Thanks Frederick, I might try the pure juice next year.

To Dar -

Sorry it took so long for me to check the recipe and get back to you. I
used the Strawberry #2 from Jacks site. and in looking over my notes I think
I see the problem. I strained and measured the SG of the must as best as
possible and should have been around a 12% wine. But.... never took into
consideration the sugar in the raisins. Which is impossible to measure as
solids. I'm willing to bet that they were responsible for the 2%+ jump.

Tom
"frederick ploegman" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Tom" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Two years in a row I am ending up with a strawberry wine with a
wonderful
> > aroma, taste and color but at a whopping 14%+ alcohol, way to hot for a
> > country wine. Still not sure what I'm going to do with'em. Thinking
> about
> > blending with some of my reisling from 2003? My wife likes that idea!
> >
> > Anyway, I find pulp laden fruit very difficult to get decent SG
readings,
> > and despite reducing the sugar the second year it was still "hot". I
> don't
> > do many non grape wines so any suggestions to speed up the curve would
be
> > appreciated.
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > Tom
> >
>
> Hi Tom
>
> As an alternative to the other suggestions here about what to do in
> futu
>
> About the only time solids have to be left in the primary is when
> alcohol is needed to act as a solvent to extract certain desirable
> components from the solids. (such as is the case with red grape wines).
> Any time this is not the case, the juice is extracted _before_ ferment
> begins and the ferment is conducted as a "juice only fermentation".
> (such as is the case with white grape wines).
>
> With Strawberries, I know of no such benefit, so, why not do these as
> "juice only" in the future. There are any number of ways to extract the
> juice prior assembling the must. Since the method of extraction can
> have a substantial effect on the outcome, you will want to choose the
> method according to your personal tastes.
>
> And, doing it this way will eliminate the problem of adjusting pre-pitch
> PA to get exactly the amount of alcohol you want in the finished wine.
> HTH
>
>
>