Homemade Strawberry Wine 'Forest Glade'

This is absolutely the most important step! Any 'wild' bacteria or mold can spoil the entire batch of wine. Thoroughly wash all equipment (carboy, stopper, fermentation tube, stirrer, funnel) in hot water with dish soap. Then rinse everything very thoroughly several times with hot water to ensure no detergent residues remain. Finally, prepare a disinfecting solution: dissolve 2g of potassium metabisulfite in 1 liter of cold water. Pour the solution into the carboy, cap it, and shake vigorously for a minute to ensure the liquid reaches every wall. Pour out the solution and rinse the carboy TWICE with cold, boiled water. Submerge smaller accessories in the solution for 5 minutes, then rinse.

You need to 'wake up' the yeast before adding it to the mixture. Pour 100 ml of boiled and cooled water at a temperature of 25-30°C into a clean glass or small jar. Add a teaspoon of sugar (about 5g) and mix well until it dissolves. Sprinkle in the contents of the yeast and nutrient sachet. Gently stir and cover the jar with cheesecloth or a piece of paper towel. Set it in a warm place (e.g., near a radiator) for about 20-30 minutes. After this time, a foam should appear on the surface - this is a sign that the yeast is alive and ready to work.

Wash the strawberries thoroughly under running water, then remove the stems. Discard any fruits that are bruised or moldy. Transfer the clean fruits to a large, sterilized fermentation bucket or a stainless steel pot. Mash them very thoroughly using a potato masher or clean hands. The goal is to break them down and release as much juice as possible. Do not use a blender - crushed seeds can give the wine a bitter taste.

In a large pot, bring 2 liters of water to a boil. Remove the pot from the heat. Add 1 kg of sugar (leave the remaining 0.5 kg for later) and citric acid. Stir vigorously with a whisk or spoon until all the sugar and citric acid are completely dissolved. Set the syrup aside to cool completely - it must reach room temperature (below 30°C) before you combine it with the fruits and yeast.

Pour the cooled sugar syrup into the crushed strawberries along with the previously prepared, foamed yeast starter. Add the remaining liter of boiled, cold water. If you are using a vanilla pod, cut it in half lengthwise and scrape the seeds into the mixture, also adding the empty pod inside. Mix everything very thoroughly for 2-3 minutes using a long, sterilized stirrer. Carefully pour everything into a glass carboy using a funnel. The carboy should be filled to a maximum of 3/4 of its volume so that the foam produced during fermentation does not overflow. Close the carboy with a stopper and a fermentation tube, into which pour a little water (up to the marked level).

After 1-2 days, vigorous fermentation should begin. You will notice intense gas release (the characteristic 'bubbling' in the fermentation tube) as well as the fruits rising and forming foam on the surface. This stage will last about 5-7 days. Once a day, gently stir the contents of the balloon (making circular movements with the entire vessel) to prevent the formation of a dry 'skin' of fruit on the surface, which could lead to mold development.

After about 7 days, when the intense bubbling stops, add the second portion of sugar. In a small pot, heat 0.5 liters of young wine taken from the fermenter. Add the remaining 0.5 kg of sugar and stir over low heat until the sugar completely dissolves. Do not boil! Cool the syrup to room temperature and pour it back into the fermenter. Gently stir the mixture. Fermentation will briefly pick up again, and then enter a quiet phase that will last 2-4 weeks. Bubbling will become much less frequent (once a minute or less).

After about 4-6 weeks from the start, when bubbling in the fermentation tube has completely stopped and a thick layer of sediment from the fruit and dead yeast has settled at the bottom of the carboy, it's time for the first racking. Place the carboy with the wine on a table or chair, and set a clean, sanitized second carboy on the floor. Insert one end of the sanitized hose into the carboy with the wine, making sure it doesn't touch the bottom and draw in the sediment. Suck the wine (like siphoning fuel) and place the other end of the hose in the empty carboy. The wine will start to flow by gravity. Pour all the liquid, leaving the sediment at the bottom. Fill the new carboy to the top (leaving only a few cm of free space under the cork), seal it with a fermentation tube, and set it in a cool place (10-15°C) for further clarification.

Now begins the stage of patience. The wine will slowly clarify over the next 2-3 months. During this time, a small amount of fine sediment may settle at the bottom. If this happens, repeat the process of siphoning the wine off the sediment (step 8). The wine is ready for bottling when it is perfectly clear and no sediment is forming anymore.

Prepare clean, sterilized wine bottles and new, disinfected corks. Using the same hose as for siphoning, pour the clarified wine into the bottles, filling them almost to the top (leave about 2-3 cm of space from the cork). Cork the bottles using a hand corker. You can place labels on the bottles with the name of the wine and the production date. Store the bottles lying down in a cool, dark place for at least 3 months - during this time, the flavor of the wine will further develop and mellow. It will be best after about 6 months from bottling.