Corn-Free,
Dairy-free,
Fermentation,
Festival/Special Occasion Menu,
from scratch,
homebrew,
slow food,
Strawberry,
Summer,
Vegan,
wine
Fresh Strawberry Wine Homebrew
2:32 PM
We picked 6 quarts of strawberries on the Summer Solstice, as you may recall. 2 for eating (and pancakes), 2 for wine, and 2 for strawberry rhubarb jam.
I got the wine going right away that day and it has been wildly fermenting ever since! Yep, needed a blowoff tube again with this batch. Never a dull moment around here!
So here's the recipe for preserving the flavor of the Summer Solstice, that'll be ready just in time for the Winter Solstice... when we can ALL use a little more sunshine (or at least a reminder of it).
Summer Solstice Strawberry Wine
2 quarts strawberries
2 1/2 lbs white sugar
1 package wine yeast
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1 1/2 cups orange juice
the juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon strong black tea (or 1/2 tsp grape tannin)
Wash and hull berries and put them in a 2 gallon container. I used a stainless steel pot, but it's suggested that you use a plastic foodgrade container/bucket.
Stir mixture and then strain the liquid into a 2 gallon carboy (I actually put mine in a 3 liter carboy... and had to discard some of the liquid to make it fit).
In a mason jar, make a yeast starter culture by combining the wine yeast, yeast nutrient, and orange juice. Cover, shake vigorously, and let stand for about an hour until it gets bubbly; then add to the must.
Add the lemon juice and tea stir with a skewer or chopstick, and airlock the fermentation vessel. Allow the mixture to ferment to completion.
When it has finished fermenting (no more bubbles are coming out of the airlock), bottle, cork, and cellar the wine.
Wait at least 6 months before sampling.
