Beginning a new batch

[Sunshine Wine]

You should re-check that SG. That is unreasonably high. How are you measuring?

I believe it is actually 1.026. I want it to be more like a table wine. What should I do??

 

[hounddawg]

The SG is at 1.134 right now without adding sugar... I have 8 gallons total in buckets. Have not added yeast or nutrient yet...

yeah i still have to be line out,, lol i'd add sugar till you are at 1.080 add yeast nutrient, i myself doing non-grape wine my main yeast is EC-1118 , these others can tell you what to run your SG to to get around 11% ABV to 13% ABV, run till dry around 0.998 rack every 3 months , adding k-meta at each racking, when you get ready to back sweeten add k-meta and sobate, then backsweeten to fit your liking,after backsweetening wait a couple weeks before bottleing to make sure your ferment is stopped let age at least 9 months, i like for blackberry to age 2 years, skeeter pee is a lot quicker, so you'll have drinking wine, you'll find lon's skeeter pee recipe on here,

 

[hounddawg]

I believe it is actually 1.026. I want it to be more like a table wine. What should I do??

when it is done you can put some in a cup sweeten till you like the us that SG for you FSG

 

[Sunshine Wine]

yeah i still have to be line out,, lol i'd add sugar till you are at 1.080 add yeast nutrient, i myself doing non-grape wine my main yeast is EC-1118 , these others can tell you what to run your SG to to get around 11% ABV to 13% ABV, run till dry around 0.998 rack every 3 months , adding k-meta at each racking, when you get ready to back sweeten add k-meta and sobate, then backsweeten to fit your liking,after backsweetening wait a couple weeks before bottleing to make sure your ferment is stopped let age at least 9 months, i like for blackberry to age 2 years, skeeter pee is a lot quicker, so you'll have drinking wine, you'll find lon's skeeter pee recipe on here,

The SG is actually at 1.026 right now. Have not added any sugar yet and not put in the yeast or nutrient yet. I heated the juice before putting it in the buckets, so am letting it cool.

 

[Chuck E]

The SG is actually at 1.026 right now. Have not added any sugar yet and not put in the yeast or nutrient yet. I heated the juice before putting it in the buckets, so am letting it cool.

Not sure why you would want to heat the juice. How hot did you heat it?

You will need the Pectic enzyme. Use FermCalc to determine the sugar needed. You will need at least a couple pounds.

 

[Sunshine Wine]

Not sure why you would want to heat the juice. How hot did you heat it?

You will need the Pectic enzyme. Use FermCalc to determine the sugar needed. You will need at least a couple pounds.

Because I don't know how old it is. It is home canned juice so wanted to make sure there was no bacteria.

 

[hounddawg]

Not sure why you would want to heat the juice. How hot did you heat it?

You will need the Pectic enzyme. Use FermCalc to determine the sugar needed. You will need at least a couple pounds.

agreed, i never heat my stuff, but i do freeze my fruits and berries to brakdown the cell walls

 

[hounddawg]

as long as the lids were still vacuumed you're good to go

 

[sour_grapes]

Ok, I think I was reading it backwards. I believe it is 1.026.

Correct. And that is more like what we would expect from many fruit juices.

Glad you figured that out!

 

[cmason1957]

Ok, I think I was reading it backwards. I believe it is 1.026.

I agree it is something like 1.026, so now you need to raise that some, if you spin that hydrometer around a little bit, you will see a scale called PA or Potential Alcohol or Alcohol By Volume. That's how much alcohol (about) will be produced, if all the sugar gets eaten by your yeast. Right now it is below that 5 you can see in your picture, something like 3.5. You generally want that to be something like 10-11% (an sg reading of 1.075-1.080) for a fruit wine. Maybe a little bit higher, but not much. So you go to this website - http://www.fermcalc.com/FermCalcJS.html (or download the app to a phone/tablet device). Click on the the Sugar, then Chaptalization & Dilution. Chaptalization means to add sugar, comes from the name of some person. You enter your target and initial sugar, how much volume you have and there you go, how much sugar to add.

