# Back Sweetening Question



## Powerman (Nov 12, 2013)

Hello from chilly central Ohio. (got our first dusting of snow last night)

Anyway.. My wife likes, no strike that, loves Concord wine. This year I was able to obtain enough concord grapes from a local vineyard to do a 6 gallon batch. My wife likes her wines dry but does not get that the concord wines she has had in the past were not completely dry. From what I have been able to gather from the winery that we always buy her concord from, is that it is slightly back sweetened. Can anyone tell me what you would expect a concord to be sweetened to in order to have a crisp, grapey flavor that is not over-sweet? I do not have a lot of experience back-sweetening (my blueberry ended up a little to sweet this year - my first back-sweetening attempt) but I was thinking in the 1.005 to 1.008 range??

Any help would be appreciated!!

- Tom


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## Powerman (Nov 12, 2013)

A few things I did not mention:

1. It fermented dry to .990
2. Final ABV was roughly %13.1 OG: 1.09
3. No starting acid or PH as I had not progressed that far in my testing knowledge or testing equipment procurement at that time.


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## Rocky (Nov 12, 2013)

Powerman, I would do a bench test to see what amount of back sweetening is to your and your wife's liking. With an SG on 0.990, your wine is very dry at this point. If you have a bottle of the store bought wine that you like, why not take the SG of that wine and see approximately where it stands. I say approximately because the ABV may differ. Once you know that, make up some simple syrup (2 parts sugar to 1 part water dissolved over medium heat, not boiling). Take a sample of your wine and try to add enough of the syrup of bring the wine to the SG of the store bought wine, note how much syrup you added to a known quantity of your wine, taste it and see it is either too dry or too sweet. Make adjustments accordingly.

*EDIT: Be sure to treat your wine with Potassium Sorbate before sweetening in order to prevent re-fermentation.*


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## jjduen (Nov 12, 2013)

I back sweetens mine using extra concord juice I held back. The juice was only around 1.055 so I was able to add a respectable amount back to get a 1.010 gravity and for me it had a semi- sweet with a good concord flavor. 

I got this procedure and levels from one of my local wineries who has some of the best berry tasting products. 

I am fortunate to live in extreme NE Ohio where I have a dozen wineries within a 20 minute drive and some are very willing to help us newbees.


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## Rocky (Nov 12, 2013)

Powerman, I like the idea that jjduen posted above better than using simple syrup. I think you will get a much richer concord taste. Great idea there. Again, use the sorbate first and then add the concord juice.


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## wineforfun (Nov 12, 2013)

Powerman said:


> Hello from chilly central Ohio. (got our first dusting of snow last night)
> 
> Anyway.. My wife likes, no strike that, loves Concord wine. This year I was able to obtain enough concord grapes from a local vineyard to do a 6 gallon batch. My wife likes her wines dry but does not get that the concord wines she has had in the past were not completely dry. From what I have been able to gather from the winery that we always buy her concord from, is that it is slightly back sweetened. Can anyone tell me what you would expect a concord to be sweetened to in order to have a crisp, grapey flavor that is not over-sweet? I do not have a lot of experience back-sweetening (my blueberry ended up a little to sweet this year - my first back-sweetening attempt) but I was thinking in the 1.005 to 1.008 range??
> 
> ...



I think the 1.005 is a good starting point. You can always add more if need be. Get it to the point that you/she thinks it is ok, and call it good as it will sweeten/mellow a little more with time in the bottle/carboy.

Also, good recommendations from Rocky and jjduen.


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## Powerman (Nov 12, 2013)

Rocky - Not looking forward to making any bottle bombs and have Sorbate on hand.. Unfortunately, we have not been out to Amish Country (Sugar Creek) this year where she always buys her concord and we are out! (no chance to compare unfortunately)

JJDUEN - That sounds feasible, but I worry about potentially affecting the flavor profile. I volunteered at a local vineyard this year and learned that most concord juice is "hot-pressed" in order to extract more color and the flavor is not necessarily what we get from fermenting straight concord grapes. 

I just want to give my wife a wine that is the closest semblance to what she's used to. Thanks for all the replies so far!

-Tom


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## GreginND (Nov 12, 2013)

For concord and other labrusca wines I find about 3% sugar suits my tastes. Some like it more sweet. It is all about the balance, so try some samples with different sweetness levels. I accidentally did some sweetening trials on a beta grape wine not remembering that I and already sweetened it. It ended up at 6% sugar and it tastes pretty good.


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## Powerman (Nov 12, 2013)

One thing I have learned from the Blueberry wine I did over the summer was that when I back-sweetened it, it took a day or two for the flavor profile to balance out. I was impatient (not the best thing in winemaking) and added more of the simple syrup to the wine shortly after initially sweetening it. I thought at the time, "Ok this is where I want it." A few days later I was surprised how sweet the wine had actually become (after things balanced out. - Lesson learned!

