Sugar amount for SG

[DeanHere]

I am making apricot wine. Using 30 lbs for 6 gal US. Recipe calls for 1.5 - 2 lbs per gal. I used 12 lbs. SG is only @ 1.070.
Should I keep adding sugar to bring it up? Will all that fruit release sufficient sugar to bring SG up?
I don't want any/much residual sweetness after fermentation is done as I plan to back sweeten.
Thanks!

 

[cintipam]

Dean, you don't say exactly at which point you are. I am presuming that you are just in the very first stage, meaning you have water fruit any concentrates some sugar maybe acid blend and yeast nutrient mixed up, then added Kmeta to kill any nasties on the fresh fruit. If so that is a great pause point. You have it let it sit at least 12 preferably a few more hours before adding pectic enzyme (kmeta deactivates it) then give the PE at least 12-24 hours to work before pitching your yeast. If you are at that sweet pause point just wait till tomorrow, squeeze fruit a bit, stir well and test SG again. I'm betting you will need to add a little sugar if you want 1.090, but apricots are a delicate flavor and would do better at 1.080 in my opinion.

Pretty rambling, but I hope enough info to help you out.

Pam in cinti

 

[DeanHere]

Dean, you don't say exactly at which point you are. I am presuming that you are just in the very first stage, meaning you have water fruit any concentrates some sugar maybe acid blend and yeast nutrient mixed up, then added Kmeta to kill any nasties on the fresh fruit. If so that is a great pause point. You have it let it sit at least 12 preferably a few more hours before adding pectic enzyme (kmeta deactivates it) then give the PE at least 12-24 hours to work before pitching your yeast. If you are at that sweet pause point just wait till tomorrow, squeeze fruit a bit, stir well and test SG again. I'm betting you will need to add a little sugar if you want 1.090, but apricots are a delicate flavor and would do better at 1.080 in my opinion.

Pretty rambling, but I hope enough info to help you out.

Pam in cinti

Thanks!

Yes, you are correct, I am at pre-pitching.

Interesting what you say about delaying enzyme. All recipes I have seen say put all additives except yeast at beginning, then wait the 24 hours. Hmm?

Having said that, I have delayed including the yeast nutrient. (Didn't see the point as there is no yeast to "nutrify" yet. Just my twisted logic.) Thought I would add that prior to pitching.

I will definitely consider your point about the lower SG.

 

[cintipam]

I agree about waiting on the nutrients, good thought process. I know a lot of recipes have all ingredients added at once, but it's really not optimal. Once I understood about Pectic Enzyme being deactivated by Kmeta, and also by the heat caused during fermentation I noticed how better recipes gave more specific timelines and pauses for PE then yeast. It helped me become a much better and more adventurous winemaker. At least my wine has less pectin haze. I'm betting you are another quick learner.

Off the wall thought-while reading a link provided by another WMT member I ran across a statement (from a well accepted good source, maybe a wine making mag?) that using bentonite can also cause problems with PE. I'm still looking into that one.

If you like to get creative another good thing for you to learn is which fruits are high in pectin. Just google high pectin fruits. It's best to double dose those wines up front. PE is one of the few chems we deal with that over dosing does NOT cause any weird flavors or other problems.

Pam in cinti