 

[Sunshine Wine]

as long as the lids were still vacuumed you're good to go

Yes, all sealed! The berries are all broken down pretty good already.

 

[Sunshine Wine]

I agree it is something like 1.026, so now you need to raise that some, if you spin that hydrometer around a little bit, you will see a scale called PA or Potential Alcohol or Alcohol By Volume. That's how much alcohol (about) will be produced, if all the sugar gets eaten by your yeast. Right now it is below that 5 you can see in your picture, something like 3.5. You generally want that to be something like 10-11% (an sg reading of 1.075-1.080) for a fruit wine. Maybe a little bit higher, but not much. So you go to this website - http://www.fermcalc.com/FermCalcJS.html (or download the app to a phone/tablet device). Click on the the Sugar, then Chaptalization & Dilution. Chaptalization means to add sugar, comes from the name of some person. You enter your target and initial sugar, how much volume you have and there you go, how much sugar to add.

Ok, that says to add 10.83 pounds of sugar! Sounds like a lot!! I am not adding any more water, since I am assuming the home canned juice had water added to it already.

 

[Scooter68]

Whew ! That updated SG reading is more like it. Yeah, You should get some pectic enzyme (There are a variety of types available including liquid variety) Best to use that right away. If you have to add it later that's better than not adding it but now would be best.
Add sugar/Simple Syrup solution and get the SG up somewhere above 1.080 (11.81 ABV)

Eight Gallons (8!!!) Wow that's going to make a lot of great wine for you.

 

[Sunshine Wine]

Whew ! That updated SG reading is more like it. Yeah, You should get some pectic enzyme (There are a variety of types available including liquid variety) Best to use that right away. If you have to add it later that's better than not adding it but now would be best.
Add sugar/Simple Syrup solution and get the SG up somewhere above 1.080 (11.81 ABV)

Eight Gallons (8!!!) Wow that's going to make a lot of great wine for you.

Ok, I just ordered the PE. Will it be ok to add after I begin the fermentation? I have the juice in the buckets and don't have room to refrigerate it until the PE arrives..

 

[Johnd]

Ok, that says to add 10.83 pounds of sugar! Sounds like a lot!! I am not adding any more water, since I am assuming the home canned juice had water added to it already.

Just for your peace of mind, I double checked on fermcalc, the 10.83 lbs of sugar is correct to get you to the 1.080 mark.

It'll be ok to add pectic enzyme after fermentation has started. At this point, without a lot of solids in the must, it's most important function for you will be to aid in clearing later in the process.

 

[garymc]

One of the reasons for using Lalvin 71b-1122 yeast is that it eats some of the acid and you don't have to take other actions to reduce the acidity as much. The other reason is that it leaves more fruit taste and aroma.

 

[Sunshine Wine]

Just for your peace of mind, I double checked on fermcalc, the 10.83 lbs of sugar is correct to get you to the 1.080 mark.

It'll be ok to add pectic enzyme after fermentation has started. At this point, without a lot of solids in the must, it's most important function for you will be to aid in clearing later in the process.

Ok, great! Thanks so much!

 

[Sunshine Wine]

Just for your peace of mind, I double checked on fermcalc, the 10.83 lbs of sugar is correct to get you to the 1.080 mark.

It'll be ok to add pectic enzyme after fermentation has started. At this point, without a lot of solids in the must, it's most important function for you will be to aid in clearing later in the process.

I am ready to add the sugar and yeast and nutrient. Can I just put the sugar in directly or do I need to do a simple syrup?

 

[Scooter68]

Dissolving that much sugar into a simple syrup will take a pretty big pot but >> IF << you are planning on adding any water then it's not a big deal. Doing it that will will help you be sure it's all dissolved. BUT you can just stir it into juice - that will be a LOT of stirring.
For a simple syrup with about 11lbs I would use about 10 cups of water to dissolve that much sugar. At least that way you won't have to worry about having it all dissolved. 10 cups to 8 gallons is just a little more than 1/2 gallon of water.

 

[Sunshine Wine]

I have 4 gallons in each 5 gallon bucket. Sugar in and dissolved. Now for the yeast and yeast nutrient.