Make Homemade Strawberry Wine

Detailed step by step instructions on how to make 5 gallons of strawberry wine.  This recipe makes a 15% alcohol wine if fermented to complete dryness with a good yeast. Use less sugar for a lower alcohol level.  This recipe with 11 pounds of sugar will yield about 12 % alcohol depending on the amount of sugar in the berries and how well the yeast attenuates. Any amount of strawberries from 10 to 30 pounds can be used for wine depending how much flavor and body is desired, but the amount of sugar must be adjusted to reach the desired alcohol level.  The hydrometer reading should be at least 11% percent potential alcohol, about 1.084 gravity.      
The recipe is:
18 to 22 pounds (14 quarts) of strawberries
12 pounds sugar
2 to 5 cups of sugar to sweeten at bottling
Wine or champagne yeast, I use Lalvin EC-1118
Sulfites, either Campden tablets or metabisulfite powder
2.5 teaspoons pectic enzyme powder (breaks down pectin haze)
2 teaspoons acid blend (adds wine-like flavor balance)
5 teaspoons yeast nutrient (helps fermentation start in fruit)
2.5 teaspoons potassium sorbate(stabilizer crystals) at bottling, if sweetening

Ferment until bubbles stop, about 1 to 2 weeks. Rack wine. Wait one month. Rack again. Wait one month. Bottle and age up to one year.

Real fruit strawberry wine is as good or better than any grape wine, in my opinion.  Listen to George Jones "Tennessee Whiskey" or Deana Carter "Strawberry Wine" while sipping a glass of liquid legend.

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