going well, other than the acidity.

I picked up an acid titration kit today, and tested a sample a few times. It came back .95% tartaric. I tried it straight from the sample, and also tried boiling the sample first to get the CO2 out of it, which I understand raises the acid readings.

The sample tastes fine in that there's no vinegar or yucky-notes. It just is very tart. I'd like it if it was a candy, but not so much a wine. My fermenter doesn't show any signs of infection.

So seeing as how I probably blasted this batch with Vitamin C at the start, when should I try lowering the acidity? And how? I see I can try potassium or calcium carbonates, is one better than the other? Should I do it when I rack to secondary?

Here's what's in the bucket:

26 pounds of strawberries, mashed
2 gallons of apple juice (ingredient list is just apple juice and ascorbic acid)
1/2 gallon of water
11ish pounds of white sugar
The appropriate amount of pectic enzyme
Yeast

With the fruit bags pulled up, I've got very close to 5 gallons of must.

Any help would be appreciated, I'm going to need to rack to secondary tomorrow or the next day.

 

[theDREWery]

I wouldn't recommend adjusting acidity at this point; as long as fermentation is still going well, I find it's best to let it go, and adjust once it's clear.

I usually pull strawberries on day 3-4, as soon as they turn into pale mush they have nothing left to give. Leaving them in too long can get grassy/woody flavors from contact with the seeds. Then I'll wait a day to let the pulp that got thru the mesh bag settle and rack to secondary. A month in, I'll rack with K-meta and sorbate, and sweeten. This is when I'll taste it, and add citric acid if needed. At month 3, it's usually ready to bottle.

I can't offer any advice about titration tests, as I've never done one. I believe that taste is a better way to tell what's needed. It can sometimes take awhile for your brain and tongue to teach each other what's going on; it's just like learning new words, you'll know what they mean before you're fluent with them.

Above all, patience, and don't worry, you're off to a good start!

 

[ARittner]

Thanks! I did know about wanting to get the fruit out, so I pulled it last night. The fermentation and pectic enzyme did an amazing job of reducing the fruit. 26 pounds of strawberries reduced down to the size of a couple grapefruit. So I ended up with more must than I was planning. I racked to secondary and I'm close to 6 gallons, so that gives me some nice wiggle room for racking in the future and avoiding sediment, while still coming out close to my intended batch size.

I did end up adding some calcium carbonate. My LHBS was out of potassium bicarb. Figuring the acid was going to fluctuate I only added half of what the calculator told me to. I'll tweak it again later if I need to. I just wanted to make the environment a little less stressful for the yeast.

So far, I think I'm enjoying making wine more than beer. The process seems to be more forgiving. It's like cooking versus baking, more about instinct and tasting, and less about math.

 

[thm57]

From my limited experience, I would definitely second waiting until after sweetening to adjust acid levels. Sometimes the sweetness will balance out the acid on it's own with no need for other additives. I do however like to keep my additives to a minimum for price reasons.

 

[madscientist451]

I did end up adding some calcium carbonate. My LHBS was out of potassium bicarb. Figuring the acid was going to fluctuate I only added half of what the calculator told me to. I'll tweak it again later if I need to. I just wanted to make the environment a little less stressful for the yeast.

Did you do a titration test after added the calcium carbonate?
I agree with the posts that said wait until its done and make adjustments after tasting it. You made a mistake using apple juice with added Ascorbic acid, but adding more chemicals in attempt to hit an arbitrary number may sometime work or sometimes not.
The other thing to consider is that your Acid test gave you the total acidity, but a PH test is needed to determine the strength of the acid.
Your yeast may have been affected by the Ascorbic acid, maybe not.
If the yeast stopped working and left some residual sweetness, that might be a taste you are looking for?
I make beer, wine and cider, and all have their own challenges and rewards. I like to let the seasons dictate what is to be made, I don't really feel like boiling a batch of beer when its 90F out, but look forward to it when its cold. I also like to use fruit as it becomes available either from my own garden/yard or from local farms.
My experience with wine/cider has been when you have a choice to add chemicals or not add chemicals, I prefer to not add them until I do some tasting and have time to think over what it is I'm trying to accomplish.

 

[pumpkinman2012]

I have to agree that I would wait until fermentation is complete before making any adjustments.
I make a wine that is blend of berries, it is always tart as it ferments, I won't make any adjustment until it has fermented and I've racked to a clean carboy or demijohn, at this point I either put it through Malolactic fermentation to convert the malic acid into a softer acid, lactic acid; or I just let it age 6-7 months before it is clear and I add meta and sorbate to back sweeten, this will balance out the acid and bring out the fruit a bit more.

I hope that this helps

 

[Grogg]

Here are 2 strawberry wine recipes. I have made the table wine version and it turned out very well. It does taste a lot better after it has aged for about a year. Hope yours will mellow out after aging a bit.

