Adding distilled spirits to wine

[acorn]

I recently finished fermenting a batch of cranberry. I deliberately stopped the fermentation early to keep the residual sugar to make it sweet. Current alcohol content is about 10% by volume and final S.G. is about 1.010. I was aiming for the final S.G. of anywhere between 1.003-1.005, but it didn't happen. I don't want to restart the fermentation because 1) I am not sure if I'll be able to control it from going into dry zone (with too much alcohol and not enough sweetness) and 2) it is clear enough by now for me to bother with additional racking. The main issue at this point is that the wine is somewhat unbalanced in that the amount of sweetness that's currently in it needs a bit more alcohol to become more "interesting".

So, I feel that one potential alternative to back-sweetening is the addition of high alcohol spirit, just to boost the final alcohol in wine by about 2%.

What would you suggest I use?

Thanks!

 

[vacuumpumpman]

I recently finished fermenting a batch of cranberry. I deliberately stopped the fermentation early to keep the residual sugar to make it sweet. Current alcohol content is about 10% by volume and final S.G. is about 1.010. I was aiming for the final S.G. of anywhere between 1.003-1.005, but it didn't happen. I don't want to restart the fermentation because 1) I am not sure if I'll be able to control it from going into dry zone (with too much alcohol and not enough sweetness) and 2) it is clear enough by now for me to bother with additional racking. The main issue at this point is that the wine is somewhat unbalanced in that the amount of sweetness that's currently in it needs a bit more alcohol to become more "interesting".

So, I feel that one potential alternative to back-sweetening is the addition of high alcohol spirit, just to boost the final alcohol in wine by about 2%.

What would you suggest I use?


Thanks!

Sounds like you are on the right track -

just make sure you do some bench trials first and remember that the high alcohol spirit will take some time to mellow out over time.

 

[acorn]

... remember that the high alcohol spirit will take some time to mellow out over time.

Thanks for the tip, I was not aware of that. By mellowing out, do you mean that whatever distilled spirit I add, it will take time to integrate with the wine?

As for actual spirit, what is better to use? Or is it all the same in terms of flavor? Vodka, brandy, cognac...?

 

[Thig]

I would use Everclear, 190 proof if you can buy it where you are located. It will take less and change the taste the least of any of the other alternatives.

 

[vacuumpumpman]

Thanks for the tip, I was not aware of that. By mellowing out, do you mean that whatever distilled spirit I add, it will take time to integrate with the wine?

As for actual spirit, what is better to use? Or is it all the same in terms of flavor? Vodka, brandy, cognac...?

I agree with Thig ^
It might be a little on the hot side till time will hopefully mellow it out.

try addind some oak to the everclear and do bench trials with and without oak and keep track of the percentage alcohol of each glass.

 

[acorn]

After some online search, it looks like there is no true consensus about the legality of selling and shipping Everclear in NY state, though most sources say it's illegal. Well, I will be traveling in a few weeks time, so maybe I will have luck smuggling a bottle or two from elsewhere.

Also, forgive my ignorance, but why add oak to bench trials? I wouldn't want any oak flavor in my wine for sure, as I am trying to make it a dessert wine that's on the lighter/fresher side.

 

[vacuumpumpman]

After some online search, it looks like there is no true consensus about the legality of selling and shipping Everclear in NY state, though most sources say it's illegal. Well, I will be traveling in a few weeks time, so maybe I will have luck smuggling a bottle or two from elsewhere.

Also, forgive my ignorance, but why add oak to bench trials? I wouldn't want any oak flavor in my wine for sure, as I am trying to make it a dessert wine that's on the lighter/fresher side.

I just PM you -
sorry I forgot the type of wine you were making

 

[sour_grapes]

I would suggest adding Brandy. It is pretty mellow out of the bottle, and the taste profile will complement the rest of your wine just fine , IMHO.

 

[NorCal]

I second the brandy and if you are only shooting for 2% increase, it won't take much. How many gallons did you make?

 

[acorn]

That's 6 gallons of cranberry wine. I am going to go with both brandy and Everclear and conduct several bench trials and see what works. On second thought, I might as well shoot for something stronger than 2% increase, depending how it tastes.

 

[grapeman]

I don't understand why you stopped it from fermenting to dry. You are shooting for a normal alcohol percentage and a bit of sweetness. You have it at 1.010 now and that is a bit higher than you wanted it. You are looking at adding alcohol to bring it up to what alcohol you would have gotten if dry. You aren't adding enough alcohol to prevent fermentation in the bottle so since you have quite a bit of residual sugar, you need to add sorbate at this point. I'm sure you can get it back to what you would have had anyways, but why all the extra steps along with the inherent potential problems?

