In Europe strawberries have been cultivated since the XV century. In few centuries it became one of the favorite berries among cottagers. People are used to eating it raw or cooking delicious preserves and compotes from it. However, we’ll find out how to make homemade wine from strawberries. The recipe of this fragrant and tasty beverage is pretty easy, thus even fledgling winemakers would be able to make it.
The key problem here lies in obtaining strawberry juice. You see, strawberries are not very anxious to give it, that’s why you can’t omit using water and sugar. Another important thing – for the most fruit wines we don’t need to wash the fruits, but it’s obligatory to wash strawberries. Otherwise, you’ll end up with an unpleasant earthy taste.
Ingredients:
- Strawberries – 6.5 lb / 3 kg
- Sugar – 4.4 lb / 2 kg
- Water – 0.8 gal / 3 liters
- Wine Yeast
Strawberry Wine Recipe
Preparation:
1. Wash strawberries.
2. Mash cleaned ripe strawberries by hands or with a wooden rolling pin.
3. Dissolve sugar in warm water.
4. Put the strawberry pulp into a fermentation container, add sugar syrup, and thoroughly stir it. Make sure not to fill the container more than ¾ of its volume, otherwise, the must might overflow during the fermentation.
5. Add Wine yeast and also thoroughly stir the must.
6. Close the fermentation container and install airlock and leave it for 5-7 days in a dark place with a temperature of 61-77F° / 16-25°C. In order to prevent mold from appearing and the juice from souring, I suggest you stir the must with a wooden spoon or clean hands every day.
7. After 5-7 days when you see the signs of active fermentation (foaming, hissing sound, and fermented odor), pour the juice from the sediment through a straw. Squeeze the pulp through cheesecloth.
6. Pour all of the fermented juice into a clean fermentation container and again install an airlock for sealing and carbon dioxide removal.
7. Move the container into a dark warm place (65-74F° / 18-23°C) for 36-45 days.

8. After 36-45 days still fermentation should be finished (the airlock will stop bubbling, there will be sediment at the bottom, the must will get brighter). After that you’ll have to pour the new strawberry wine from the sediment through a narrow straw and bottle it for storing. You should make sure that each bottle is tightly sealed with a cork.
9. Leave bottles in a cellar with a temperature of 47-54F° / 8-12°C for infusing. I suggest that allow to age wine for at least 65 days before consuming it, thus its taste will get much better. However, few weeks is also entirely fine!

Finally you’ll end up with a wine with ABV of 16-18 degrees. If that’s too much for you, then at the initial stages you should add twice as much water. In our case it’s 1.6 gal / 6 liters instead of 0.8 gal / 3 liters. This way you’ll end up with a strawberry wine with ABV of 10-12% but shorter shelf-life. Heady wine can be kept for a year or year and a half, light wine – for 6-8 months.