Sweeter wine

[Edward1234595426]

So I started a merlot last night and it's my first project pretty exited!!! I do however want it to be a bit sweeter and have a strong wood barrel taste any suggestions???? All help is super super appreciated.

 

[Rice_Guy]

As a home wine maker I don’t have the tools to effectively stop a fermentation. Mostly I give up and add sugar back to get target flavor, , after adding metabisulphite.
Industry folks can filter using a 0.5 micron absolute cut off, at $100 per cartridge it makes expensive wine.

 

[Johnd]

So I started a merlot last night and it's my first project pretty exited!!! I do however want it to be a bit sweeter and have a strong wood barrel taste any suggestions???? All help is super super appreciated.

To get a sweet wine, go ahead and make the wine per your kit instructions. Once your wine has been racked a couple of times and it’s clearing, hit it with a dose of potassium sorbate in conjunction with a potassium metabisulfite, this will prevent fermentation from starting back up when you add sugar to sweeten it. Sweeten the merlot to your liking and add some sort of oak (assuming you don’t have a barrel) to the carboy. You can use spirals or cubes pretty effectively in a carboy. Taste periodically until the oak flavor is to your liking.

 

[Edward1234595426]

To get a sweet wine, go ahead and make the wine per your kit instructions. Once your wine has been racked a couple of times and it’s clearing, hit it with a dose of potassium sorbate in conjunction with a potassium metabisulfite, this will prevent fermentation from starting back up when you add sugar to sweeten it. Sweeten the merlot to your liking and add some sort of oak (assuming you don’t have a barrel) to the carboy. You can use spirals or cubes pretty effectively in a carboy. Taste periodically until the oak flavor is to your liking.

Ok just to make sure I have it correct I understand the wood part but on the note of sweeting what do you mean by racking I'm assuming that in the glass carboy? Sorry really new thank you

 

[Rice_Guy]

Racking is carefully transferring the liquid wine off of the lees (gunk) which settles on the bottom of a carboy. This is frequently done by siphoning from table height to a floor level new carboy.
Racking wine is done for the purpose of creating a clean liquid. Air (oxygen) is the enemy of alcohol, we usually top off the carboy with a clean wine to fill the carboy up to the neck.

 

[Rocky]

Good info above from JohnD and Rice Guy.

On sweetening, because you are new to wine making and may not know how to sweeten and what simple syrup is, please consider the following. Simple syrup is made of two parts sugar to one part water over low heat to fully dissolve the sugar. Sweetening is best accomplished for the home wine maker by fermenting the wine to "dry" or about SG 0.992-0.995 and then "back sweetening" or adding sugar "back" into the wine. Part of your instructions will be to add a packet of Potassium Metabisulfite and a packet of Potassium Sorbate. The metabisulfite is to guard against spoilage and the sorbate is to prevent re-fermentation if and when sugar is added to the finished wine.

It is very important to "bench test" the addition to get the appropriate ratio. Start with a known quantity of wine and (say 1 cup) known quantity of simple syrup (say 1 teaspoon) and mix the two. Taste. If too sweet, repeat with a lesser quantity of simple syrup. If not sweet enough, repeat with a great quantity of simple syrup. Once you find the ratio of syrup to wine that you prefer, scale up that amount for the remaining wine, add and mix. If your measurement was accurate, you should have a wine that is very close to the sample you preferred. Add syrup judiciously. If you make it too sweet, there is no simple solution to fixing it.

Good luck and keep us up to date on your progress.

 

[Edward1234595426]

Good info above from JohnD and Rice Guy.

On sweetening, because you are new to wine making and may not know how to sweeten and what simple syrup is, please consider the following. Simple syrup is made of two parts sugar to one part water over low heat to fully dissolve the sugar. Sweetening is best accomplished for the home wine maker by fermenting the wine to "dry" or about SG 0.992-0.995 and then "back sweetening" or adding sugar "back" into the wine. Part of your instructions will be to add a packet of Potassium Metabisulfite and a packet of Potassium Sorbate. The metabisulfite is to guard against spoilage and the sorbate is to prevent re-fermentation if and when sugar is added to the finished wine.

It is very important to "bench test" the addition to get the appropriate ratio. Start with a known quantity of wine and (say 1 cup) known quantity of simple syrup (say 1 teaspoon) and mix the two. Taste. If too sweet, repeat with a lesser quantity of simple syrup. If not sweet enough, repeat with a great quantity of simple syrup. Once you find the ratio of syrup to wine that you prefer, scale up that amount for the remaining wine, add and mix. If your measurement was accurate, you should have a wine that is very close to the sample you preferred. Add syrup judiciously. If you make it too sweet, there is no simple solution to fixing it.

