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[winemaker81]

I agree with Chuck & Dave. Don't think about backsweetening until the wine is crystal clear and not dropping sediment.

The minimum time you want to wait is 4 months, e.g., ~1 month to ferment and drop most of the sediment, and another 3 months of bulk aging. You are more guaranteed to have clear wine if the duration is 6 months instead of 4.

Another thought -- if you backsweeten before 9 months, you need to add sorbate + K-meta at backsweetening time to prevent a renewed fermentation in the bottle. If the wine is at least 9 months old, the yeast should be dead and you can backsweeten without sorbate.

 

[ChuckD]

So would it be too much to just add the rest of the blueberries now

As long as you have live yeast left it should be ok to add the blueberries and they will ferment. I second te recommendation to wait until it clears to stabilize and back sweeten. You may be able to help that along with fining agents but not until fermentation is completely finished and CO2 is removed. As always, patience is the word of the day.

 

[Stacie rathbone]

I understand your desire to back sweeten with fruit but as @ChuckD said there are unintended consequences. Clear juice might work but the amount to make a difference in 6 gallons might be considerable.

To the best of my knowledge you can add fruit any time during primary. I think at worst it may prolong the primary process a bit. I'll have to try it and see.

When to back sweeten? The answer you probably don't want to hear - 4-6 months. Crystal clear, no longer dropping sediment.

Awesome ty for your input

 

[Duc]

make sure to check for preservatives in the frozen concentrate or berries, if sorbate is present the yeast will not ferment

 

[Stacie rathbone]

When u say fernent dry do u mean use dry yeast

 

[winemaker81]

When u say fernent dry do u mean use dry yeast

Nope. Dry in this context indicates no sugar remaining, e.g., "dry wine" has no fermentable sugar remaining.

The recommended process for home winemakers to make a sweet wine is to ferment the wine until dry, e.g., the SG is <= 0.998. Wine may go as low as 0.990, and I've had 0.988 a few times. The final SG varies depending on the ABV and other constituents in the wine.

Ensure the wine is clear (use fining agent or time or both to remove suspended sediment).

Stabilize the wine (add sorbate + K-meta), and sweeten to taste.

There are other methods used by commercial wineries, but to produce table wine strength wine (10%-14% ABV) this process is the most feasible. The following whitepaper explains in more detail:

https://wine.bkfazekas.com/sweetening-wine/

 

[Stacie rathbone]

OK thank you very much for that input. Do people ever use dry yeast and if they do what are the benefits of it

 

[winemaker81]

OK thank you very much for that input. Do people ever use dry yeast and if they do what are the benefits of it

I always use dry yeast, typically Red Star and Lalvin, although I purchased a lb of Renaissance Avante last year.

Refrigerate dried yeast and it stores well, sometimes for years. When I rehydrated the year old Avante, it took off just as fast as the new RC-212 packets I purchased.

Liquid wine yeast is more expensive and doesn't (IME) have as good a shelf life.

Your next question is probably, "How do I choose?"

My answer is R&R -- Research and Recommendations. I read yeast reference charts (available on the net) and vendor sites to get information on yeast characteristics, and we have numerous threads discussing yeast. Look at the Yeast, Additives & Wine Making Science forum.

This year my main batches are being fermented in 2 batches each, one with RC-212 and one with Avante. The yeast produce different characteristics, and I'll blend them post-fermentation to make a more complex wine. You can use one yeast that sounds good, or you can get experimental, whatever you want.

 

[Stacie rathbone]

I'm a idiot lol I use Lanvin and just bought some red star