A Couple Beginner Questions

[G259]

What was the SG? It might be finished, and very dry. If less than 1.000, I would add sorbate to stabilize, then you can add sugar in little steps until it comes to you're liking. Then, again test the SG, so you know (about) where you like it. Different fruits will turn out higher or lower. I have never made one, but I expect that a zucchini wine would need more back-sweetening. I could be wrong though.

BTW, my friend makes a strawberry-rhubarb wine that is 'to die for'!

 

[justsipn]

What was the SG? It might be finished, and very dry. If less than 1.000, I would add sorbate to stabilize, then you can add sugar in little steps until it comes to you're liking. Then, again test the SG, so you know (about) where you like it. Different fruits will turn out higher or lower. I have never made one, but I expect that a zucchini wine would need more back-sweetening. I could be wrong though.

BTW, my friend makes a strawberry-rhubarb wine that is 'to die for'!

.998

 

[G259]

OK, you can either stabilize it here with sorbate, or let it go absolutely dry to .992-0. It depends how much alcohol you were expecting, and what you want, but I generally wait it out, then sweeten. I hope you are in a carboy now, and not still in the bucket. Not to worry though, I have gone completely dry in a bucket, and it was fine, not the best practice though.

 

[hounddawg]

if your wife likes sweet fruity then try a cup at a SG of 1.040, , most traditional winemakers (Grape) tend to like their wines on the drier side, a fair portion of country wine makers like a sweeter wine, most of my country wines are 1.040 when bottled, the above advice is from some of the best , all of them are very talented,
Dawg

 

[justsipn]

OK, you can either stabilize it here with sorbate, or let it go absolutely dry to .992-0. It depends how much alcohol you were expecting, and what you want, but I generally wait it out, then sweeten. I hope you are in a carboy now, and not still in the bucket. Not to worry though, I have gone completely dry in a bucket, and it was fine, not the best practice though.

So, right now my alcohol content is 12.77%. If I let it go to .992, it will be 13.5%.

That isn’t that big of a difference to me. However, I don’t have sorbate so I guess I’m riding it out for now. I should get some ordered.

Is it safe to say the bitterness goes away with time?

 

[Scooter68]

Don't waste your time trying to stop a fermentation in process. If you start with the right initial SG you can just let it ferment dry and back-sweeten it later. While you might, if you get lucky, stop a fermentation in process - getting it to stop as a specific SG is really really a difficult move. While 13.5% is high for a fruit wine... with a little back-sweetening you can make decent. Sometimes we just learn our lessons and move on. Sometimes our "mistakes" turn really pretty good.

 

[hounddawg]

Don't waste your time trying to stop a fermentation in process. If you start with the right initial SG you can just let it ferment dry and back-sweeten it later. While you might, if you get lucky, stop a fermentation in process - getting it to stop as a specific SG is really really a difficult move. While 13.5% is high for a fruit wine... with a little back-sweetening you can make decent. Sometimes we just learn our lessons and move on. Sometimes our "mistakes" turn really pretty good.

Amen ,,, truer words never said,,,,,

 

[G259]

Wow, I would say that 1.040 was so sweet that I couldn't drink it, was that supposed to be 1.004? I could see that, but WOW (lol!) 'To each his own', but take regular blood sugar tests, you don't want to go diabetic (I was almost there once - soda).

 

[hounddawg]

Wow, I would say that 1.040 was so sweet that I couldn't drink it, was that supposed to be 1.004? I could see that, but WOW (lol!) 'To each his own', but take regular blood sugar tests, you don't want to go diabetic (I was almost there once - soda).

,,,Dawg

 

[G259]

I too have had a trach. from a TBI (wow) over 20 years ago, still improving slightly YOY. The scar is still visible, but I'll take it, against the bad results!

I wish you improved health and longevity my friend, you have helped many people here on this site, and I'm sure more in the future.

 

[hounddawg]

Wow, I would say that 1.040 was so sweet that I couldn't drink it, was that supposed to be 1.004? I could see that, but WOW (lol!) 'To each his own', but take regular blood sugar tests, you don't want to go diabetic (I was almost there once - soda).

no, got a permanent tracheostomy, T-2 thru T-7 bulging disk,,, triple bypass, upper epidermal, grinded into my brainstem and spinal cord, right led amputated below knee, left foot 1/3 amputated, diabetes, triple bypass, living very happy, train and drive mules, grow my own garden, traditional l wines taste funny to me, but fruits and berries i can taste, in the south is sweet tea country, lemonade and kool aid country as well, so sweet country wines fit in like a glove here,
Dawg

 

[G259]

Wow, all the psychic power I can muster goes out to you dawg. 'More wine' yay!! The next time I lift a glass will be to you my friend.

 

[hounddawg]

Wow, all the psychic power I can muster goes out to you dawg. 'More wine' yay!! The next time I lift a glass will be to you my friend.

thank you i am honored G259
Richard AKA Dawg

 

[Ikeya]

I would also use purified water instead of distilled. Distilled water has a lot of minerals taken out. Those key chemical elements are what yeast uses in order to produce wine. Not that you can't use it to make wine just better to use a different type of water.

