rookie question

[steelfn86]

I'm new to making wine I have 6 gal of pinot grigio frementing and 6 gal of lambrusco fermenting I want the lambrusco to be sweet we have been reading on the internet and asking friends when to put the lambrusco in a carboy. Is there a apecific sg reading we can use to know if we are ready to move to the carboy. Maybe a dumb question but just don't really know much about it

 

[Runningwolf]

steelfn86, first off welcome to the forum. Please go to our introductions thread when you get a minute and let us know a bit about you and what you want to do. Feel free to pop in any time and ask questions. Its nice to finally get a new member from PA and so close to Pittsburgh. We have a handfull of members in your area. I usually rack to a carboy when my sg hits about 1.01, then let it finish dry before stabilizing.

 

[Wade E]

Most people transfer their wine over to carboy around 1.015 or there abouts. If you are wanting this wine sweeter you will have to wait for this wine to finish fermenting which is checked by taking hydrometer readings a few days ina row with no change and then sulfiting and sorbating wait a few days for those ingrdients to be thoroughly melded into the wine and then sweeten with a simple syrup which consists of 1 cup of boiling water to 2 cups of sugar dissolved into that water and cooled. Obviosly you may need more of that syrup depending on how big a batch of wine you have and how sweete you want your wine. Without expensive equipment this is the only true way of getting a sweet wine without high risk of refermentation of the wine which usually happens in the bottle making exploding bottles.

 

[Runningwolf]

Where did you get your Lambrusco from. I just bought something called Labrusca from Walkers which is a blend of seven different red grapes.

 

[Wade E]

Dan really??? Finally a new member from PA!!!!!!!! You seem to get a new member from PA every 3 minutes!!!!

 

[Runningwolf]

Steel, I am waiting for Julie to jump in here. She is right close to your neck of the woods. Stay out of here beer. Its all spoken for.

 

[steelfn86]

Thanks so much for welcoming me in. First off I purchased the juice from luva Bella. The buddy of mine who is helping me do this has never made a sweet wine always dry he was under the impression that we could rack into carboy at 1.0025 and then stabalize at 1.001. It sounds to me like you actually let the wine dry and then sweeten.

 

[Runningwolf]

Thanks so much for welcoming me in. First off I purchased the juice from luva Bella. The buddy of mine who is helping me do this has never made a sweet wine always dry he was under the impression that we could rack into carboy at 1.0025 and then stabalize at 1.001. It sounds to me like you actually let the wine dry and then sweeten.

Thats correct. Rack at about 1.015 and then let it go dry. Same sg reading for three days in a row. Then you will stabilize with sulphite and sorbate. Let it sit like wade said for several days then sweeten with a simple syrup. This is what I am also doing with my labrusca. Stick with us and we'll walk you through each stage.

 

[steelfn86]

Now would I put the sulfate in before putting into carboy or is this after some time in the carboy.

 

[Runningwolf]

Rack from your primary to your carboy at 1.015 and let it sit under airlock until its gone completely dry. After it has gone dry add you sulphite and sorbate. At this time you will also want to degas. Then back sweeten a few days later. What size batch are you making?

 

[steelfn86]

It is 6 gal.

 

[steelfn86]

Ok I'm going to throw it out there why couldn't I stablize the wine when it hit 1.001 instead of letting it go dry and adding syrup.

 

[Runningwolf]

Because you are not actually killing off all of the yeast. Adding sugar to the existing yeast will eventually start to ferment again causing bottle bombs down the road.