Newbie from Cape Cod

[Codfish]

Hello everyone, I'm a new home wine maker and have learned a lot reading this forum. I started with Welches grape juice to get my feet wet, it's been almost a year and am hoping it will get better with age. I made a couple Cellar Master kits which were alright for a cheap kit from amazon. Then I got the fever and drove up to Boston and picked up !40 lbs of Cabernet suave grapes from California and three juice buckets, Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, and 1 merlot which are now aging. A little more work than I planned.
I now have a pineapple and straw berry wine in secondary, and a Winexpert California trinity that I put the grape skins from the Cab in. Don't know yet if that was a good idea or not yet. I also made a blueberry mead and a banana wine a few months ago, shelves are starting to get full.
I am starting a Winexpert Island Mist Blackberry Merlot today and have a question I was hoping to get an answer to,I'm sure you guys can do that. The description on Amazon was off dry, I don't like sweet wine and the wife doesn't drink very much, when I went to Winexpert website after receiving it it says it is a sweet wine, dumb mistake, not reading more about it. Anyway my Question is can I just add the sweetener bag in at primary and boost the OG?
Sorry about the rambling post, You guys are great and I'm glad I found this forum and am now a new member.


Mitch L.

 

[cmason1957]

Yes, you can add the sweetener bag in at primary and boost the OG. Another thought (and this is one I do), add about 4 lbs of sugar up front, that raises the ABV up to about 10% and then add in the sweetener bag to a bit less than you think is the perfect taste. You can even add in more sugar than that, but that amount hits the "sweet" spot on those kits.

 

[Codfish]

Yes, you can add the sweetener bag in at primary and boost the OG. Another thought (and this is one I do), add about 4 lbs of sugar up front, that raises the ABV up to about 10% and then add in the sweetener bag to a bit less than you think is the perfect taste. You can even add in more sugar than that, but that amount hits the "sweet" spot on those kits.

Do you mean add the sweetener bag after Sorbate, I prefer a dry wine and was not going to back sweeten.

 

[sour_grapes]

Welcome aboard!

Yes, you can add the sweetener pack to primary for the reason you cite.

 

[cmason1957]

Do you mean add the sweetener bag after Sorbate, I prefer a dry wine and was not going to back sweeten.

Yes, if you add the sweetener bag at all, then adding Potassium Metabisulphite and Potassium Sorbate at the same time are necessary.

But, if you add all the sweetner bag up front and ferment to dry, then the K-Meta and K-Sorbate are not necessary to be added. I have never done this, but many folks have. The Island Mist line of wines are intended to be really quick making, drink them really quickly and very cold.

 

[Jovimaple]

Welcome to WMT!

My first year was similar to yours - I think I ended up with several dozen wines. The good news is patience is a lot easier when you have a bunch of wine already made to drink while you wait for the good stuff to age!

 

[winemaker81]

Welcome to WMT!

I agree with Craig -- add sugar up front to bump the SG to 1.080 to 1.095, which makes it a table wine strength. Adding the F-pack during fermentation works, although if you do this you'll want to reduce the amount of sugar added. Decide on a target SG, and add sugar in increments (stirring very well after each addition) until you achieve your target SG.

Something to consider is that kits designed to be backsweetened often have a higher level of acid to balance the sugar. An Island Mist kit made without backsweetening may be sharp tasting. At bottling time you may want to backsweeten slightly, just to balance the acid. That's up to your taste buds.

I had a few bottles of Vignoles that was listed as a sweet wine, but the acid level was so high that it taste off dry. The amount of acid, amount of sugar, and a persons perception of the mixing of the two can be surprising.

Another option is to let folks backsweeten by the glass. Make a sugar syrup and keep it in a squirt bottle, so folks can add what they want.

 

[Christopher Anderson]

Hello everyone, I'm a new home wine maker and have learned a lot reading this forum. I started with Welches grape juice to get my feet wet, it's been almost a year and am hoping it will get better with age. I made a couple Cellar Master kits which were alright for a cheap kit from amazon. Then I got the fever and drove up to Boston and picked up !40 lbs of Cabernet suave grapes from California and three juice buckets, Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, and 1 merlot which are now aging. A little more work than I planned.
I now have a pineapple and straw berry wine in secondary, and a Winexpert California trinity that I put the grape skins from the Cab in. Don't know yet if that was a good idea or not yet. I also made a blueberry mead and a banana wine a few months ago, shelves are starting to get full.
I am starting a Winexpert Island Mist Blackberry Merlot today and have a question I was hoping to get an answer to,I'm sure you guys can do that. The description on Amazon was off dry, I don't like sweet wine and the wife doesn't drink very much, when I went to Winexpert website after receiving it it says it is a sweet wine, dumb mistake, not reading more about it. Anyway my Question is can I just add the sweetener bag in at primary and boost the OG?
Sorry about the rambling post, You guys are great and I'm glad I found this forum and am now a new member.


Mitch L.

Welcome to WMT!

 

[BigDaveK]

Welcome to WMT!

Spent many vacations at Cape Cod in the 80's. Lots of chowda and I haven't had a 5+ lb lobster since then.

 

[David Violante]

Welcome to WMT!

 

[Rice_Guy]

Welcome to WMT

 

[Codfish]

Welcome to WMT!

Thanks, I love San Antonio, the river walk is really nice.

 

[TxBrew]

Welcome to WMT! If you have any questions about how the software works please let me know.