Did I mess up?

[VaFarm]

I am making wine from my own cabernet grapes grown in N. VA. I have roughly 6 gallons of must and I am on day 6 of fermentation (I didn't have a cap this morning). I just checked my gravity and I am right at 1.001 and my wine/juice seems a touch tart. I did NOT add any sugar before I added yeast.

Can I add sugar now? Looking for any advice you can give. Thanks

 

[Boatboy24]

Welcome to WMT from a fellow Virgninian! What was your gravity at the start? Did you measure pH and/or TA?

Where are you growing your Cab?

 

[VaFarm]

Unfortunately I did not measure anything before I started

I am located in Stafford, I have 30 vines that I planted 3 yrs ago and this is the first year I let them produce any fruit.

Can I add sugar now? and then rack? Or do I just need to go with what I have, the grapes 'seemed' pretty sweet….at least the juice was drinkable after crushing.

 

[richmke]

You can add sugar and continue to ferment. It will boost the alcohol. The problem is: Without the initial reading, you don't know what the alcohol level is currently. If you had really sweet juice, then it could raise the alcohol to the level that would kill the yeast before it fully ferments.

Why don't you taste it, and see if it needs a boost.

 

[VaFarm]

What do you think about going ahead and putting it in the carboy tonight. When I rerack, I'll see what is going on then. Does that sound right?

 

[richmke]

If you do add sugar:

Sanitize a pot, wine thief, spoon, and funnel. Use wine thief and put wine into the pot. Put sugar into the pot. Stir until fully dissolved. Use funnel to pour into carboy. Repeat until you have added all the sugar you want.

Note: Sugar can shock the yeast. So, maybe add a cup of sugar at a time. Wait 1 hour, and then add some more.

Note 2: Each cup of sugar will add about 1/2% ABV per 5 gallons of wine.

 

[Boatboy24]

The tart taste you're getting could be from high acid, or high alcohol, or it could just be young wine.

At day 6, it wouldn't be unusual to have fermented to 1.001 from 1.085-1.095, so I'd be hesitant to add too much more sugar. Any idea what your fermentation temps have been? You could follow richmke's advice for adding. Also, take a pH and TA reading if you can - that may give you insight into the taste.

Jim

 

[VaFarm]

Thanks everyone! I would guess that my ferment temps have been in the low to mid 70's…I am using my basement. I loaded everything into the carboy last night, that is a job! Anyway, I am going to taste in a few weeks and add sugar then, if I need to. The only thing I have to test the wine is a hydrometer…nothing else! This is a test year to see how things work out.

 

[Boatboy24]

If you are adding sugar later, you must make sure you have proper sulfite levels and have added sorbate. Otherwise, you could restart fermentation. If that happens and you've bottled, you will have wine bombs on your hands.

 

[richmke]

Anyway, I am going to taste in a few weeks and add sugar then, if I need to.

If you are going to add sugar to boost the alcohol level, you should do it now.

If you are going to add sugar to sweeten the wine, then that happens after you stabilize and clarify the wine.

 

[syncnite]

Without knowing the starting sugar level, I wouldn't add any now. Better to have a low alcohol wine than a screwed up fermentation. There are ways to lower the acid level (even after the Malo fermentation lowers the acid), if you determine acids are still too high.


Sent from my iPhone using Wine Making