# Backsweetening with St. Germain



## s0615353 (Dec 27, 2012)

For Christmas I received a bottle of St. Germain and it made the light bulb go off in my head for my 2 gallon batch of elderflower wine. I was thinking of backsweetening with the St. Germain to give it more of an elderflower flavor instead of using a simple syrup that would add a little more water to the mix. The St. Germain is 20% ABV so it will make the ABV go up a little (currently it looks like it will be finishing at about 12% w/out the St. Germain). I think it will make for a more concentrated and flavorful wine with the addition. Let me know your thoughts on this (I was planning on adding 1/2 cup of St. Germain per gallon and adjusting from there).


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## Arne (Dec 28, 2012)

I don't know what the St. Germain is, but am assuming it is a rather expensive liquor. If so, why not do a little bench testing, draw some samples and add different amounts of the St. Germain to it. You mite really like it, but it also mite come up yuck. THis way you are not going to waste the St. Germain if you don't like how it comes out. Arne.


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## saramc (Jan 2, 2013)

Could you not make an elderflower simple syrup? But I agree a bench trial would be best.


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## s0615353 (Jan 2, 2013)

I will definitely do some bench testing with the wine itself (I have already tried mixing some Reisling with St. Germain and seltzer, it makes a great beverage  ). For this time I wanted to use the St. Germain just to see how it comes out, but I am very tempted to try making an elderflower syrup to try back to back. Thanks for the idea!


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## cbritton (Jan 2, 2013)

St. Germaine is pretty pricey, so I'm not sure I would waste it by using it for BS.
That being said, I've been dying to try and make a sweet dessert wine that ends up like St. Germaine. I'm going to give it a try this weekend.


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## s0615353 (Jan 3, 2013)

That was my ultimate goal for this wine, it would be great if it would turn out like St. Germain, so far the smell is almost identical, after the yeast settles out I will tell you how it tastes. If you would like to check out my recipe, it is located under special interest wines. The only changes I had to make were:

1. 3 pds. of sugar with the Welch's 100% white grape concentrate made a SG of 1.102. I had to add an additional 4 cups of water to drop the SG to 1.090 where I wanted it. Next time I will add 2 1/2 pds. of sugar so I do not have to water it down. 

2. I used Lalvin EC-1118 yeast (which is a very strong fermenter), and after the 2-3 days the SG did not drop at all and the fermentation seemed to have a difficult time starting up. I added an additional 4 g. of Fermaid-K and the must exploded with activity. For next time I will give it a little more nutrition.


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## cbritton (Jan 3, 2013)

I will definitely check it out and give it a try. I LOVE St. Germaine, so trying to recreate it is going to be fun.
Keep me updated as to how yours comes out.


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## saramc (Jan 4, 2013)

Definitely keep that thread updated, I need to go find it and check it out. I adore St Germain. I made elderflower mead, but used half meadowfoam honey and half sugar and fermented with Premier Cuvee. Bulk aging right now and I swear it smells exactly like St Germain.
This year when the elderflowers bloom I plan to do an extended, continuous cold maceration of the blooms--harvest blooms for up to six weeks--to try to mimic the maceration technique that St.G talks about.


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## s0615353 (Jan 5, 2013)

Right now fermentation has almost completed (SG 1.000) and I am letting it sit for an additional week to finish the fermentation and let the gross lees settle. I came to realize that I shouldnt have added additional sulfite to the must because the Welch's concentrate already had it (This was probably why the fermentation was slower than usual and why it needed additional nutrition). I have already ordered another 8 oz. of dried elderflower to prepare for a 6 gallon batch if this one comes out the way that I think it will. I am glad to hear that I am not the only one obsessed with St Germain on this forum


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## s0615353 (Jan 9, 2013)

Today I racked the elderflower wine off of the gross lees, and it had a nice golden yellow color. The yeast overpowered the nose (since it is only 2 weeks old) but I could still smell some of the elderflower. Even though there was still some yeast floating around I decided to give it a little taste, and I was a little disappointed to say that the water addition definately made a big impact on the product so far. There was a definate taste of elderflower, but overall it tasted like a pinot grigio with a little more tropical fruit flavor. While the wine was tasty, the original intention of making a St. Germain wine was a failure this time (I am not going to bother adding the St. Germain to backsweeten on this batch). For the next batch (which will be the full 6 gallons) I will:
1. Add less sugar 
2. Not add extra sulfite
3. Add more dried elderflower
This is why I love doing a test batch before committing to a full 6 gallons


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