"Perfect Strawberry Wine Recipe: How to Make the Best Homemade Strawberry Wine Part Two"

I promise you, once you start this hobby, you will never, ever, ever, ever need to go to the store again for store bought wine. Hello, hello, hello. If you're new here, my name is Dominique. Welcome. If you're returning, hey, I'm so excited that you're back. Hopefully you're here for part two of the strawberry wine, because it's been about a month. The wine is ready for the next step. And it's time to start bottling our strawberry wine. So your wine can look just like this. Oh, my gosh. So let's just hop right into the video. If you're new here, no worries. Let me get you right up to speed. We left off in the last video by racking our wine and letting it sit to clear. That means all of the dead yeast, all of that sediment falling to the bottom. And it's been about a month later. And as you can see, our wine is now crystal clear. So we're going to go ahead and get into the next steps. So first, you want to make sure you sanitize everything and get the additives out that you will need. We're going to need a Camden tablet. And we're also going to need some potassium sorbate. But make sure you pay attention because we will not be using them both at the same time. So in order for the wine to be ready to bottle, you add in the Camden tablet first, also known as metabisulfite. And then we're going to wait 24 hours and add in the potassium sorbate after. So I suggest taking two sanitized spoons. Nothing super complicated. And just make sure you crush it up. You really, really want to try to crush it up as fine as you can and add it into your wine. Put the lid on top with an airlock after you gently mix it in. Set it to the side for 24 hours. Now, I like to plan stuff out. So I like to work on my simple syrup around the same time as well and just let it sit in the fridge until I'm ready to use it. Personally, I measure out about two pounds of sugar. But this is all going to be different based on how sweet you want your wine. I like a semi sweet to sweet wine. So I just measure out two pounds of sugar and add enough water to cover the top. That is how you make a simple syrup. You want to go ahead and place it on low to medium heat. Do not let this get to a boil because you could burn the simple syrup and it could just be a mess once it is kind of clear. You want to set that aside. You could put it in the fridge, put it in a container until you're ready to use it. So it's been about 24 hours. Now what? Well, the Camden tablet always leaves a little bit of film at the top. So I suggest for best result, racking that off. And also there's going to be some natural sediment at the bottom. Sometimes if your wine doesn't have that, then it's your lucky day because my wine always has some sediment at the bottom. Remember, it's important to prepare everything that you're going to be using. Anything that will touch the wine needs to be sanitized. And no, you cannot sanitize with dish soap. I got asked that question a lot in my last video. You cannot sanitize with dish soap. OK, this is the most important part of the wine process, in my opinion. So now it is just time to rack off our wine, which simply means transferring it from one container to the next. Make sure you're not getting that sediment at the bottom, because I prefer for my wine to be very clear and it's aesthetically pleasing. And I want that for you. So don't get any of that gunk at the bottom. And y'all look at the color on this. Strawberry wine is one of my favorite wines. And feel free to play around with the flavors. I added some lavender to my wine. Let it sit for about a week. And I had this beautiful strawberry lavender flavor. Absolutely delicious. Did not get the bottom. You don't want that sediment. OK, let it go. I know it's like, but that wine, you could pour it, you could drink it. Just let it go. So now we're going to sanitize and add our potassium sorbet. Potassium sorbet acts as a stabilizer. So when you hear people say they're going to stabilize the wine, this is what they mean. So it does not kill the yeast or stop fermentation, but it will stop the existing yeast from further multiplying as they usually would in the presence of sugar. So typically potassium sorbet is added when we're back sweeping. It's important to know that you do not ever want to add potassium sorbet during fermentation or before fermentation because it can stop the wine from fermenting. So I like to let my potassium sorbet sit for about two hours. That is what's suggested. And I use about half a teaspoon per gallon of wine as well. In the meantime, I like to sanitize my bottles because when I'm ready to bottle my wine, I'm ready to bottle my wine. So I suggest you sanitize your bottles in the meantime. That way, all the sanitizer can go ahead and dry because you don't have to rinse this off either in the bottles and just be ready to go. Don't forget to sanitize your corks as well. You know, your sanitizer is still good to go when the pH is under three. OK, so I'm just showing all the pH there. Let's talk about cork sizes. There's a few different cork sizes. I recommend using number eight corks. They will allow your wine to last long enough. And they're pretty affordable as well. You do synthetic corks, non-synthetic corks. And I just find them on Amazon. It is important to go ahead and sanitize your corks. And then you should always have something on hand so you can mix the sugar up. I suggest adding your simple syrup in slowly because everybody likes a different type of wine. Everyone's preferences are different. So I may like a semi-sweet wine. You may like a dessert wine. So you really just