# Back sweetening, how much sugar?



## tmmii

I understand there's a million variables, and ultimately it comes down to what I want the wine to taste like, but I'm trying to find a starting point. 

I have 6 gallons of moscato and 6 gallons of white zin that are done fermenting and I've added potassium sorbate to, is there a starting point on how much sugar I should have on hand? I would rather not have to stop in the middle for a sugar run. 

Thanks for any help


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## Julie

One cup of sugar will raise sg .018 per gallon. I would backsweeten to 1.004, leave it sit for a week, taste and see how you like it, if still too dry add enough to take it to 1.008. Just take is easy when backsweetening.


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## Arne

Like Julie says, go slow with it. It is really easy to put in, getting it back out is no fun. You can ask me how I know. LOL, Arne.


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## olusteebus

google winecalc and download the program. 

When you are entering sg, use NO DECIMALS.

It is a great tool to determine lots of things.


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## Wiz

Last year I made a semi sweet sauvignon blanc for my wife. I found that the higher the sugar content that I began to lose the actual wine taste. My reply is to add the sugar syrup gradually to taste. Forget the various formulas.


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## Runningwolf

tmmii said:


> , is there a starting point on how much sugar I should have on hand? I would rather not have to stop in the middle for a sugar run.
> 
> Thanks for any help


 
I usually always have about 30 pounds laying around. Thats just 3 ten pound bags and a large tupperware container for partial bags. Like you, I hate running out in the middle of a task. Incidently, shopping at Sam's Club there is no real break in buying bigger bags.


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## cimbaliw

Try This post 

I'm not good at this if the link doesn't come through it's here... http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f6/how-much-backsweeten-31934/


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## Turock

Here's another way---add sugar until you are pleased with the taste then take a hydrometer reading. Next time you make the same wine, you can refer to your notes on what SG you are shooting for and how much sugar that reading required. Then you don't have to start from scratch each time. 

You should always have a stockpile of sugar, buying it thru the year when the prices are good. Making wine and then sweetening it takes up a lot of sugar.


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## saramc

In addition to the sorbate you need to add k-meta. The sorbate tends to not work as well without the k-meta. Here is a link to a handy note about sugar, http://www.winepress.us/forums/index.php?/topic/39981-sugar-notes/

But do not add sugar directly to carboy, you need to do a tasting trial with a 4 oz sample, at the same temp you plan to serve at, in order to get a good idea of what you want. And then cut the amount of actual sugar you plan on adding by about 10%, because you usually end up thinking the wine is too sweet if you add the equivalent in your sample. Blitz your granulated sugar in the blender to make it superfine and it will dissolve immediately, no need to make a syrup. I keep 20-30 pounds of granulated sugar on hand, along with a gallon of invert syrup (use for baking all the time, and making flavored coffee syrups).


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## Julie

Well tmmii,

You receive a lot of good information and I am just hoping that you don't see the need to go to another wine forum to get your answer like the link above,


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## saramc

Julie said:


> Well tmmii,
> 
> You receive a lot of good information and I am just hoping that you don't see the need to go to another wine forum to get your answer like the link above,



Well, it is important to give credit where credit is due and I was not aware of the same bundle of info on WMT, otherwise I would have linked to it. Nothing wrong with networking, I know many people who are on both, if not more, forums. It's all good though.


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## Julie

saramc said:


> Well, it is important to give credit where credit is due and I was not aware of the same bundle of info on WMT, otherwise I would have linked to it. Nothing wrong with networking, I know many people who are on both, if not more, forums. It's all good though.


 
I agree, I have seen so many times where someone cuts and paste and takes ownership of someone else's knowledge as if they have been making wine for years instead of the two or three that they have been making.

And yes there are a handful of us who are also on other forums but we keep them separate. LOL, I don't think you would ever hear of Google telling people to go to Bing to search an item. Samething here, both forums have a lot of respect for each other but common sense leads them to only promote their own forum.


