Monday, June 05, 2006

Strawberry Wine

With strawberry picking season just around the corner, I thought that I would dust off this recipe and republish it.  It was almost a year ago when I made my first batch of strawberry wine.  I still have about 2 gallons to bottle and 1 gallon is being used in my "wine bag" experiment.  The unbottled wine is pretty dry, around 14% alchohol and has a pretty good taste without it being sweetened.  So, for you country wine fans, grab your pail and fill it with berries.  Then come home and get started on your wine.
Hey, that's me picking strawberries. Well actually it is my assistant Jake. It was his first adventure out to a farm and Grandpa put the boy to work. Gotta' teach them early. This was my first ever batch of wine made from strawberries and I have to admit, it did not turn out bad. Generally, after the wine has completely fermented (and it is usually a dry wine), I go back and sweeten it up. For this batch, I used Splenda because somewhere I read that Splenda does not ferment. Here is the recipe if you wish to give it a try.
Strawberry Wine


20 lbs of fresh strawberries
10 teaspoons acid blend
5 teaspoons yeast nutrient
50 drops pectin enzyme
1 ¼ teaspoons grape tannin
10 campden tablets
23 cups sugar (about 10 lbs)
2 ½ gallons water
2 frozen Welch's white grape/raspberry juice, 11 oz size

Crush the berries and add all the ingredients to a 5 gallon primary fermenter. Add the yeast or the yeast starter the following day. Allow to ferment for about 7 days before racking over to a secondary fermenter. In about 3 months, check with a hydrometer and if stable enough, bottle.


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