Easy Strawberry Wine Recipe - Perfect for Beginners (2024)

Jump to Recipe

This is our first year making strawberry wine, so I'm not sure exactly what our final product will be like, but the initial stages of the ferment smell wonderful and are packing quite a kick. Due to reader requests, I'm sharing the easy strawberry wine recipe we used.

Easy Strawberry Wine Recipe - Perfect for Beginners (1)

It doesn't get much more straightforward than this unless yougo wild – berries, sugar, yeast, acid, nutrient and water.

Make sure you use good quality berries. There are no tricks or other flavors to cover bad fruit here. Previously frozen berries should work as well as fresh, as long as they are nice and ripe. (Use them as soon as possible after thawing for best color.)

Easy Strawberry Wine Recipe

Adapted from Jack Keller's Winemaking page. Jack says about this wine, “The first is the simplest strawberry wine recipe I know of. Use only the sweetest, freshest berries and you'll be rewarded with an exquisite, delicate wine.”

Ingredients

Directions

For a single batch, place strawberries, sugar and citric acid in a 2 gallon crock. (The berry mix will bubble in the early stages of fermentation and may rise out of a one gallon crock.)

Crush fruit with a potato masher or pastry blender.Cover berry/sugar mix with 5 pints boiling water.

Easy Strawberry Wine Recipe - Perfect for Beginners (2)

Stir wine mustwith wooden spoonto dissolve sugar and simultaneously mash the strawberries.

When cooled to 85°F (29°C), add yeast and yeast nutrient. Cover and stir daily for seven days.

One the 7th day, strain through cheesecloth or a flour sack towel. Transfer to secondary fermentation vessel with airlock. (I used one gallon glass jugs. A carboy would also work.)

Add sterilized water to top up to one gallon of liquid and seal with a fermentation cap. (A fermentation cap is an airlock that allows carbon dioxide to escape but keeps oxygen out.)

Store out of direct sunlight for 30 days. Rack into a clean fermentation vessel. Store for 30 days more, rack again. Allow to settle 3-5 days and bottle when clear.

Age for at least 6 months. Flavor improves up to a year. From Jack's description, this looks like a wine that will not improve with much longer storage, so it's okay to enjoy it young.

Ingredients and Equipment List

To recap, you will need:

A Note on Finding the Best Strawberries

The 2016 strawberry season was a bountiful one at our favorite local u-pick farm, Red Grouse Farm. Becky and her family spend long hours out in the berry patch, tending everything by hand so I don't have to. 😉

They don't use any herbicides or pesticides, and use holistic farming practices that build the soil instead of mining it like conventional farming.

Becky (the owner) and I had a great conversation about some of our favorite soil and permaculture gurus as she helped us fill our strawberry baskets for this wine.

I've had a number of readers ask why we don't grow our own strawberries. We have land, but strawberries are labor intensive, and since I have a source I trust close by, I support their efforts.

Meanwhile, we're focusing on crops I can't find elsewhere, and/or those that are more expensive, like blueberries, raspberries, gooseberries, aronia berries, bush cherries, seaberries, hardy kiwis and others.

Watch out for “Dirty” Berries

If at all possible, get your berries from someone you trust, and ask them what, if anything, they spray.

Conventional strawberries are on the Dirty Dozen list. The Environmental Working Group found 17 different pesticides on a single strawberry sample. There's no way I want to turn that into wine.

Organic strawberries may not be much better.

Recently, a neighbor of mine shared her own concerns about organic strawberries.

She used to buy a large carton of organic strawberries for her family at a local bulk foods club. One of the kids would clean and slice them when they were brought home, and they'd get eaten in a day or two.

This batch was different. No one in the family liked the taste, and eventually they were tossed to the chickens. The chickens refused to eat the organic strawberries.

It's no lab test, but it did me wonder what the heck was on those berries.

What's your favorite way to enjoy strawberries?

My youngest is a huge strawberry fan, so while they're in season we keep a big bowl in the fridge for fresh eating.

To enjoy them year round, I use the recipe in the post12 Ways to Preserve Strawberries – Plus Tips to Keep Berries Fresh Longer.

We also enjoy:

  • Fresh Strawberry Pie
  • Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble
  • Strawberry Shortcake with Strawberry Whipped Cream

What's your favorite way to enjoy strawberries? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Print

Easy Strawberry Wine

Easy Strawberry Wine Recipe - Perfect for Beginners (4)

Print Recipe
★★★★★5 from 3 reviews

Add a little kick to your strawberry season! This homemade strawberry wine recipe comes together in minutes and is ready to enjoy in just a few months.

