# Muscadine sweetening question



## LCW (Apr 15, 2012)

I'm about ready to rack for the second time And before I'm finished and ready to bottle I'm pretty sure I'll need to add sugar.After adding the sugar I'll add the p sorbate then do I have to stabilize the wine.As you can tell I'm pretty new to thisThanks LCW


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## Julie (Apr 15, 2012)

add k-meta and sorbate BEFORE you add the sugar. Also, add the sugar slowly, like add so much, taste to see that is where you want it and if not add more. Once you are at the level that is pleasing to you, then take a hydrometer reading so you know what sweet level that you like.


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## LCW (Apr 16, 2012)

Thanks I'm still concerned about the cold stabilizing should vI do it or not.LCW


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## Julie (Apr 16, 2012)

I have never cold stabilized by muscadine wine and never had any diamonds but I do age my wines in a basement that is roughly 55 degrees in the winter.


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## LCW (Apr 16, 2012)

My basement stays around 55-60


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## Julie (Apr 16, 2012)

Then I say you are safe, age in carboys for at least four months, I usually do 6 months


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## LCW (Apr 17, 2012)

It shall be done LCW


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## LCW (Apr 17, 2012)

ARE you adding a solution or just sugar.LCW


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## donaltman3 (Apr 17, 2012)

I've always back sweetened with regular sugar added to enough grape juice to top off... if it doesn't need to be "topped off" I usually catch some when transfering to the other 2ndary in a seperate container. I use just enough wine or juice to easily liquify the sugar. Then add it back to the rest of the wine and very slowly mix it in.

I make 10 or 15 gallons of muscadine wine each year for as long as I can remember.. I've always done it that way and always had good results. I don't backsweeten until its sat and cleared completly usually around 3 months or so...Then I let it sit 3 more months before it gets bottled.


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## Julie (Apr 18, 2012)

Like donaltman3, I take some of the wine, warm that up and dissolve the sugar in that wine then add it back to the rest.


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## LCW (Apr 18, 2012)

Sorry to be so long to respond but it is turkey season in Tn.Thanks for the advice How much sorbate to you generally add.LCW


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## donaltman3 (Apr 18, 2012)

In my muscadine wines I haven't ever used it.....my grandfather whom taught me wine making didn't use it. And didn't hear about it until I had already made hundreds of bottles of wine.. so I figured why start now.

I let my wine go comepletely dry and filter really well with paper cone style filters (very fine.) I then let it sit a good while before and after I backsweeten...


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## Julie (Apr 18, 2012)

LCW said:


> Sorry to be so long to respond but it is turkey season in Tn.Thanks for the advice How much sorbate to you generally add.LCW



LOL, yea turkey season is not here yet but soon and my husband will be spending all his time hunting. 

I believe it is 1/4 tsp per gallon, look on the bottle it will tell you how much to use.



donaltman3 said:


> In my muscadine wines I haven't ever used it.....my grandfather whom taught me wine making didn't use it. And didn't hear about it until I had already made hundreds of bottles of wine.. so I figured why start now.
> 
> I let my wine go comepletely dry and filter really well with paper cone style filters (very fine.) I then let it sit a good while before and after I backsweeten...



That is still risky, while I understand you are making sure that there is no yeast in the wine, what is to stop wild yeast from getting into your wine and starting to ferment? Yeast is in the air and if you are adding sugar back into a wine, I would be concern with it starting to ferment again.


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## donaltman3 (Apr 19, 2012)

I guess I've just been lucky ?!? My family tended to drink their wine very young and made more often... I wanted to store mine longer (2 years before drinking) So I use campden after it gets backsweetened and before I bottle it. I've never used sorbate. If you think about it people didn't have access to sorbate until pretty recently as far as wine making goes. 

I've never cold stabilized my muscadine wine either.. I live in south Georgia.. where 100 plus days are very common... I do keep it cool and dark.
but usually around 72 ish.


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## Julie (Apr 19, 2012)

donaltman3 said:


> I guess I've just been lucky ?!? My family tended to drink their wine very young and made more often... I wanted to store mine longer (2 years before drinking) So I use campden after it gets backsweetened and before I bottle it. I've never used sorbate. If you think about it people didn't have access to sorbate until pretty recently as far as wine making goes.
> 
> I've never cold stabilized my muscadine wine either.. I live in south Georgia.. where 100 plus days are very common... I do keep it cool and dark.
> but usually around 72 ish.



If you plan on aging for at least 2 years I really think you need to have the sorbate. Yes I agree sorbate wasn't always accessible but like you said the wine was drank at an early age. I'm quite sure there were years where the wine just did not come out quite right.


