The exquisite aroma of strawberries has become popular in world cuisine and has formed the basis of many dessert dishes, and for home winemakers these berries are an excellent wine material. It produces a beautiful and aromatic young wine of a pale pink color, and homemade aged wines from strawberries become amber with time, without losing their characteristic bouquet.
Strawberry Wine - Basic Technological Principles
For any winemaking, both production, and home, grape and fruit, there are general rules that must be followed when making wine.
The standard of biochemical composition for the production of wine is grapes, as the oldest wine material on the planet. It is on the basis of the biochemical analysis of grape berries that the optimal composition of wine must is revealed - fruit juice with the addition of sugar, wine yeast and some other components for the production of wine.
It cannot be argued that fruit and berry winemaking is a new direction in enology. It is quite possible that fruit and berry wines appeared along with grape wines, but some additional efforts are needed to prepare them, because, apart from apples, all other fruits differ from grapes either by deficiency or an excess of acids, which gives stability to wine. In strawberries, both garden and forest, the percentage of sugar and acid is ideal for home winemaking. True, there are some nuances that must necessarily be taken into account when making strawberry wine.
Juice of fruit crops before preparing the wort is examined for the presence and percentage of acids, including tannic, tartaric, so that it can be adjusted before setting the wort for fermentation.
For normal fermentation of the wort, the acidity of the wine material is not lower than 0.7% per liter of wort. Too low acidity does not add to the taste of wine, makes it unstable - this wine is susceptible to diseases and quickly deteriorates. Acidity above 1.0% is fraught with wort infestation with acetic yeast. In strawberry juice per unit volume contains an average of 0.8%, which corresponds to the standard. Of course, you need to take into account that depending on weather conditions and some other natural factors, this figure may vary. Forest strawberries are more acidic than garden. It may contain acids up to 1.2%. In these cases, the acidity is reduced by adding water or blending strawberry juice with juices of less acidic fruits or berries.
Mixing strawberry juice is also recommended to increase the volume. Because of the dense structure of the berries of the forest strawberry juice, it contains less than in the garden. For maximum spinning, the method of pre-fermentation of the pulp or juice is used, followed by pressing.
In fact, wild strawberries can simply be crushed, connecting its pulp, for example, with strawberry pulp, raspberries, while adding sugar syrup and in this form set for fermentation. When water is added to the wort, the finished wine is less saturated, as its presence is felt in it. Therefore, water is more often used for the preparation of dry table wines, and to obtain strong, dessert and liqueur, they tend to use only natural raw materials, without diluting.
The next important criterion for assessing the quality of the wort is its sugar content. As you know, the strength of any alcoholic beverages depends on the sugar content. More sugar - more alcohol. But for wine, sugar is not only a fortress, but also a taste. With an average sugar content of forest strawberry 7.8%, this amount of sugar is clearly not enough to produce even a light table wine.
Practical advice is this: to obtain the desired strength to the natural sugar content in a liter of wine (in this case - wild strawberries) add 20 g of sugar to 1% of the strength.
For example:
The sugar content in 1 liter of strawberry juice is 6%. The desired strength of the wine - 12%. It is necessary to add 120 grams of sugar per liter of wort. In this case, to the specified amount you need to add another 3% sugar for the formation of taste. This is an example for the preparation of dry low-grade wine. The amount of added sugar varies depending on the type of wine, the desired strength and sugar content. Note that excess sugar in the wort is harmful to yeast.
Now about yeast, microorganisms that process sugar, turning it into alcohol. But sugar is not enough for yeast. The main condition for a successful fermentation process is a constant temperature of 18-22 degrees, which is considered the most comfortable for the normal performance of wine yeast.
Light strawberry wines can be prepared without the use of sourdough and wine yeast, but hard liquor cannot be obtained without using pure crops.
Many fruits and berries that are used in home winemaking require preliminary preparation, which consists in cleaning, extracting seeds and grinding. In this regard, strawberries do not require preparation. In addition, its fruits are often used for making wine sourdough, because strawberries are an ideal habitat for wild wine yeast.
Strawberry flavor is often used to improve the quality of other fruit wines, so strawberries are added both for cooking pulp and for blending juices or finished fruit and berry wines.
A special feature of strawberry wine material is that the grains contained in the berries add bitterness to the wine. Therefore, if there is no goal to create a sherry taste, they should be removed by grinding the berries through a sieve or in the process of pressing and separating the juice.