The Strawberry Wine Making Recipe

The following two wine making recipes represent the extremes that can be reasonably achieved in terms of body with a strawberry wine. The first home wine making recipe being a light dinner wine that would be consumed as a White or Rosé would. The later being a full and assertive country style wine making recipe that would be consumed the same way as a dessert wine.

TABLE STRAWBERRY WINE (5 Gallons)
12.5 lbs. Strawberries
1/8 Tsp. Sodium Bisulfite
Pectic Enzyme (as directed on package)
5 Tsps. Yeast Nutrient
1 Tsp. Wine Tannin
8 Tsps. Acid Blend (.60% tartaric)
8 lbs. Sugar (1.078)
1 Pkg. Champagne Yeast

DESSERT STRAWBERRY WINE (5 Gallons)
25 lbs. Strawberries
¼ Tsp. Sodium Bisulfite
Pectic Enzymes (as directed on package)
5 Tsps. Yeast Nutrient
12 lbs. Sugar (1.100)
1 Pkg. Champagne Yeast
(No Acid Blend or Wine Tannin required)
In reality most strawberry wine recipes will fall somewhere in between these two home wine making recipes. You can concoct your own wine making recipe by making a few logical adjustments. 1) Choose an amount of strawberries between 12.5 lbs. and 25 lbs. 2) Adjust the sugar level with the aid of a wine making hydrometer to produce the desired potential alcohol level (11% or S.G. of 1.086 recommended) and 3) Use a wine making titration kit to adjust your acid level to .60% tartaric.

The Pectic Enzymes, Yeast, and Yeast Nutrient do not change and the Wine Tannin is not critical just somewhere between 0 - 1 Tsp. based on the amount of strawberries being used; the more strawberries used the less Tannin required. The Sodium Bisulfite should be dosed somewhere close to 1/16 Tsp. per each 8 pounds of Strawberries.


Preparing The Strawberries For Wine Making

If the strawberries are fresh, lightly rinse with water and allow to drain. Then, remove all the stems and leaves. Discard any questionable ones and chop off any unripened areas you may find. Then coarsely chop them up. If the strawberries have been frozen, thaw completely then mash them.


Starting With A Wine Making Liqueur

To make a wine making liqueur take the chopped strawberries and put them into a primary fermenter such as a food grade pail or stone crock, which are available at EC Kraus. Then add just enough water to barely cover the strawberries. Add to this the Sodium Bisulfite, Acid Blend and Wine Tannin as called for in the above home wine making recipes.

Do NOT add the Yeast Nutrient, Sugar or Yeast at this time.

And here is the important part: add the Pectic Enzyme as directed on the package it came in, based on the total batch size. In other words if 1/4 tsp. per gallon of Pectic Enzyme is called for and you are making five gallons, add 1-1/4 tsp. even though your wine making liqueur may currently only be around 2 gallons. This will allow the fruit’s pectin to be broken down faster than normal.

Let the mixture stand covered with a light towel for 24 hours. You can give it a stir from time to time. What you will notice during this period is that the wine making liqueur will change from a thick, pasty mixture to a thinner, “syrupy” mixture and will have a more candied appearance.

Also during this period, the Sodium Bisulfite that was added is sterilizing the wine making liqueur.


The Home Wine Making Fermentation

After waiting 24 hours, it’s time to dilute the wine making liqueur with water to 5 gallons. Stir in the sugar called for until completely dissolved, then add the Yeast Nutrient and Wine Yeast as called for in the above home wine making recipes.

Keep covered with a towel and allow to ferment. On or around the 7th day of a normal wine making fermentation you will notice the activity starting to decrease. The Specific Gravity reading will usually be between 1.025 and 1.035 on a wine making hydrometer. It is at this point in the wine making process that you are ready to rack (siphon) your must into a carboy leaving as much of the pulp and other sediment behind.

At this point attach a wine airlock and allow the must to ferment until it has completely stopped which will be about 4 to 6 weeks. At this point rack one more time into a clean secondary container re-attach the airlock to the carboy and allow to stand until the wine is completely clear. This will usually take an additional 1 to 2 weeks.

Now you have wine. If everything has gone as planned, it should be fairly dry at this point. If you prefer you wines a little sweeter, now is the time to sweeten to taste. You can use anything from table sugar to honey, but remember that anytime you add sugar to a finished wine you must then either add a stabilizer such as Potassium Sorbate or filter with a pressurized type filter system using “sterile” filter pads.

If you have never made a fruit wine, this is the fruit to start with. Homemade strawberry wine is very forgiving to blunders and mishaps that come along with new wine making territory. And most assuredly it will be a wine that will bring a smiles of pleasure to the faces of friends, guests.