Beginners guide to panicking

[ScoPa]

Thought I'd give you alll a laugh and hopefully help other newb panic merchants like me!

The 3 pictures taken below (on a phone hence ropey quality) are taken from the 1st day we started our first ever batch of wine.

Day 1: Strawberry coloured. Slightly more salmon colour due to the size of the fruit and therefore the ratio of outer red to inner white.

Day 2: Quick check in the bucket - give it a stir before work, oh my goodness! Snotty puke!!! Green! How on earth? The first green strawberry wine! PANIC!

Day 7: In the dj phew back to salmon!

I did not expect there to be such a colour change through the different stages. Thankfully pink won out!

[lockwood1956]

It's the vomitty smell that normally gets you


but as you have seen, alls well that ends well eh?

regards
Bob

[ScoPa]

Well I'm a scientist by education so I'm always trying to predict what will happen every time I do something new. But I have to say I've been hit with a number of surprises on this first journey

Most surprising of all is that you can dose it with way too much meta and it still ends up drinkable! Though we've only be sipping so far so no chance to test the hangover properties!

Onward and upward

[lockwood1956]

And best of all.....

this wine took a gold medal at a recent competition I believe


so....NEVER throw wine away

[NorthernWiner]

Congratulations again on the gold!

On a related note, I've never seen a strawberry wine that light in color before. Mine always comes out... well... reddish. Maybe more of a brick red. I'll try to post a photo tonight.

Were the berries unusually large? Or maybe we just grow a different variety in the US?

[ScoPa]

Ahh shucks thanks.

Yep they were huge fruit and really quite white inside as well. We've kept the bottles in a dark place to preserve the colour best we can but it is definitely what I'd call "blush".

One thing Bob has mentioned a few times is the fury of the initial ferment. Well due to our mix up with meta I reckon this ferment was very sloooooooowwww therefore that helped keep the flavours. Not an advert for using too much meta but a good comparison for my raspberry which has less fruity and I went and added too much yeast to start with and it went off like a rocket.

Pam

[fatbloke]

Ahh shucks thanks.

Yep they were huge fruit and really quite white inside as well. We've kept the bottles in a dark place to preserve the colour best we can but it is definitely what I'd call "blush".

One thing Bob has mentioned a few times is the fury of the initial ferment. Well due to our mix up with meta I reckon this ferment was very sloooooooowwww therefore that helped keep the flavours. Not an advert for using too much meta but a good comparison for my raspberry which has less fruity and I went and added too much yeast to start with and it went off like a rocket.

Pam

Dunno about that Pam, just that if the must is balanced then some times it can ferment vvv quickly......

Plus, when you think about what the base flavour is, then think about the yeast as that can make one hell of a difference i.e. Lalvins RC212 is very good with "red" stuff like rasps, blackcurrants, etc etc or K1-V1116, which has "form" for producing wines that can sometimes seem a bit rough when very young, but it's also known for good things with fruit flavours and aromas etc - it's also a goody for being "dominant" i.e. the "k" nonclamenture is indicative of being a "killer" yeast, helping to make it the dominant strain in a ferment..........

some people swear by EC-1118, which is a champagne yeast and will ferment dry very easily, but I not so keen as I feel that it can strip out a lot of those more subtle flavours/aromas.

Either way, it's handy to spend a bit of time and read the various "spec" sheets to have an idea about what's good for what!

regards

jtfb

p.s. were they supermarket strawbs or home grown ???

[ScoPa]

Thanks

I really don't know enough about yeast at the moment. I've bought a selection so I do need to invest the time reading!

The strawbs were PYO from a Fife farm - home of the berry!