It is not necessary to wash the berries in order not to wash away wild yeasts from their surface, but it is also not worth admitting to the wort too polluted berries. Carefully sort the fruit before starting work.
Recipe 1. Table strawberry wine
Composition:
- Wild berries 9.5 kg
- Sugar 1.25 kg
- Water 3.6 liters
Cooking:
Boil the water and pour all the sugar into it. After it is dissolved, allow the syrup to cool to 25 degrees and pour the berries, chopped into the pulp, with it, after having selected them and removed the stalks.
Cover and wort pot and ferment for warming. Before the appearance of foam on the surface of the wort do not forget to periodically mix it. Pass the fermented juice through the filter and rub the pulp through a sieve to prevent small grains from entering the wort (they will give an unpleasant bitterness to the wine).
Connect both parts of the wort and pour it into the bottle. Fermentation should take up to 60 days, at a constant temperature of 18-22 degrees, which is optimal for making wines from strawberries and other wines.
After a complete stop of fermentation and sedimentation of thick at the bottom of the bottle, remove the young wine from the sediment. Store it in a cool place, hermetically sealed. Store wine in the basement. If sediment reappears, repeat removal.
Recipe 2. Strong table wine made from strawberries
Composition:
- Strawberries, Forest 10.7 kg
- Water 2.4 L
- Sugar 1.9 kg
Manufacturing Technology:
Divide the amount of sugar divided into two parts. Berries sort out, removing spoiled. Separate sepals, but do not need to wash them. Grind immediately and add half of the sugar dissolved in warm water. Cover the container and put it on for a day or more to ferment in a warm place so that the juice can be better separated, which must be passed through a sieve, wiping and separating the small grains.
Pour the prepared wort into the bottle, filling it to 3/4 volume, cover the neck with a medical glove, in which you first puncture one of the fingers with a thick needle: you must ensure the release of carbon dioxide, while preventing oxygen from entering the wort.
After 10-14 days, when the rapid fermentation stops, add the rest of the sugar, close the neck again. To add the added sugar quickly to dissolve, pour 1.5-2 l of wort from the bottle, pour the sugar into it and mix when heated, but the warming up temperature should not exceed 30 degrees, at which the wine yeast dies. Then pour the heated and sweetened wort into the bottle.
Then mix again, put on a glove and it remains to wait for the completion of the fermentation process. This is signaled by precipitation at the bottom of the bottle, the absence of even the smallest gas bubbles rising to the surface. The wine is gradually lightened, becomes transparent. Make overflows carefully, without agitating the sediment and using a plastic tube, setting the bottle of wine and empty container at different levels to ensure the operating principle of communicating vessels. It is important not to overdo it on the sediment for more than two weeks, otherwise, the yeast residues lying on the bottom will greatly spoil the taste with bitterness. If the wine has not yet become sufficiently transparent for two weeks, still pour it into a clean, previously prepared bottle, and then repeat this procedure again, but already resorting to the filtration method, using a sufficiently dense filter.
Young wine from strawberries ready. It has quite a bright and distinctive flavor. Store it in a cool place, tightly closing the storage container. The taste and color of the wine will gradually change, but even in seasoned strawberry wine there will be a reminder of wild berries that will complement its bouquet.
Recipe 3. Strawberry and strong strawberry wine
Composition:
- Jerez yeast 2 g
- Forest strawberries 4 kg
- Garden strawberries 10 kg
- Tannin 20 g
- Sugar 3.2 kg
- Wine alcohol (70%) 0.7 l
Preparation Method:
From the specified number of berries should make at least 8 liters of natural juice. Place the prepared berries under the press together. Forest berries have a more stable and pronounced aroma, and garden strawberries are more juicy. This is a great combination for wine if you want it to not turn out to be watery. But, if the juice turns out to be less, then water will have to be added, before boiling it and cooling it to 22-25 degrees. In the resulting juice, add half the sugar.
To get strong wine, wild yeast on the surface of fresh harvested berries will not be enough; therefore, when acquiring cultural yeast, stop the choice on sherry cultures: they are more stable in an alcoholized environment, which is necessary for making strong wine.