Ingredients

UnitsScale

  • 3 pounds fresh strawberries
  • 2 pounds granulated cane sugar
  • 2 teaspoons citric acid or wine acid blend
  • 5 pints clean water (non-chlorinated)
  • 1 teaspoon yeast nutrient
  • 1 package of wine yeast

Instructions

  1. For a single batch, place strawberries, sugar and citric acid in a 2 gallon crock. (The berry mix will bubble in the early stages of fermentation and may rise out of a one gallon crock.)
  2. Crush fruit with a potato masher or pastry blender. Cover berry/sugar mix with 5 pints boiling water.
  3. Stir wine must with wooden spoon to dissolve sugar and simultaneously mash the strawberries.
  4. When cooled to 85°F (29°C), add yeast and yeast nutrient. Cover and stir daily for seven days.
  5. One the 7th day, strain through cheesecloth or a flour sack towel. Transfer to secondary fermentation vessel with airlock.
  6. Add sterilized water to top up to one gallon of liquid and seal with a fermentation cap. (A fermentation cap is an airlock that allows carbon dioxide to escape but keeps oxygen out.)
  7. Store out of direct sunlight for 30 days. Rack into a clean fermentation vessel. Store for 30 days more, rack again. Allow to settle 3-5 days and bottle when clear.
  8. Age for at least 6 months. Flavor improves up to a year.

Notes

The option to double or triple the recipe will automatically double or triple the amount of yeast. This in not required. One package of yeast is enough to make up to five gallons of wine.

Easy Strawberry Wine Recipe - Perfect for Beginners (5)
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.

How many pounds of strawberries 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.

What is the easiest fruit to make wine? ›

In many ways, grapes are the easiest fruit from which to make wine, but we also have a lot of expectations for wine made from grapes, a lot of ideas of how it should taste. Plus, wine made from grapes is widely available, so unless you've planted vines specifically to make wine, it's worth exploring other options.

How long should you age strawberry wine? ›

Step 6: Aging your wine (optional)

It is the hardest part of the process, waiting for the final product. The general recommendation is to age at least one month before trying, but you can age for an entire 12 months.

Which yeast is best for wine? ›

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.

What is the best sugar for wine making? ›

Most commonly, granulated sugar is used when wines need added sugar since it doesn't need to be broken down first like complex sugars. Virtually any type of sugar can be used by winemakers who want to experiment with different textures and sweetness levels. This includes brown sugar, molasses, honey, syrups, and more!

Can I make strawberry wine without yeast? ›

There's no yeast or “mother” required, since strawberries have enough natural chemicals to turn the liquid into booze.

What should strawberry wine taste like? ›

It has many detectable flavors that come out cleanly, and all are quite pleasant. You don't need to mask the rough edges with sugars or conditioners, and it tastes fruity even when puckering dry. Strawberry wine makes an impression that's anything but flat or one-dimensional.

How much yeast do you put in fruit wine? ›

Adding Wine Yeast to Your Juice

Typical usage rate for yeast is 1 gm / gallon of juice, but being a little short or a little long is not a problem, as yeast reproduces to reach a number at which fermentation takes place. Being slightly long on usage amount simply gets the fermentation count up that much faster.

What is the cheapest fruit for wine? ›

Known for their distinct sweetness and tropical notes, bananas can be used to make an entire batch of wine or can simply be added to another batch. Costing approximately $1.00 per pound, you'll need 3 lbs of bananas for one batch of wine. Banana wine is one of the cheaper options when it comes to homemade wine.

Why do you put raisins in homemade wine? ›

For home winemakers, raisins (dried grapes) can add body and flavor to a thin or unbalanced wine. They can contribute complexity and a bit of alcohol to an otherwise simple or bland wine. Raisins can improve balance and contribute a more wine-like character to some fruit wines.

How long does homemade strawberry wine last? ›

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.

What is the shelf life of strawberry wine? ›

Fruit wines should be consumed within a year of bottling them. While they have tannins to improve the shelf life, they need to be consumed within two years. Otherwise, the wines begin to taste vinegary and become oxidized.

How do you age wine without it going bad? ›

Best Practices for Storing Wine

Temperature Control: The optimal temperature for storing wine is around 55°F (13°C). Consistency is key; fluctuations in temperature can hasten aging or cause damage. Cooler temperatures slow aging, allowing wines to develop complexity and character over time.

How long does it take to ferment wine? ›

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.

How long does it take to age homemade 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.

Is it cheaper to make your own wine? ›

Wine making doesn't require expensive equipment, chemicals, or cleaning agents. With yeast, sugar, and a simple and inexpensive airlock, you can start small batch vinting wine of your own. With these and a little bit of time, you'll soon be able to enjoy a cheap alternative to store bought vino.

How to turn grape juice into wine? ›

Mix 1 gallon (3.8 L) of preservative-free grape juice, 1 cup (225 g) of granulated white sugar, and a Campden tablet in a fermenter and leave it for 24 hours. Combine warm water, 1 tbsp (14 g) of sugar, and a 0.176 oz (5-g) packet of wine yeast and add the mixture to the fermenter. Let the juice ferment for 5–7 days.

References

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Recommended Articles
Article information

Author: Dong Thiel

Last Updated:

Views: 6288

Rating: 4.9 / 5 (59 voted)

Reviews: 90% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Dong Thiel

Birthday: 2001-07-14

Address: 2865 Kasha Unions, West Corrinne, AK 05708-1071

Phone: +3512198379449

Job: Design Planner

Hobby: Graffiti, Foreign language learning, Gambling, Metalworking, Rowing, Sculling, Sewing

Introduction: My name is Dong Thiel, I am a brainy, happy, tasty, lively, splendid, talented, cooperative person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.