Sugar calculations

[silverbullet07]

I am trying to learn how to properly calculate sugar content and how to figure amount of sugar to add Based upon charts. Does this below look correct to determine about how much sugar to add when you are determining what you need to add.

I am using this chart. Not sure which chart is good because I’ve seen several charts showing different Amounts of sugar per SG reading
https://www.winesandwinemaking.com/conversion_chart.php
I have a bag of frozen blueberries. The bag says 17g sugar per 3/4 cup Trying to calculate how much sugar per gal that is and I came up with 12.79 oz sugar a gal. I thought maybe that would be close to the Brix total I got below but does not seem to corralate.

I smashed several blueberries in a dish. Used my refractor to measure the brix and it came to 1.057 (around 20 oz sugar based on the cart above) but to make it easy and caution on safe Side, I‘m going to round up to SG 1.060.

if I want to increase the juice from 1.060 to 1.090 (30 points)
using cane sugar, I would need to add between 10-11 oz of sugar per gal For the juice. Would this be correct?

if I had two gallons I would add 20-22 oz. now if I want to add two gal of water I would add an additional 32oz per gal for a total of 64 oz?

for the two gal juice and two gal water to bring to SG 1.090 I need to add a total of 84 - 86 oz sugar which would be 5.37 pounds.

now that two gal of water, i would take 1/2 gal Of it and use it to make the sugar syrup With the 5.37 lbs sugar. Would that be correct or should I just use another 1/2 gal water to make the syrup. If I use another 1/2 gal my figures are off. If I use part of the two gal to make it I think it would be correct if I used it all but I could find out I my not need that much sugar then I could stop, and the finis with plain water to make up the difference.

just wondering would this be the way to figure out how much sugar you add. Before I was making a bunch of sugar syrup and add a little by little watching the SG reading come up. Was not sure how to technically figure how much I needed. So been looking at these charts And trying to figure out how to do it.

 

[Rice_Guy]

* there is a sugar calculator on the web that does the work for you

* you can do what is called a mass balance (math is easier in metric, opinion)
. . blueberry at 1.057 is about 15.8% sugar
. . therefore a four pound per gallon recipe will contribute 10.1 oz (287 grams)
. . water has no sugar therefore it will contribute 0 oz/ grams
. . a 1.090 finished mix is 27.4% sugar

. . and for a one gallon batch the finished is approximately 4000 grams of which you want 27.4% sugar or 1,096 grams (or 2.4 pounds or 38.6 oz)
the difference is 1,096 minus 287 equals 809 grams of sugar needed per gallon (28.5 oz)

NOTE! There is a density increase which I didn’t calculate in ,,, but ball parked by increasing the gallon weight. A mass balance gets close but not as close as the web calculator with a density versus volume correction table. (The finished gallon will probably weigh 4.13 kilos (3.79 times gravity))
Note using a table as you referenced you can interpolate the fraction example if the jump is .005 gravity divide the sugar jump by five and each incremental degree of gravity is said additional percentage

We are mixing volumes and weights, , and English units and metric, , and it is fun but not as bad as calculating a multivariable ice cream mix

 

[silverbullet07]

Lol well that was way over my head. I’ll have to seat and take this all in for a while.

 

[sour_grapes]

Try fermcalc: FermCalc Winemaking Calculator

 

[KCCam]

I like "FermCalc." Every wine calculation you can think of is included in the web site / javascript / app. Also, the reference material is very interesting reading.

NOTE: 1 cup of blueberries does not equal 1 cup of blueberry juice. If you work strictly with weight, things are easier. Using grams gets rid of any US / UK confusion.

 

[Scooter68]

Rather than try to use any tables to estimate how much sugar is in the fruit my process for blueberries and a 3 gallon batch is:
1) Crush the fruit well, process it, or whatever it takes to get the fruit broken down the best I can. (For 3 gallons starting with 18-20 lbs will give me the flavor that I personally like.)
2) Add Pectic Enzyme and yeast nutrient, K-meta (basically all my additives BUT NEVER any acid blend in blueberries)
Then add water to bring the volume up to at least 2 3/4 gallons.
3) Check the SG at that point. ( I use this site to get my ABV with my SG readings. https://www.brewersfriend.com/abv-calculator/ )
4) Then start adding my simple syrup (2 cups sugar to 1 cup water) and check the SG as I go. until I reach my desired SG. A single batch ends up adding about 2 cups of volume (Keep in mind that if you just add undissolved sugar to the batch it's going to be harder and harder to disolve it as the SG rises. That's why I use the simple syrup and plan on the volume gain from the water in it.)
5) Check pH
6) Let it sit at least 18-24 hours to further break down the fruit.
7) After that wait recheck both SG and pH adjust if needed.
As long as I start with a volume of at least 3 1/2 to 3 3/4 gallons I should be good
It may be a bit backward but so far it seems to work well for a 3 gallon batch I would want my starting volume to be at leas 3.5 - 3.75 gallons. If I already have my desired quantity of fruit in the bucket and crushed then I just work with the balance of Simple Syrup and straight water addition.

Since different fruit end up having more pulp than others it's a matter of trial and error. Blackberries low residual pulp, peaches and apples more pulp. Blueberries relatively low pulp if well processed/crushed.

Not a super scientific method but since I make at least one batch of blueberry wine every year, it seems to be working out well for me.