In the juice, add 1/2 of the sugar, stir until dissolved, and pour the wort into the bottle. Close the neck with a water shutter. After waiting for the stage of quiet fermentation, enter the rest of the sugar and yeast into the wort. This time the must must ferment completely. Remove the young wine from the sediment, add tannin, alcohol and sugar, if necessary, to taste. Ideally, the wine will be stored at 14 degrees in an oak barrel. In the absence of such a container, use a glass bottle with a wide neck, inside of which, along with the wine, you must place a gauze bag with oak bark. Strong wine will get a real bouquet in 8-10 months. Its color will be amber.
Recipe 4. Dessert wine made from wild strawberry and garden
Composition:
- Berries 13 kg
- Tannic acid 14 g
- Sugar 3.7 kg
Cooking:
For dessert wine made from strawberries, natural juice is used, which of the prepared berries should make about 8 liters. Add sugar to the juice, leaving 510 g to sweeten and stabilize the finished young wine.
Further preparation follows the same schemes as in recipe No. 1, followed by the introduction of tannic acid and sugar before aging.
Recipe 5. Forest strawberry and raspberry wine, liqueur
Composition:
- Raspberry 5.0 kg
- Strawberries 5.5 kg
- Tartaric acid 43 g
- Tannin 30 g
- Sugar 2.5 kg (± 100 g)
Cooking:
Raspberries and strawberries, carefully perebrav and freeing from the stalks, pour sugar (1/4 part). Mash the berries. Wait for the fermentation to start and squeeze the juice through the canvas, putting it under the press. Below, under the press, install a container for dripping juice. AT
Add fermented juice (tartaric acid) to balance the wort. Pour the wort into the bottle, set the stopper or fermenting tongue. Add sugar every 5-7 days at the rate of 100 g per liter of wort.
After clarification, pour the wine into a clean and sterile bottle, add the last part of the sugar, stir and soak for 60 days at + 10 + 14 degrees.
To make liqueur caramel-strawberry flavor, before aging, you can add caramel syrup, preparing it from the last part of the sugar.
Recipe 6. Sparkling strawberry wine, semi-sweet
Composition:
- Berries of garden and forest strawberries 10 kg
- Sugar 3 kg
- Water 2 l
- Sherry yeast 2 g
Cooking:
Combine the berry pulp with sugar (2 kg) and leave in an enamelled bucket in a warm place, covered with gauze for fermentation. If foam and characteristic odor appear, rub the pulp through a sieve to separate the grains of the berries. Pour the juice into the bottle, and fill the rest with water, warm to 35 degrees and pass it through the sieve again. Juice obtained after the second plum, add to the first part of the wort. Then a water slide is installed and the wine is made in the usual way. After clarification, the wine is removed from the sediment. But in order to prepare a delicious strawberry “champagne”, you need to filter the young wine from the strawberries with a special care. Immediately after removal from the sediment, pour it over the gauze folded in several layers, achieving absolute purity and transparency.
Now pour some wine, warm it and dissolve 1 kg of sugar in it. Combine the sweetened wine with the main mass, mix and pour into prepared bottles: it is desirable that they are from under the champagne, from thick glass to avoid breaking when storing sparkling strawberry wine in them. Accordingly, prepare the plugs and wire to fasten them.
Bottled wine soak at 22 degrees for 24-48 hours, so that the fermentation as a result of adding the last portion of sugar to the young wine is re-activated. Then put the bottles in the basement, put them horizontally on the shelf. Store at +14 degrees.
This wine goes well with ice cream.
Strawberry Wine - Tips and Tricks
- Do not discard sediment obtained from strawberry wine. It has already grown a colony of wine yeast, which can be added to the wort to make homemade wine from later fruits. Add sugar and alcohol (vodka, brandy) to it. The resulting tincture is useful for making special alcoholized wine from strawberries or other domestic wines.
- To make wine, use ripe, but not overripe fruit. Sort them carefully to prevent moldy or rotten berries from falling into the wort, which will spoil a bouquet of homemade wine made from strawberries.
- To improve the aroma of homemade wine from fruits that do not have a bright and rich smell, combine these fruits with wild strawberries for making wort. You can also blend the finished wines. Very good blended wines are obtained from white or red currant, gooseberry, mulberry in combination with wild strawberry.
- Never store homemade wines in plastic bottles or jars. Use only glassware. Plastic containers when interacting with acids contained in wine, distort the taste and smell of the drink. In addition, such compounds of tartaric acid, alcohol and the substances that make up the plastic, unsafe for health.