want to slowly add it in. Go ahead, stir it up, and then you want to taste as you go. There is no scientific way to do this. There are no measurements. It's all about what it is that you like. And remember, I said that you could play around with other flavors. So I had some strawberry syrup on hand. I went ahead and added that and it turned out to be amazing. I didn't add too much because you don't want it to taste super artificial. But you can also play around with making your own syrup. So I've made strawberry syrups at home before, nectarine syrups, any of that. So, yes, it is very important for you to taste your wine and adjust as you go. I also suggest tasting your wine anytime that you're racking it as well. So when you're racking it into secondary fermentation before you let it sit and clear, taste it. See if you like it. Have other people taste it. Get some constructive feedback and then go from there. I can already tell by smelling it, it's a little too acidic. So by the time you see this video, I'm going to already adjust the acid in the whole recipe, but it's still I can still tell it's going to taste good. OK, so I like that. Now, let's get some nice, sweet, yes, you get a little bit of sourness, just slightly of this. I'm a tart person, so, yeah, the pH on this could be a little higher, higher because it's a little tart, but I think it's really good. I do think it's really, really good. If you're a beginner, it's really, really good. We made a strawberry lavender that I bottled yesterday. That one was a lot better. I need to teach you how to make this. But this one is really, really good. So. Let's go ahead, get to bottling. This is how much simple syrup I have left over. It was like up to here, so we use quite a bit of it. So like I said, the acid was a little off in this recipe. So. Whatever, I use a lot more than I intended, but once you get your wine to your desired sweetness, it's now time to bottle. So that is done by using the siphon and transferring it from the carboy into the bottle. Now, this can be a little tricky if you're doing it by yourself. So you really want to keep an eye on it because the bottles can fill up really, really quick. And then you can have wine everywhere. And there is nothing more annoying than wasting wine all over the floor because it takes months for this to even get into the bottle. So make sure you're paying attention to that. I just like to slowly raise the siphon once it's near the top and that will naturally slow down the wine from coming out of the siphon. I like to level it off just for aesthetic reasons and so the cork can fit, but if you have a bottle like mine that is kind of halfway full or not all the way there, no worries. You can put a lid on that and you can just drink it. Honestly, you don't have to age it. You can just drink it. I do prefer to let my wine age for a few months to a few years, but you could drink it right away. So now this is the handy dandy corker that you could find on Amazon. You put the cork in there and then you pull the levers down and the cork will go into the wine and for the leftovers. Remember, I said you can put a stopper in there and just drink it throughout the week because there's no need to work it. Oxygen doesn't like wine, so it's not going to be too good. Anyways, it's going to eventually go flat. I love printing out my own labels, but that is completely optional. And there you have it. I think that this wine tastes amazing. You can really, really taste the sweetness, which helps the strawberry flavor push through. I do think in the next few months to a year that is going to be a 10 out of 10. Absolutely amazing. The longer you age the wine, the better it can get. So if you don't like it right away, give it a few weeks, give it a few months and you may love it more. But I think this wine was a hit. And I really think if you're just now getting into this hobby, strawberry wine or like a strawberry banana one, let me know if you want that recipe. That is my most popular recipe is a perfect, perfect, perfect, perfect first wine for you to make. So I hope you enjoyed this video. And let me know if you have any questions. I want to touch on some frequently asked questions that I got. OK, one, is it normal for your wine to smell during the fermentation process? Like you to kind of smell yeast? Yes, it is. Sometimes the smell can be a little foul, but it is completely normal. As long as it's airtight, you should be fine. You should only smell it when you open it up to stir it. If you want to make a one gallon batch, what size fermenter should you ferment? I recommend at least one and a half gallon, preferably two gallons for you to go ahead and ferment. And that way you can ensure that you're getting a one gallon back. Can you make wine out of anything? Technically, yes. It just needs to have some fermentable sugars, but you can pretty much make wine out of any fruit. So you can do pineapple, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries. It's your world. We're just living in it. So make what you want. Do I sell my wine? No, I am making this wine for my wedding. I do not sell my wine. I know a lot of people have been hitting me up. Y'all want to buy my wine. I appreciate y'all, but I'm not selling, at least not yet. If you have questions, feel free to drop them in the comments below. Let me know what wine you want to see me make next, because I'm whipping up a bunch of stuff. I've made over 100 wines this year. So let me know and I will try to make wine out of it. Be sure to subscribe for some more wine updates because this is not a goodbye. This is just a see you later because I will see you in the next video. Bye.