 

[FTC Wines]

Acorn, I wouldn't over shoot the ABV on a Cranberry wine. We have made it as high as 13.6 & as low as 10.4 abv. We think 11% is perfect for Cranberry. We usually back sweeten ours to 1.005-8 so your sweetness is in line. I'd use Brandy to kick it up. Roy

 

[Thig]

I have tried brandy and Everclear in several batches and in the end it comes down to what you like. I think your idea of trying some both ways is good.

 

[vacuumpumpman]

I had the pleasure talking Acorn last night - he is looking to make a dessert wine, So he wanted to add more alcohol without taking the original flavor away by using brandy.
I felt that everclear or vodka will do the trick and he might have to back sweeten with some cranberry frozen concentrate - and always do bench trials !

 

[NorCal]

The question I would have is how do you make the dessert style wine from here, with the abv less than the toxicity level of the yeast, without the fear of future bottle bombs?

 

[vacuumpumpman]

I believe that is the reason for the first question again adding more alcohol to increase the ABV and I did also mention to him about using sorbate as well

 

[Turock]

Next time, don't stop your ferment short to have residual sugar. Ferment to dry then backsweeten at bottling time. So much easier.

We make cranberry every year and have found that it's REALLY excellent after it gets close to the 2 year mark, aging in the bottle. Everyone loves our cranberry.

 

[acorn]

Thanks, everyone, for your insightful comments!

As grapeman and Turock mentioned, I ought to have fermented it to dry initially. But, as I described my situation to vacuumpumpman last night, the reason I stopped the fermentation was because it worked last time when I made cranberry (last year it happened by accident, a successful one, though). Although the alcohol in itself is by no means toxic to wine yeast at 10%, my cranberry is so acidic (2.9-3.0 pH) that the combination of increasing alcohol and acidity made the yeast activity come to a halt. The key to this year's problem, however, is that I stopped it 0.006 S.G. units too early.

Again, I will post the results of my bench trials here in a few weeks time.

As for bottle bombs, I don't envision this happening because last year's batch is still intact, after I added sorbate to it after fining and clarification.

Lastly, I have to admit, I thought it would be a good place/time to experiment a bit with wine fortification, as I am new to this process.

 

[NorCal]

The reason I ask is that I've had that fear in a batch that didn't go dry. Sorbate won't stop it, so you would have to rely on an incompatible environment for the yeast to not come active again in the future. Perhaps the risk is negligible, but, how would you know?

 

[PhilDarby]

if you are after a fortified wine your best bet would have been, to ferment it dry, add enough spirit (preferably brandy) to bring the abv to your required level, then, to back sweeten.

What you have done there, is actually similar to the way port is produced (well original port anyway, if you read the history)

If that was the kind of drink you where after 10% is far too low u need to go for 18 to 20% abv in order to kill the yeast off and prevent further fermentation in the bottle or later on (most yeast drops off from fermenting around the 18% abv mark) from that point you can back sweeten without the need for sorbate etc and the wine will preserve for a very long time, due to lack of sorbate.

If that was your goal, buy, youself a bottle of your favourate wine of that style, take an sg reading and use that reading as a guide for back sweetening (ie) just head for the same sg reading for sweetness and use a decent brandy which u like.

if you prefer it dry there is no need to head for such a high abv, but, for anything you want to back sweeten, the 18 to 20% abv is needed to prevent the risk of re fermentation in storage.

Use sodium or potassium metabisulphate at the normal rate, but, omit sorbate and that will preserve for a very long time without risk of re fermentation.

If you intend to store it a long time don't forget to use a glass bottle and cork, i think cork usage has been forgotten, but, cork is produced from oak ;-) so it will age off the cork as well.

Failing that, bottle your wine in a champagne type style, using low alcohol of around 12% abv and expect a fizzy type drink when you open the bottle, but, if you go this route you need to take precautions from exploding bottles and use proper champagne corks, wire and sturdy glass bottles, appropriate to the job, or, if you intend to drink short term pet bottles are also viable.

Hint ;- the higher the abv you ferment to, the less brandy you need and as a rule napoleon brandy is fairly reliable no matter what manufacturer, produced it.

So if you can hit 15 to 17% by fermentation then add 3% or so from brandy, your basically in the ball park.