Ingredients (for 6 gallon batch):
18 lbs. fresh strawberries
12 lbs of sugar
4 tablespoons of citric acid
3 tsp of pectic enzyme
EC-1118 yeast
8 tsp. yeast nutrient (DAP)
Water (to fill to six gallons)
Remove the green leaves from the top of the fresh strawberries. Place the strawberries in a food processor, a portion at a time, and pulverize them. Put the strawberry "slurry" into the primary fermentation bucket. Create an invert sugar mixture of your sugar and about 8 cups of water. First, heat the water to the boiling point, then start dissolving your sugar while stirring. After the sugar is dissolved, keep at that temperature for 30 minutes. Add the invert sugar mixture, citric acid, pectic enzyme, and yeast nutrient to the bucket. Fill with water to make six gallons, and stir vigorously to add oxygen to the must. Cover the bucket and let it sit until it reaches room temperature.
Spread your EC-1118 yeast over the surface of your must. It may take a couple of days for you to have an active fermentation. Check the Specific Gravity every day, and while it is above 1.00, stir the must vigorously a day to introduce oxygen.
After the Specific Gravity reaches 1.00 or lower, rack into a clean, sanitized carboy. Allow the wine to ferment completely dry, then rack the wine off the lees into another carboy. Stir the wine in the carboy to release the carbon dioxide, then add a 1/4 tsp of Potassium metabisulphite.
Let the wine age for at least six month, preferably a year. It should clear on its own. Bottle it and enjoy!