 

[G259]

Agree, no acid with blueberry, and the - if it's not broken, don't fix it - rule applies here!

 

[Eda-wines]

I wonder if someone can please help clarify my confusion..
First of all I'm a newbie in wine making since September 2020, but got really hooked on to it..
I have read many recipes and advices, suggesting the amount of sugar to be added to so much fruits..
I'm actually keen to make my wine with very little alcohol content.
I tried with Grapes and Pineapple.
Both my crushed fruits of around 15 Kilos read around SG 1070. With already so much sugar content in the fruits itself, will I require to add some more sugar? This defeats my purpose of lowering the alcohol content in the wine.

 

[sour_grapes]

You do not need to add sugar, if you do not want more alcohol. Your must that has SG of 1.070 should wind up with an ABV (alcohol percentage) of about 9.7% or so. If that is what you want, you do not require more sugar.

 

[Eda-wines]

You do not need to add sugar, if you do not want more alcohol. Your must that has SG of 1.070 should wind up with an ABV (alcohol percentage) of about 9.7% or so. If that is what you want, you do not require more sugar.

Thanks so much...Relieved to hear that..

 

[Eda-wines]

By the way, can you kindly suggest on how to sweeten wine. I've realised that some people in my parts of the world (India) prefer sweet wine to the regular wine. How do I go about sweetening my wine..? In my fiirst try of making wine, as I was yet to learn and understand the proper use of the Hydrometer, I put in so much sugar in the must, that it turned very alcoholic and also very very sweet. Most of my friends liked the wine, but they also admitted that it was too strong. I would like to avoid the same mistake while making wine which is low in alcohol but sweet to the taste.

 

[Rice_Guy]

we have two basic ways; stop fermentation with potassium sorbate and then add desired sugar and wait for the yeast to die then sweeten (sometimes nine months but a year always works)

By the way, can you kindly suggest on how to sweeten wine. I've realised that some people in my parts of the world (India) prefer sweet wine to the regular wine. How do I go about sweetening my wine..? In my fiirst try of making wine, as I was yet to learn and understand the proper use of the Hydrometer, I put in so much sugar in the must, that it turned very alcoholic and also very very sweet. Most of my friends liked the wine, but they also admitted that it was too strong. I would like to avoid the same mistake while making wine which is low in alcohol but sweet to the taste.

In the US product definitions an alcohol under eight is a cider with a lower tax. Folks making a fruit cider may also chill the ferment, rack several times to remove required yeast nutrients (kieving). Industrial processes will sterile filter at 0.45 micron after clarification.

 

[winemaker81]

Expanding on @Rice_Guy's explanation, when the wine has fermented out dry (SG is 0.998 or less and has not changed for at least 3 days), and the wine has cleared -- add potassium sorbate and potassium metabisulfite (K-meta). The sorbate in combination with K-meta prevents a renewed fermentation. After that you can safely backsweeten the wine.

The sorbate I use has a dosage of 1/2 tsp per US gallon and the K-meta is 1/4 tsp per 5-6 US gallons (19-23 liters). Always read the package for dosage as the formulation may be different. Do not exceed the sorbate dosage as it can produce off flavors.

I emphasize the K-meta dosage as it requires very little. If you are making smaller batches, dissolve 1/4 tsp K-meta in 5 Tbsp water and add 1 Tbsp of this water per 4 liters.

 

[Eda-wines]

we have two basic ways; stop fermentation with potassium sorbate and then add desired sugar and wait for the yeast to die then sweeten (sometimes nine months but a year always works)

In the US product definitions an alcohol under eight is a cider with a lower tax. Folks making a fruit cider may also chill the ferment, rack several times to remove required yeast nutrients (kieving). Industrial processes will sterile filter at 0.45 micron after clarification.

Thanks very much...As a newbie, I'm simply impressed with helpfulness of the senior folks in helping us out..

 

[Eda-wines]

Expanding on @Rice_Guy's explanation, when the wine has fermented out dry (SG is 0.998 or less and has not changed for at least 3 days), and the wine has cleared -- add potassium sorbate and potassium metabisulfite (K-meta). The sorbate in combination with K-meta prevents a renewed fermentation. After that you can safely backsweeten the wine.

The sorbate I use has a dosage of 1/2 tsp per US gallon and the K-meta is 1/4 tsp per 5-6 US gallons (19-23 liters). Always read the package for dosage as the formulation may be different. Do not exceed the sorbate dosage as it can produce off flavors.

I emphasize the K-meta dosage as it requires very little. If you are making smaller batches, dissolve 1/4 tsp K-meta in 5 Tbsp water and add 1 Tbsp of this water per 4 liters.

Thank you so much

 

[DizzyIzzy]

By the way, can you kindly suggest on how to sweeten wine. I've realised that some people in my parts of the world (India) prefer sweet wine to the regular wine. How do I go about sweetening my wine..? In my fiirst try of making wine, as I was yet to learn and understand the proper use of the Hydrometer, I put in so much sugar in the must, that it turned very alcoholic and also very very sweet. Most of my friends liked the wine, but they also admitted that it was too strong. I would like to avoid the same mistake while making wine which is low in alcohol but sweet to the taste.

You might try adding vegetable glycerin for sweetening rather than using sugar...........................................DizzyIzzy