Hi folks -
A strawberry, started in June 06, racked several times, filtered and bottled July 07, sg 1.006.
Yesterday, opened a couple and they were quite sparkling. Tasted good, though.
3 bottles left, and I'd like to keep them for a year or two to see how they mature.What should I do to get rid of the fizz?
Would you consider opening the bottle and put it in the fridge for a day before drinking it?
This will let the carbon dioxide escape, without losing too much of the fresh flavor of the strawberry wine.
This carbonation may have occurred because the wine finished fermenting in the bottle (bottled at sg 1.006 is not quite dry). Did you do sterile filtration (less than 0.5 micron pore size filter)? If so, then either somehow some of the yeast got around the filter, or else the wine got re-inoculated from stray yeast in your 'winery'. Did you do sorbate addition? Both sterile filtration and sorbate addition minimize in-the-bottle fermentation.
Another source of carbonation in-the-bottle is malolactic fermentation occurring after bottling. Strawberries have low (typically about 0.1% by weight) malic acid content, so it could contribute to minor carbonation if MLF occurred in the bottle. If you add an acid mixture (tartaric-citric-malic blend) to adjust your acidity, you increase the malic acid content. Also, if you use grape juice in your recipe, you bring along the malic acid from the grapes. Both can result in uncontrolled in-the-bottle malolactic fermentation. You can induce MLF in strawberry wine by adding ML bacteria just like you would do for grape based wine.
Gene
I'm not a chemist but I'm pretty sure the malic used in acid blends is usually the wrong isomer for ML to work on. Opening it a day early does sound like it would be the ticket for me in this situation; that's great advice. I'm not sure aging strawberry will work out well, it's color seems to fade quickly and it's freshness is it's main virtue as I see it. If you did add sorbate the odor can change to something gawd awful too. I don't use it anymore, it never seems to work out for me.
Joe
The malic acid used in blends is a mixture of the two isomers; only the L-isomer portion will undergo MLF. You are right about the D-isomer not being biologically active.
Gene
Joe Sallustio wrote:
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