- Tom


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## jjduen (Nov 12, 2013)

I did mine by a method a very old winery owner told me to do and I used fresh picked Concords hand squished and natural fermented with lees. Did not add any external yeasts. 

But for me around here, most of the wineries use cold press method.


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## ffemt128 (Nov 13, 2013)

My concord I ususally take to 1.008 - 1.012. I think last year I ended up going to 1.015 just to offset the acid a little more. I was happy. It didn't taste too sweet at all.


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## wineforfun (Nov 13, 2013)

GreginND said:


> For concord and other labrusca wines I find about 3% sugar suits my tastes. Some like it more sweet. It is all about the balance, so try some samples with different sweetness levels. I accidentally did some sweetening trials on a beta grape wine not remembering that I and already sweetened it. It ended up at 6% sugar and it tastes pretty good.



Greg,
How are you figuring the percentage of sugar? 
I have heard some speak of "5% residual sugar". 

Is this a calculation of hydrometer readings?


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## Powerman (Nov 13, 2013)

On a side note, Last night I took a couple of Oz of the concord out with the wine thief and added a tiny bit of simple syrup (always have some in the fridge, the wife likes her iced tea dry and I like mine sweet). I let it sit for about an hour and brought it to the wife and asked her to sample it.. She smelled it and then took a sip.. Her face lit up and she said "Wow, this is just like the wine we buy... I told you they don't sweeten it!" Then I told her I had sweetened it some, to drive home the point I got a second glass and let her taste some w/o any sweetening... Watching her face pucker up was priceless!

Anyway, I am going to test both backsweetening with a simple syrup and by using store bought juice to see which one the wife likes best. Thanks for all the comments and suggestions!

- Tom


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## djrockinsteve (Nov 13, 2013)

Do a test before fully sweetening. Start at 1.000 though probably too dry. Move up to 1.004, etc from there. Do a small batch and take small taste tests. Record final reading. 

Calculate and back sweeten. 

There is a tutorial in the TutoriL section on here that can help you.


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## bkisel (Nov 13, 2013)

Powerman said:


> On a side note, Last night I took a couple of Oz of the concord out with the wine thief and added a tiny bit of simple syrup (always have some in the fridge, the wife likes her iced tea dry and I like mine sweet). I let it sit for about an hour and brought it to the wife and asked her to sample it.. She smelled it and then took a sip.. Her face lit up and she said "Wow, this is just like the wine we buy... I told you they don't sweeten it!" Then I told her I had sweetened it some, to drive home the point I got a second glass and let her taste some w/o any sweetening... Watching her face pucker up was priceless!
> 
> Anyway, I am going to test both backsweetening with a simple syrup and by using store bought juice to see which one the wife likes best. Thanks for all the comments and suggestions!
> 
> - Tom



Hi Tom,

For years my wife has said she prefers a "dry" wine but since starting this wine making hobby we've learned that she really prefers an off dry wine. She has fallen in love with the two back sweetened Pinot Grigio's I've made for her. And what's really nice is this is from $75.00 RJS VdV kits. BTW, next week I'm starting an RJS California Muscat for her which wouldn't surprise me if it turns out she likes it even better than the Pinot Grigio.


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## GreginND (Nov 14, 2013)

wineforfun said:


> Greg, How are you figuring the percentage of sugar? I have heard some speak of "5% residual sugar". Is this a calculation of hydrometer readings?


 5% would be 5 grams in 100 mL or 50 grams in 1 liter. I simply add the appropriate amount of sugar based on the volume of wine. I don't bother correcting for the added volume the sugar adds but if you want to be very precise you would have to figure that in.


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## wineforfun (Nov 14, 2013)

GreginND said:


> 5% would be 5 grams in 100 mL or 50 grams in 1 liter. I simply add the appropriate amount of sugar based on the volume of wine. I don't bother correcting for the added volume the sugar adds but if you want to be very precise you would have to figure that in.



I gotcha. Thanks.


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## Turock (Nov 15, 2013)

And since you didn't do any acid adjustment, it begs the question if you need a bit more sugar to balance the acid. We make a LOT of concord. We always adjust to a PH of 3.4 and only sweeten enough to give balance to the wine. When acids are in an acceptable range, it takes less sugar to get the correct perception of sweetness.

As others have said--be careful with the sugar because once the bottle has rested, the sweetness changes. 

One way to do this is to take a bottle of your wife's favorite concord and do an SG test on it with your hydrometer to see where they have the sugar at. Then you might have a better idea of what you're shooting for.

By the way--if you want a concord with deep, red color always do a warm ferment on the grapes. We isolate our ferment in a small room and add an electric heater to the room to about 80 degrees. That warm ferment pulls the color out of the skins very nicely. And, of course, pressing always adds good color too. A cool ferment on concord will yield a rose colored wine.


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