"Rick Vanderwal" > wrote:

> what are the ways you would suggest extracting juice only from strawberries?
> pressing in cheesecloth? juice extractor? victorio strainer? just
> curious about the different kinds of methods you might use, especially for
> something as finely pulped and heavily seeded as strawberries.

Frederick offered some good background on extraction approaches. If I
may add to that some pros/cons and effects:

Some winemakers would avoid juice extractors because they (1) can
seriously oxidise and, (2) are hard (in terms of maceration) on the
fruit.

Pressing (cheesecloth style) is a good approach IMO and offers a high
degree of control if you have a good press. It results in better
control of the press fractions (e.g. later press fractions will be
more tannic, so you can include/disclude them) and lower SS which is
more favourable for clean, fruity styles. Though winemakers should be
careful with oxidation.

Heat extraction is a hotly debatable issue. Some winemakers like the
"stewed"/"cooked" flavours that are a result of using heat, others do
not, and believe they drive off valuable aromatics in the process.

If you're aiming for a fruity styled wine, I wouldn't recommend room
temperature processes at all. In fact, a lot of winemakers cool down
their fruit deliberately and then extract the juice immediately
(without any maceration). So that's actually an additional approach. I
would call "cold maceration" (essentially what Frederick called the
"cold process") a different process (which might be seen as an
extention of this). Cold maceration does lead to a different result
however, because you get extended aqeuous extraction- rather than
alcoholic (with pulp fermentations), or none at all (in the case of
immediate juice extraction and juice-only fermentation). I personally
like it, and see it as a good option for fruity styles where a bit of
phenolic character isn't a problem. It also presents a primitive
alternative immediate juice extraction followed by cold settling
technqiues.

All these options are really stylistic choices. For a Strawberry, I'd
personally go for one of the following, depending on how you like the
wine:
(1) (cold-pressed) extraction and juice-only ferementation
(2) cold maceration followed by juice-only ferementation
(3) short (2-3 day) pulp fermentation.

(2) will give more phenolics, and (3) will give even more. Some
winemakers dislike "seed character". (1) will give a more clean,
fruity style but will be lighter.

Ben

Improved Winemaking
http://members.tripod.com/~BRotter/