Seasonal(ish) Wine - Strawberry

[Col]

(Well, probably not quite seasonal at this stage, because any strawberries in the garden have gone over, but as with all my wines, I freeze the fruit for a couple of weeks first. I think the side of the road boys are still selling them though).

   My two year old strawberry patch really came up trumps this year; after the disaster that was last summer, I had a glut of them this year. So much so that the rest of the family got sick of eating them, leaving me free to freeze 4lbs. of them.

   I searched for a recipe, and settled on one from a certain well known US site, that is supposed to be a little fuller bodied. After adjusting because of the smaller size of the American gallon, I used:-

1600g Strawberries
270g raisins
1360g light brown sugar
2 tsp citric acid
¼ tsp tannin

   I thawed the fruit (which promptly lost its colour – I assume the pigment was absorbed into the strawberries) and crushed them in a sterilised bucket. I then added the chopped raisins and sugar, and then poured in 5 pints of boiling water. I stirred to dissolve, and then left it to cool, adding the acid, tannin, yeast and nutrient when it was down to 20 degrees C.
   
   I stirred what resembled radioactive vomit daily for a week, and then strained the must into a demijohn, topping it up when the risk of a Vesuvius had passed. It's currently at 1.015, and fermenting rather sluggishly, but hopefully it will drop a little yet – that's a bit sweet for my liking. Watch this space...
   

[Will_D]

Have nearly finished a strawberry wine based on 2.5 kgs of frozen plus 0.5 kg of rasberries. The Rassers boost the colour!

If it works then there will be some nice berry cider north side of the old Dublin city limits

[Col]

Bottled the strawbs today. I added finings last week, although it would probably have cleared given time, and it didn't drop much below the 1.015 mark; but it is very nice, and suitable for drinking straight away, methinks. Not all at once, of course...I'll leave at least half a bottle for tomorrow night . It is sweet, obviously, but full-bodied enough to carry the sweetness, and it really retains the flavour of the the little red beauties - unlike many home-brewed wines, where the flavour of the ingredients is all too often lost. Christ, if we ever get another summer, I might just make this again...