How do I make a low alcohol wine?

[Fitz]

My sisters enjoy drinking wine but only prefer wine with low alcohol content. Their wine of choice is Novellino-Russo Classico which has an alcohol content of 4.5%. I would love to be able to make some Country Wines for them but with their preferred alcohol content. How would one make wine with a low alcohol content?

 

[distancerunner]

The easy answer is less fermentables.

Personally, I’d prefer six percent. Though four and a half should be high enough to prevent spoilage

Alcohol provides a lot of body for wine. This may not be a problem for them.

.

 

[Raptor99]

I have been thinking about this as well.

The alcohol content is determined by the initial sugar level, so if you start with less sugar, you will get less alcohol. Different types of fruit have different amounts of sugar. For example, pressed apple juice, fermented into hard cider with no added sugar, will usually produce about 6% ABV.

I think that your best choice is to experiment with some different fruits. Measure the SG of the must, and add water until the SG is about 1.035. That would produce an ABV of about 4.5%. If you choose a very sweet fruit, you might have to add too much water, which will dilute the flavor too much. That will be the big challenge. You may need to experiment to see what will give an acceptable result. You can blend in some tart (higher acid, lower sugar) fruits to add to the flavor profile without raising the sugar level too high. For example, pears plus 10% or 15% crab apples

The other thing you might need to do is to increase the acid and tannin levels to a bit higher than you would with an 11% ABV fruit wine, because the balance will be off with less alcohol. You can add acid and tannin with the right kinds of fruit, e.g. crab apples.

I think that this is the simplest method of producing a low alcohol wine. The other option would be to try to stop the fermentation, leaving a sweeter and lower alcohol wine. Commercially, I think they use a very fine filter under pressure to remove the yeast. At home, the only practical way to do that is to pasteurize it. I am not excited about that option, because I think that it will affect the flavor.

 

[Rocky]

My sisters enjoy drinking wine but only prefer wine with low alcohol content. Their wine of choice is Novellino-Russo Classico which has an alcohol content of 4.5%. I would love to be able to make some Country Wines for them but with their preferred alcohol content. How would one make wine with a low alcohol content?

I have never done this, but this is what I would try:

Alcohol boils at approximately 173 degrees F. I would make the wine as a normal process, determine the amount of alcohol in a given volume of wine and then heat it to about 180 degrees F. The wine's volume will decrease and that decrease should be the alcohol. For example, assume I start with 1 gallon (128 oz.) of wine at 12% that you want to get to 4.5%. I would need to reduce the volume of wine by 7.5% or from 128 oz. to 118.4 oz. I would let the wine cool at room temperature with an airlock in place.

 

[Rice_Guy]

Technically there are several methods, 4.5% ABV is harder to do than 11%. Residual sugar is harder to safely do. Alcohol is a preservative and the guideline to avoid food poisoning is get above 5% ABV.
* There are examples that I see are related to hard cider. The easiest Traditional hard cider I see is to make what ever you want as target flavor and then pasteurize it. When I have done it this involved a five gallon size water bath and bottles with foil over the mouth. (Expect it to expand 1.5 inch) The target I used was 140F for 40 minutes. After treatment I put the batch in an ice chest to hold heat, so technically I did way over 40 minutes. Heating kills bacteria therefore it is safe.
*. While mentioning heat, the standard 0% ABV is to water bath at simmer temp (212 F) anything that has a pH below 4.0. For no solids liquids 10 minutes, and for solids like pasta sauces they were treated 40 minutes in a tank > filled > and jars then got 10 minutes in a steam tunnel.
* You will see very low commercial products in the seltzer family (2 to 3% ABV). They are produced by adding a toxin that degrades into methyl alcohol in about 24 hours. This isn’t practical for home wine maker.
* Traditional sweet French ciders (4.5%) have a process worked out where calcium pectate is formed and YAN is removed. Once the nutrient is removed the product resists infection.
* Beer related (4.5%) are done with filtration or pasteurization or refrigeration. One can prevent infection of residual sugars by refrigeration. ,,, Look at Beer recipes quite a few will include apple or other vegetable matter. Carbonated product is part of the preservative system used in beers. The function of hops in beer is to be an antioxidant which is similar the function of tannin and red pigments in wine production.
* Look at lysozyme and Bactiless. These can control wild lactic acid bacteria and prevent off flavors, or pH drifting above 4.0. A traditional way to deal with wild LAB is to start with a pH below 3.2.
* A 0.45 micron filter will produce safe product. Filter cartridges are expensive so I haven’t played with these methods.
* fermentation is a preservative system, the key part of this is removing sugars so microbes don’t have a carbon source. Looking at silage and sour kraut lactic acid is produced which drops the pH below where food poisoning families can grow.

