I’d like to add strawberries to my wine. What is the proper procedure for this?
Freezing the strawberries first concentrates the sugar, breaks down the cell walls and aids the pectic enzyme considerably. Thaw completely, then cull through the strawberries, discarding any unsound ones and removing any stems and greenery. Chop them roughly and put in a sterilized nylon straining bag tied closed. Crush them with your hands inside the primary. Ferment 7-10 days, gently squeeze, and discard. Continue fermentation as instructed with your kit. OPTIONAL: If you have a grape or fruit press and additional strawberries, do the following. As the wine is finishing, stabilize it, wait 7-10 days for dead yeast to fall out, then rack. Using the fruit press, press the juice from another 2 lbs of strawberries, add the juice to the wine and bottle immediately. This will dilute the wine a bit, but will add a bouquet to the wine like you can’t imagine. But, you MUST stabilize the wine first or you’ll pop your corks (or worse, your bottles will explode).