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## jamesngalveston

julie, after you sorbate and back sweeten, wait a week, and find it still needs some sweetness , do you sorbate again, are work off of what was added before..
thanks


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## Runningwolf

You only add sorbate once, regardless of how much or many times you add sugar.


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## Julie

jamesngalveston said:


> julie, after you sorbate and back sweeten, wait a week, and find it still needs some sweetness , do you sorbate again, are work off of what was added before..
> thanks



You work off of what you have already added. Once sorbate is added you don't need to add more. Also, once you get to the level of sweetness that you desire, make sure you write it down so next time around you know where you want it. Also remember when sweetening a wine stop just short of where you think you want it because it does get slightly sweeter with aging.


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## Calamity Cellars

Julie said:


> Well tmmii,
> 
> You receive a lot of good information and I am just hoping that you don't see the need to go to another wine forum to get your answer like the link above,



Why not? It's all one hobby. Many of us use multiple forums, books, web sites, and in my case commercial winemaking school to learn our craft. If www.winepress.us has a great consolidated source of information then there should be no problem posting a link to that.

(Full disclosure: I am a moderator over there but do cruise this site quite often.)


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## Julie

Oh calm down Calamity Cellars, it was just a little jokey thing. No one is getting trashed or stopped from going to other wine sites!


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## dessertmaker

What?! There's other wine forums? No way!

Cheap imitators.

I spit in their must! 

After gargling vinegar.


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## tmmii

So I was adding a quarter tsp of kmeta after racking, I've racked three times since fermentation was done, added potassium sorbate per the instructions, then after a couple weeks added the sugar. Taste is dead on, do I need to do anything else prior to bottling? How do I know if anything needs degassed? 

Also, I'm overly paranoid at the moment, had a person whose been making wine for over 10 years give me a Riesling I put into my wine fridge that I found a month ago empty with the wine and cork at the bottom of my fridge. Will I be ok with how I've added the chemicals?


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## Julie

tmmii said:


> So I was adding a quarter tsp of kmeta after racking, I've racked three times since fermentation was done, added potassium sorbate per the instructions, then after a couple weeks added the sugar. Taste is dead on, do I need to do anything else prior to bottling? How do I know if anything needs degassed?
> 
> Also, I'm overly paranoid at the moment, had a person whose been making wine for over 10 years give me a Riesling I put into my wine fridge that I found a month ago empty with the wine and cork at the bottom of my fridge. Will I be ok with how I've added the chemicals?



You should be, it was done fermenting correct? And something you always must understand, you have no idea how this other person makes his wine, just because he has been a winemaker for 10 years does not mean that he is making wine correctly. I have a friend who claims is a great winemaker. Some years he is and some years he is not. He does not use a hydrometer nor any chemicals. He just follows the same steps his father followed.


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## tmmii

Julie said:


> You should be, it was done fermenting correct? And something you always must understand, you have no idea how this other person makes his wine, just because he has been a winemaker for 10 years does not mean that he is making wine correctly. I have a friend who claims is a great winemaker. Some years he is and some years he is not. He does not use a hydrometer nor any chemicals. He just follows the same steps his father followed.



I've learned that I can ask 3 people the same question and get 5 different answers lol. 

Another taste of the moscato has a carbon after taste. How do I eliminate that?


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## Julie

Lol, you are right, you will get a pile of different answers! How old is the moscato? You just might need to let time do its thing.


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## tmmii

Julie said:


> Lol, you are right, you will get a pile of different answers! How old is the moscato? You just might need to let time do its thing.



Was juice from October.


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## Julie

Give it until October. My Moscato really came into it's own when it was a year old,


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## tmmii

Ok, will do. Anything else I should do in the mean time or just let it sit?


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## seth8530

Make sure that the air lock is topped off with water and or water-kmeta mix and or water-kmeta-vodka/gin/whiskie mix.


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## Julie

just let it sit, I think you are going to be pleasantly surprised when you open a bottle this fall.


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## tmmii

So the co2 just works itself out naturally?


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## seth8530

Yeah it will do that under airlock given enough time. No rules against forced degassing exist tho.


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