 

[BernardSmith]

Gotta say that many of the responses are on target, but let me add a couple of different notes.
1. Most table fruit has the equivalent of about 1 lb of sugar in every gallon of expressed juice, so a starting gravity with no added water of about 1.045 - 1.055 and so a potentiial ABV of about 6.5%
2. Honey - for mead wines has a gravity of about 1.035, and so 1.5 lbs of honey dissolved in water to make 1 US gallon will have a gravity of about 1.050
I have been making low alcohol wines and mead for a few months and even when brut dry, if I add a half teaspoon of sugar per 12 oz bottle (and a pinch of yeast) tthe sparkling wines and mead this produces are really delightful without any back sweetening.
3. You can make delicious wines using flowers - dandelions, elderflowers, hibiscus, if you add a hefty pound or so of table sugar for each gallon - again, you are aimig for a starting gravity of around 1.050 - so lots of options. But remember, the same principles apply to low abv wines as they do to higher alcohol wines. They will need to be tatsed for tannins, for acidity (brightness), richness of flavor and for viscosity (mouthfeel)

 

[Fitz]

Thank you everyone for your replies and suggestions. I’m thinking of making wine with a ABV of 6-7% for them to try and go from there. Apparently they are sensitive to the taste and affect of alcohol but enjoy their wine.

One more question. Would I be using less acid and tannin or about the same?

 

[Rice_Guy]

From a chemistry point I would keep the targets the same. Tannin is an antioxidant and allows traditional ciders to survive aging. You will need to have something to let you achieve more than two months of shelf life. I use pH as the guideline, not total acid. Again for shelf life 3.0 and 3.2 delay off notes. I wouldn’t be surprised if your family react to acetaldehyde instead of the alcohol.
From a food point of view, put tannins in so they taste good. I hate hard / bitter tannins and like soft / astringent tannin. Soft tannins magnify the acid tastes, ,,, so they are the same sensation.

 

[BernardSmith]

I agree with Rice_Guy, the amount of tannin and acidity are not likely to be different, BUT there are two distinct aspects to acidity. One is the strength of the acids (the pH) and the other is the amount of acids in solution - the TA. TA is all about taste and here, although wine is all about balance, most wine makers aim for about 6 g of acid in every liter of wine. But you can use your taste buds to determine whether a wine is bright enough or has too little acid or too much.
All that said, I really don't typically add acids until the fermentation has ceased. My understanding is that yeast have no problem fermenting in a relatively alkaline solution. Too low a pH (below 3.0) is very stressful for the yeast, but fermentation lowers the pH. However, while we cannot taste pH, we can taste the amount of acids in solution. More than about 7 g/L can be too acidic, while less than about 5 g/L can make wine taste blah. and that has really nothing to do with whether the pH is 3.2 or 5.2

 

[BPL]

Very good comments so far.

Something to consider when making country wines.....

* Depending on the fruit involved and the sugar content, targeting an ABV around 4% to 5%, water will need to be added. When water is added, the flavors are diluted. Water also dilutes acidity.
* Peaches, for example, have a sugar content of about 5 Brix or a gravity of 1.04. That gives an alcohol potential of about 5% ABV. While that seems right on the money for your target amount, 100% peach juice brings on the challenge of clearing, not to mention measuring gravity with a hydrometer.
* The acid content of different fruits can vary wildly. Not only the acids in the types of fruit vary, but the acid will vary depending on when they are harvested. So unless having a pH meter and testing for TA, guessing at supplementing acids is just that, a >guess<.
* IMO, adding tannins to country wines is not necessary. Many fruits already have tannins in the skins. Tannins are found in the stems of grapes. Consider using a small amount of grape stems from store bought grapes. Larger stems are bitter, the milder tannins are found near the clusters of grapes.
* The amount of solids in a fermentation along with tannins and the other components, like fusels, determine the length of aging needed to smooth out tastes. Alcohol content is not the only thing that impacts the taste.
* "Novellino" translated into English means NEW, FRESH, EARLY. So, a new wine is typically a "green" wine and carries more sharper tastes. Be aware that the marketing on the label may not actually be new wine. I'm willing to bet, the wine is not "new" at all and probably aged to make it smoother.
* I suggest taking a look at fermenting table grapes from the grocery store. Table grapes typically have about 1/2 the amount of sugar of varietal grapes.

Whatever you decide, have fun!

Barry