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## LCW (Apr 20, 2012)

Thanks again all for the info my wine racked up very well looks like I'll probably need it we just had a frost that did a lot of damage.LCW


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## donaltman3 (Apr 21, 2012)

I've aged my wine alot longer than 2 years without any problems without using sorbate. Like I said maybe I've been lucky over the years. If you feel you have to use it or should use it.... then by all means... I however do not. How did you finish it LCW ?!?


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## LCW (Apr 22, 2012)

I have'nt yet this is my second racking I'm going to bulk age it a while longerLCW


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## LCW (Jun 11, 2012)

Racked my muscadine yesterday and its looking good also racked my chambourcin.LCW


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## WindyCoastWine (Jun 11, 2012)

I upped the pounds of muscadines per gallon this past year and the wine tasted very acidic. I cold stabilized and it made a world of difference. My suggestion would be to use your own taste to determine weather to cold stab. and how much sugar to add. The more sugar, the better it will mask the high acid. Just my 2 cents.


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## Julie (Jun 11, 2012)

I agree with WindyCoastWine, use your tastebuds to determine what you want. My first year of muscadine I backsweeten to 1.010, this past year I had to up it to 1.020.


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## Sirs (Jun 18, 2012)

hmmmm seems your liking the sweeter muscadine after all huh next thing you know you'll be upping the alcohol too lol


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## LCW (Jul 23, 2012)

Should I back sweeten now and let it age in the carboy for a while or backsweeten just before bottling?


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## jab007 (Jul 26, 2012)

LCW said:


> Should I back sweeten now and let it age in the carboy for a while or backsweeten just before bottling?




I would recommend back sweeten then let it age at least another month in the carboy before bottling. 

I normally back sweeten then age for about another 2 months in the carboy before bottling, come out tasting pretty good. 

I'm in SC and it's almost time to go pick some muscadines for this year's batch...


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## LCW (Jul 27, 2012)

If I backsweeten now and wait a month or two to bottle do I need to add pot. sorbate or not.Lewis


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## jab007 (Jul 28, 2012)

LCW said:


> If I backsweeten now and wait a month or two to bottle do I need to add pot. sorbate v or not.Lewis



Sorry for the confusion. Always add potassium sorbatev, I just like to let it bulk age some before bottling after I back sweeten. Some people bottle right away, I want to make no more fermentation occurs and plus I'm a pretty patient guy...Oh and I'm not a drinker so I'm not thirsting for the drink...

Currently on the rack:

3 gal of Apfelwein
3 gal of Blueberry
3 gal of Plum
1 1/2 gal Peach

I need a good recipe for bottled grape juice...

"Don't ever look down on someone unless your helping them up!"


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## Julie (Jul 28, 2012)

Lewis, you only add sorbate once. If you are going to age your wine for a month or two after you backsweeten, you add the sorbate first before adding the sugar for backsweetening and that is it. You do not need to add it again at bottling.


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## LCW (Jul 28, 2012)

Cool,appreciate the info.Lewis


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## garymc (Jul 28, 2012)

I am also new to the winemaking hobby. I'm new to muscadine wine also. I started growing muscadines 4 years ago and have a batch that I divided into 1 gallon jugs at the time of backsweetening. I put the ksorb in it when it was in the big carboy, then divided it up and used different amounts of sugar for backsweetening the different one gallon batches. I have some dry, some semisweet, and some almost sweet. I've spent decades developing a taste for dry red wines. Now I'm trying to develop a taste for sweeter wines. I can see why muscadine wine is normally made sweet. However, I find I'm able to drink it dry also. You just have to brace yourself for it. Mine is also pretty high in alcohol content. So it's a little like drinking sipping whiskey. I have relatives I'll be giving some of it to. They are not really wine drinkers. But just about all of them seem to prefer sweet wine.


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## LCW (Jul 30, 2012)

That pretty much mirrors my lifestyle so you can appreciate my dilemna.Lewis


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## garymc (Jul 30, 2012)

Kind of a drink what you like and like what you drink situation.


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## LCW (Aug 20, 2012)

I'll be sweetening this week to be on the safe side how much sugar solution should I add to a 5 gallon carboy to make a semi-sweet wine.Any ideas would be appreciated.LCW


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## Julie (Aug 20, 2012)

LCW said:


> I'll be sweetening this week to be on the safe side how much sugar solution should I add to a 5 gallon carboy to make a semi-sweet wine.Any ideas would be appreciated.LCW


 
That is a tough question to answer, backsweetening is more of a personal preference, depends on how sweet you like your wines. I would do some bench trails first. TAke so much wine out sweeten that slowly and tasting as you go, once you get it to where you like it, take a hydrometer reading. Now you know how sweet you like it.


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## LCW (Aug 20, 2012)

Thanks that shall be done.LCW


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