Noticing Wine Nowhere Near Sweet Enough!?

[EHouseHead]

Hi all. I have made several batches of "ghetto wine" from the Welch's frozen juice concentrate. I use white grape which always turns out to be superb. I decided this time I'd make 2 experimental gallons along side my 5 gallons of usual. I used Old Orchard brand apple raspberry for 1 gallon and Old Orchard Pineapple Orange for another gallon. I used my same exact recipe. I notice the bubblers have stopped on both of those prematurely. I decided I'd go ahead and rack to see what happens, maybe add energizer, yeast, sugar or whatever if needed. Well while I was racking I decided to take a taste.... YUK!. I dont know if maybe the brand was organic/sugarless or what the issue is but it is nowhere near sweet enough and I am only 2 weeks in. What should I do? Keep brewing by adding energizer, yeast, sugar as needed and then condition at the end or what??? Any idea what the hell happened here? BTW I tasted my white grape and its perfect as well as the strawberry I am making from real fruit for the first time. Any help is help and will be appreciated!

Cheers,
DJ

 

[Torch404]

You can always sweeten after the wine has fermented and been stabilized, with sorbate and sulfite. As it is a different juice combo it might not taste as good while fermenting or it might need to age a little. Someone with specific brand info might pop in here, but you most likely need to give it some time. Sweeten if you think it needs it.

 

[EHouseHead]

You can always sweeten after the wine has fermented and been stabilized, with sorbate and sulfite. As it is a different juice combo it might not taste as good while fermenting or it might need to age a little. Someone with specific brand info might pop in here, but you most likely need to give it some time. Sweeten if you think it needs it.

Oh don't worry it wont get poured out. We are only at week 2. I just racked everything and now bubblers are goin crazy. If we arent sweet enought in about a month or so I'll use conditioner. Still cheaper then buying a gallon of wine (at least one that tastes good and dont give you a headache right)?

 

[Leanne]

What was your beginning sg? What is it now?

 

[EHouseHead]

What was your beginning sg? What is it now?

I didnt measure the 2 small jugs, I should have.
The other 2 when I put the hydrometer in when I very first started it was floating so high i couldn't take a reading, it was below any numbers. Now I am at like 0 or a 1/16 above 0. Its only been a week and 4 days...

 

[Noontime]

The sweetness of the wine goes down as it ferments, as the yeast eat all the sugar. If you want a sweeter wine you'll have to add sulfite and sorbate after fermentation (to stop the reproduction of the yeast and prevent a restarted fermentation) and then add sugar. I'm just guessing, but I think the grape wines are probably just perceived to be sweet due to their flavor profile and acid content (and a bunch of other things most likely). Orange and pinapple are two flavors that need A LOT of sugar to taste good.

Good luck.