My first 18% tolerant coffee wine

[Kivanc]

Here’s my wine at 14th day of primary fermentation. It has dropped to 1.032 sg thus I’ve racked into secondary today. I put 8 liters of coffee wine into 10 liters bottle. What do you think? I guess there is a lot of headspace to fill If I find 8 liters I might buy that bottle as soon as possible

 

[BigDaveK]

Could use multiple small jugs with airlocks. Just a thought.
My coffee wine has been in bulk for 2 months. I'm excited, also!
Good luck!

 

[Kivanc]

Could use multiple small jugs with airlocks. Just a thought.
My coffee wine has been in bulk for 2 months. I'm excited, also!
Good luck!

Fantastic! When are you going to taste it? When you taste it, would you post in here please?
Unfortunately I just didn’t find small bottles at my need. But I remember some valuable people who comment my early posts on this forum told me that you don’t need to worry of how much headspace as long as the water in the airlock frequently bubbles and the fizzling sound is brisky

 

[BigDaveK]

Fantastic! When are you going to taste it? When you taste it, would you post in here please?
Unfortunately I just didn’t find small bottles at my need. But I remember some valuable people who comment my early posts on this forum told me that you don’t need to worry of how much headspace as long as the water in the airlock frequently bubbles and the fizzling sound is brisky

I've tasted it each day during primary and after racking. Still in bulk, still slowly clearing, tastes really good so far. I hope a little back sweetening will push it over the top.

 

[Kivanc]

I've tasted it each day during primary and after racking. Still in bulk, still slowly clearing, tastes really good so far. I hope a little back sweetening will push it over the top.

I guess my 2.11 gallon wine is going to get dry at the end. If I were to back sweeten it, how much sugar do I have to add?

Thank you so much ...

 

[BigDaveK]

I guess my 2.11 gallon wine is going to get dry at the end. If I were to back sweeten it, how much sugar do I have to add?

Thank you so much ...

Everyone's mouth is different.
It's easy with a simple syrup, 2 parts sugar to 1 part water, heated till dissolved (not boiled), let cool. Add some to the wine, stir, taste. Not sweet enough - add more, stir, taste.
My first time back sweetening I had no idea how much to add. I was working with 3 1-gallon batches and I definitely got tipsy. There was a lot of tasting! It was fun.

 

[winemaker81]

Everyone's mouth is different.

Exactly! There is no answer, especially as every wine is different. Two identical batches made side-by-side may need different levels of backsweetening.

I guess my 2.11 gallon wine is going to get dry at the end. If I were to back sweeten it, how much sugar do I have to add?

Keep in mind that adding more sugar is FAR easier than taking some out. Use small additions and stir well in between. The stirring is critical, as if the wine is not properly mixed, you may taste a sweeter or dryer amount, while the real average is different.

How sweet do you like your wines? If very, start with 1/4 cup in 2 gallons of wine. If less, start with 1 or 2 Tbsp. Stir well and taste. Repeat until you think it needs just a bit more. STOP. It doesn't. This method has the risk that if you oversweeten, it's not coming out. Hence my caution to add small amounts and stir well.

Another method is to pour several 4 oz glasses of wine and add varying amounts of sugar to each, then taste to see what you like. Use that proportion to backsweeten the batch. The reason I don't use this method is ya gotta figure the proportion correctly. I've seen people screw it up and oversweeten a wine.

 

[Rice_Guy]

in general, the proper finished sweetness is a linear function of the total acids and tannins, with coffee any bitter flavor notes should also be considered

If I were to back sweeten it, how much sugar do I have to add?

A guideline for where to balance TA on wine;
after club contest this year I collected eight first place wines which are the red triangles
View attachment 81200
The sample set "cloud" is primarily commercial wines, with some collected in the vinters club and here on WineMakingTalk
NOTE: TA is one of several quality traits which a first place wine has as absence of flavor defect, appropriate aroma for the variety and clarity , , , etc.
NOTE 2: this is an easy test, if ya'll are interested in your wine ,,, PM me

 

[cmason1957]

I guess my 2.11 gallon wine is going to get dry at the end. If I were to back sweeten it, how much sugar do I have to add?

Thank you so much ...

Al so don't forget that if you add more sugar fermentation may stay back up, unless you add the proper amount of kmeta and potassium sorbate to neuter the yeast. If you use campden tablets that would be two (they are kmeta) and usually 1 tsp of potassium sorbate, but double check the directions which can be different than my memory.