Early Summer Project: Strawberry Wine

The best season for fresh fruit is upon us and this year I want to try my hand at strawberry wine.  I started this batch of wine on the Fourth of July.  I wasn't able to get any fresh strawberries at the local farmers market, so I had to settle on three pounds of fresh strawberries from the local grocery store.

The recipe itself is quite simple.  First I put on a pot of water to boil.  I think I used about three quarts. Next I washed and cut the tops off of all the strawberries and then sliced them into chunks.  I mixed the strawberries with two pounds of sugar, some yeast nutrient and some acid blend that I bought from a wine making supply store.  Once the water was boiling I poured it over the strawberry mixture and stirred it until the sugar dissolved.  I allowed the mixture to cool until it was about 85 degrees at which point I added the wine yeast to the mix.  I gave it all a good stir and then covered it and put it in the back room to ferment for a week, stirring the mixture once a day.  At the end of the week, I poured the mixture through a strainer to remove all the strawberry bits, then transferred it into a one gallon glass carboy.  I topped it off with more water, then fitted an airlock on to the top and put it in the closet to continue fermenting.  Once a month I will rack the wine into a new carboy until the wine is clear.  Once it clears it is ready to bottle.  I'm sure it will be months before I even get to taste this wine, but I'm positive it will be a drink worth the wait.