Easy Strawberry Wine Recipe - Perfect for Beginners (2024)

FAQs

How to make wine at home for beginners? ›

Thoroughly mash fruit, add four crushed Campden tablets, cover with cheesecloth and allow container to stand four hours at room temperature. Add 10 cups sugar syrup, lemon juice, tea and yeast and allow seven days to ferment at a temperature between 60-70º F, stirring thoroughly twice daily.

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5 lbs of strawberries per US gallon is a minimum -- if you have the fruit, double it to 10 lbs/gallon. You'll get better strawberry flavor. 2 lbs of sugar per gallon is probably fine. If you're being cautious, add 1-3/4 lb sugar per gallon and check the SG.

I like to use Champagne yeast because it is a more neutral flavor, versus using a beer or wine yeast. Fermentation will now take place over the next 2-3 weeks. I always like to give my wine this amount of time just to make sure the fermentation process is complete.

The fermentation process for alcohol from strawberries typically takes around 2-4 weeks. However, the exact time may vary depending on factors such as the room temperature and the specific yeast strain used.

Grapes make for fast, clean fermentation, which at least partly explains why they're the top fruit for winemaking. You can harness their power by blending with other fruits. Peaches are messy to use, but peach wine delivers great aroma in a full-bodied white wine.

The most general guidelines the Wine Wiz can give you for aging wines from fruits, vegetables and herbs are these: Always cellar any wine at least six months before opening the first bottle and try to consume within three or four years.

You can of course still use bread yeast as all yeast performs the same function – converting sugar to alcohol – but your wine will likely have a much lower alcohol content than normal. The yeast best suited for baking has a lower alcohol tolerance, so it will stop fermenting after alcohol levels reach about 8%.

Strawberries, plums, watermelons, peaches, blackberries, gooseberries, boysenberries, grapefruits, pears, pineapples, persimmons are all very suitable for fruit home wine making, but this list is far from complete. You can see a full list of recipes by visiting our wine making recipe page.

Fresh strawberries: the base of this fun treat. Bubbly wine: like champagne, prosecco, cava or sparkling rosé. Cane sugar: for that dessert-like sweetness and wonderful texture.

How many pounds of strawberries do I need for 5 gallons of wine? ›

About 30 pounds of strawberries are required for every 5-gallon batch of wine. Berries do not have to be capped prior to fermentation. Strawberries are very fruity and acidic, so water and sugar are added to the berry pulp prior to fermentation to reduce the acidity to about 0.8% and increase the sweetness.

Generally speaking, you're looking for a flavor that's somewhere in the range of “slightly tart” and “almost boozy.” If they taste properly boozy, you can absolutely still eat them, but they are quite fermented at this point.

Adding Sugar For Higher Alcohol in Wine

Many wine recipes for producing high alcohol and stronger wines will call for 2 or 3 pounds of sugar per each gallon. And, this is in addition to the sugars that are already being naturally provided by the fruit involved.

The most common yeast associated with winemaking is Saccharomyces cerevisiae which has been favored due to its predictable and vigorous fermentation capabilities, tolerance of relatively high levels of alcohol and sulfur dioxide as well as its ability to thrive in normal wine pH between 2.8 and 4.

In general, properly stored homemade wine can last for several years, but it is best consumed within 1-2 years for optimal quality and flavor. To store homemade wine properly, it is important to follow these steps: Store the wine in a cool, dark place: Ideal temperatures for wine storage are between 45-65°F (7-18°C).

The first, and most important, step is the fermentation process, which happens when the yeast eats sugar, either in the fermentables or that you've added, and converts it into alcohol. Fermentation takes roughly two to three weeks to complete fully, but the initial ferment will finish within seven to ten days.

You can expect to be bottling your wine in about 8 to 12 weeks from the time you started the batch, and also anticipate needing to bottle age the wine at least 3 to 4 months, and sometimes up to a year, depending on the fruit.