New to wine making

[Eric336]

Been making wine for almost a year and love it.
Would anyone have any suggestions on how to add fruit after second racking?

 

[winemaker81]

Welcome to WMT!

What do you mean by "add fruit after second racking"? Do you want to add aroma/flavor/body?

 

[Eric336]

Thank you! Yes I do.

 

[Jim Welch]

Been making wine for almost a year and love it.
Would anyone have any suggestions on how to add fruit after second racking?View attachment 105747

Can’t answer your question but it will behoove you to top off that jug/Carboy. Far too much headspace there imo

 

[Eric336]

Can’t answer your question but it will behoove you to top off that jug/Carboy. Far too much headspace there imo

If I top it off with water will it mess up my ABV

 

[Rocky]

If I top it off with water will it mess up my ABV

Yes, it will dilute the wine you have lessening the flavor and lowering the ABV. As you are new to winemaking, I assume you do not have an array of vessels but I find that sizing down works best for me. For example, if that is a 6 gallon carboy, size down to a 5 gallon plus a 1 gallon jug, etc.

By the way, that is a beautiful wine. What is it, i.e. what fruit did you use?

 

[winemaker81]

If I top it off with water will it mess up my ABV

Very true. Top up with a compatible wine.

I have more questions -- what is the wine, and what recipe did you use? My immediate reaction is that you used too little fruit for the amount of water.

 

[Eric336]

Very true. Top up with a compatible wine.

I have more questions -- what is the wine, and what recipe did you use? My immediate reaction is that you used too little fruit for the amount of water.

I got pineapple and mango brewing. The picture is mango.
I think you're right because I think I only used about 9 pounds of pineapples.

 

[Rocky]

What is the ABV at present? Did you record your initial specific gravity and your final specific gravity? Where did you get the recipe? Are you thinking of adding fruit because the taste is weak?

Also, I am confused because you say that is mango wine and you only used 9 pounds of pineapples. Please clarify.

 

[winemaker81]

I got pineapple and mango brewing. The picture is mango.
I think you're right because I think I only used about 9 pounds of pineapples.

How much mango in how much water? Lighter fruits need a much large amount of fruit/gallon.

You have a few options, one is to put the wine back in the primary with more fruit and sugar. However, if your ABV is already high, that may not be feasible.

Another option is to make a second wine with a LOT of fruit, then blend. Unfortunately a truism of winemaking is that when blending a good wine into an inferior wine, you now have 2 inferior wines.

It may be the best option is to do nothing, and use the wine for cooking, in wine drinks, etc.

FYI -- your post would be better in the Country Wines forum, as you'll connect with more fruit winemakers who may not browse the New Members forum.

 

[Rice_Guy]

Welcome to WMT

Yes if you add water to the jug in the photo it will change the alcohol percentage. It gets dangerous in the beer/ cider range of 5%. Low alcohol I would store refrigerated. ,,, Ten percent alcohol is quite stable.
To your question in the original post, any time you add home made juice there is a risk of adding yeast and restarting the process. You could add a yeast free store bought juice to a wine which is a year old with little risk of restarting a fermentation. I look at your photo and guess that you have a few months old wine, pretty! ,,, A 30 days old wine just racked off of gross lees should experience fermentation restarting. I have pulled juice from the freezer and done it. (with 3” headspace then messed up the air lock) My goal is to keep alcohol and volume up and I live knowing that it needs the air lock.

All in all chemical oxidation makes off flavors,, keeping a low head space of about an inch to two is important.

 

[winemaker81]

I used my newly acquired god-like powers to move this thread to country wines. Everyone watching the thread is supposed to get a notice of the move. Hopefully that works as advertised.

 

[Eric336]

What is the ABV at present? Did you record your initial specific gravity and your final specific gravity? Where did you get the recipe? Are you thinking of adding fruit because the taste is weak?

Also, I am confused because you say that is mango wine and you only used 9 pounds of pineapples. Please clarify.

The specific gravity right now is 1.000. I'm Referencing about the pineapple. The mango is another one that I made I just took a picture of. I got the recipe from a youtuber

 

[Jim Welch]

If I top it off with water will it mess up my ABV

I didn’t read the other replies but I wouldn’t use water unless there was absolutely no other option. If it’s a fruit wine and you can’t find the same kind or similar type of wine a dry white wine would be what I reached for.

 

[Jovimaple]

Welcome to WMT!

 

[BigDaveK]

Welcome to WMT!

I got pineapple and mango brewing. The picture is mango.
I think you're right because I think I only used about 9 pounds of pineapples.

Generally speaking -
3 lbs of fruit per gallon makes a "light" wine. To me "light" is code for "little flavor".
5-6 lbs of fruit per gallon makes a "medium" wine. Now we're talkin'! I shoot for 6+ lbs., you won't be sorry with more fruit!

Lingo Police - Beer is brewed. Coffee is brewed. Wine is fermented.

And good luck wit your wine!

 

[Hazelemere]

Been making wine for almost a year and love it.
Would anyone have any suggestions on how to add fruit after second racking?View attachment 105747

Add a liqueur and then sorbate

 

[winemanden]

Lingo Police - Beer is brewed. Coffee is brewed. Wine is fermented.

UK Lingo Police - Tea is mashed!

 

[David Violante]

Welcome to WMT!