 

[justsipn]

no, got a permanent tracheostomy, T-2 thru T-7 bulging disk,,, triple bypass, upper epidermal, grinded into my brainstem and spinal cord, right led amputated below knee, left foot 1/3 amputated, diabetes, triple bypass, living very happy, train and drive mules, grow my own garden, traditional l wines taste funny to me, but fruits and berries i can taste, in the south is sweet tea country, lemonade and kool aid country as well, so sweet country wines fit in like a glove here,
Dawg

Hats off to you. I admire people who go through health problems like this and find ways to still enjoy life.

I used to train harness horses. Mostly quarter horses. Never trained a mule. I’ve heard they are very different to train.

Question, what would be the specific gravity of a Cabernet?

 

[wineview]

Your first . . . 20 . . . batches will be 'learning batches' (I like to say). I didn't know to experiment with back-sweetening with my first few batches, so they came out very dry and kind of harsh, but the fun is learning, and trying new approaches. I now add sugar, just before bottling, to an SG of 1.000 - .998 (I like my wine on the drier side, adjust to your own liking!).













0

Could you explain why you back sweeten if you like your wines dry?
Thanks.

 

[Rice_Guy]

The general rule on sweetness is the higher percent Titratable Acidity the more sugar needed for balanced flavor. The details however involve pleasing pH, ex a fairly high TA product is tooth paste but it is near the pH of your mouth so you don’t notice it.

Balance is the key, ,,, if you produce a wine with high bitter (tannins),,, higher sweet would be appropriate. Aromatics operate on the nasal cavity therefore you can push these high (ex use more fruit/less water) as long as the impact acid produces is in a normal flavor range for your mouth.

Do all wines need to be backsweetened? I’m making a batch of strawberry wine right now and I’m worried about it being too sweet.

 

[DizzyIzzy]

I do a 95% rhurbarb/5% raspberry which is called Rhurbarb Blush.
* As @NorCal says oxygen is not your friend. As a result I try to rack three times max. Rhurbarb blush clears well so this works. Every transfer gets metabisulphite, my quality improved a few years back when I assumed there was no residual SO2 and added the calculated 50 ppm primary, 25 ppm racking and 60 ppm bottled.
* last years batch was 52 lbs producing 7 gallons after racking. Yup this is stronger than yours, ,,,, after doing best of show I’ve convinced everyone in the vinters club that more fruit is better, ,,, I aim for knock your Sox off aroma and taste. ,,, Yup basically no water in it.
* expect to backsweeten, this will increase the fruit flavors. My percent acid is high so I aim for 1.015. A guess is yours will be balanced at about 1.000
* I see the post on hard to do, ,,, for me this has been an easy wine once I upped the antioxidant (metabisulphite)

I have been reading on this forum about "backsweetening"? Just what is it and how much is used per gallon?

 

[DizzyIzzy]

Color loss from SO2 depends on the type of fruit. Raspberry retains color well. The worst I have seen has been cherry, one year I added calculated metabisulphite directly to the cherry as it was thawing. Normal is to dilute with water so the ppm in solution isn’t as high. (ex maraschino cherry production completely decolorezes the fruit with SO2 and adds artificial color)

!View attachment 60532 2019 and 2018 samples

Rice guy, or anyone out there, can you help? I just ordered a gallon of rhubarb "fruit wine base" from LD Carlson only to find it contains other fruit concentrates (much to my dismay). Can I add fresh rhubarb to the primary? If I do, should I also add sugar? The wine base can indicated there was corn syrup in the base. I would not have bought it if I had known that. Any pointers would be very much appreciated.

 

[winemaker81]

I have been reading on this forum about "backsweetening"? Just what is it and how much is used per gallon?

"Backsweetening" is adding sugar to a stabilized wine to provide sweetness, but not enable a new fermentation.

When you add sugar to a wine, the yeast will start eating it, producing more alcohol and CO2. "Stabilization" prevents the yeast from doing this. The process:

Let the wine ferment to dryness, where the SG is typically 0.990 to 0.996. As mentioned above, stopping an active fermentation is possible, but it's much more feasible to let it ferment to dryness.

To stabilize, add 1/4 tsp potassium meta-bisulfite (K-meta) per 5 gallons and 1/2 tsp potassium sorbate per 1 gallon. Check the sorbate package in case there is a different recommendation. [I tend to go a bit lighter on sorbate (2 tsp/5 gallons instead of 2.5 tsp) and have had no problems.]

How much sugar? Depends on what you like.

Make a sugar syrup (boil 1 cup water, stir in 2 cups sugar until clear, cool to room temperature). Put 4 oz wine in a large glass and add a bit of syrup, stir, and taste. Keep doing this until you like the result. Keep track of how much sugar was added to the wine, then calculate how much syrup is needed for your entire batch.

I've been doing this long enough that I have a good feel for what I want, based upon the wine. Instead of mixing in a glass, I sweeten the entire batch.

I'll start with 1/4 cup syrup in 5 gallons, stir well, and taste (using a wine thief). I prefer dryer wines in general, so 1/2 to 3/4 cup syrup may be all I add.

If the wine is highly acidic (later harvest white grape), more sugar will be required to balance the acid. And of course, YOUR palate is what matters.