Good luck and keep us up to date on your progress.

Awsome I will do that just a cou pl le quick follow up questions. What kind of sugar? And at what point should I taste and add sugar? After the packets are added before immediately after a week after thank you

 

[Rocky]

Edward, just regular table sugar (sucrose) is fine. As for when you add the sugar, there are different preferences and I suppose all will work. If it were I, I would de-gas, stabilize (which is adding Potassium Metabisulfite and Potassium Sorbate) and let the wine clear for about 3-6 months, rack the wine off any sediment that drops out into a clean carboy, sweeten and then add a second dose of Potassium Metabisulfite (1/4 teaspoon per 6 gallons) and go back into bulk aging for a total of 12 months. After that period, the wine should be very clear and ready to bottle. As a personal preference, I rack once again before bottling because I usually let the wine in my cellar for another year or so before drinking.

 

[Edward1234595426]

Edward, just regular table sugar (sucrose) is fine. As for when you add the sugar, there are different preferences and I suppose all will work. If it were I, I would de-gas, stabilize (which is adding Potassium Metabisulfite and Potassium Sorbate) and let the wine clear for about 3-6 months, rack the wine off any sediment that drops out into a clean carboy, sweeten and then add a second dose of Potassium Metabisulfite (1/4 teaspoon per 6 gallons) and go back into bulk aging for a total of 12 months. After that period, the wine should be very clear and ready to bottle. As a personal preference, I rack once again before bottling because I usually let the wine in my cellar for another year or so before drinking.

So wanted to run this bye you. What I was thinking was after the "14" day formation I was doing to change it to the car boy where I where add the 2 packets let it sit in there for 2 weeks then take a sample about a cup six in sugar once right multiply that by total volume of car boy mix in let sit for another week and bottle will that be fine or will the sugar start fermentation even though I already added the packet as stated thank you .

 

[Rocky]

Ed, I would caution about being too much in a hurry with this wine. Patience is one of the greatest virtues of a winemaker.

I am not sure but it sounds like you want to by-pass making simple syrup and just add the sugar directly to the wine. I would suggest that you do not do so. Getting all of the sugar to dissolve is very difficult and scaling up with only sugar would be a difficult task. Make the simple syrup (it can be kept in a sealed jar for a reasonable period of time) and add that to your wine.

If you are not sure of the math in scaling up the additions, consider this. You will have approximately 6 gallons of wine or about 768 ounces. If you draw out a one cup sample (8 ounces), that would be 1/96th of the total, so whatever amount of syrup you add to the one cup sample would have to be multiplied by 96 for the remainder of the wine. Let's say you find that 1 teaspoon in a cup tastes good to you. You would need 96 teaspoons added to the remainder of the wine. That is equivalent to 16 ounces and that is what you would add to the bulk of your wine. These figures are not exact, but certainly close enough for your purposes.

 

[joeswine]

to add to what Rocky was saying adding 1 quart of simple syrup increases the ABV, to 1 % point.per 6 or 5 gallon batch that's enough.

 

[Edward1234595426]

Ed, I would caution about being too much in a hurry with this wine. Patience is one of the greatest virtues of a winemaker.

I am not sure but it sounds like you want to by-pass making simple syrup and just add the sugar directly to the wine. I would suggest that you do not do so. Getting all of the sugar to dissolve is very difficult and scaling up with only sugar would be a difficult task. Make the simple syrup (it can be kept in a sealed jar for a reasonable period of time) and add that to your wine.

If you are not sure of the math in scaling up the additions, consider this. You will have approximately 6 gallons of wine or about 768 ounces. If you draw out a one cup sample (8 ounces), that would be 1/96th of the total, so whatever amount of syrup you add to the one cup sample would have to be multiplied by 96 for the remainder of the wine. Let's say you find that 1 teaspoon in a cup tastes good to you. You would need 96 teaspoons added to the remainder of the wine. That is equivalent to 16 ounces and that is what you would add to the bulk of your wine. These figures are not exact, but certainly close enough for your purposes.

I'm not in a hurry what I started above was me straight up following the directions which obviously dont say to add sugar so I was talking about the directions amd when in there to add the sugar not in a hurry at all I just dont know where in my steps I should add the sugar so that the fermentation didnt start I understand the syrup making and all that just not when to add it in or how to mix it in our pour it in that's my current issue and question thank you

 

[cmason1957]

I'm not in a hurry what I started above was me straight up following the directions which obviously dont say to add sugar so I was talking about the directions amd when in there to add the sugar not in a hurry at all I just dont know where in my steps I should add the sugar so that the fermentation didnt start I understand the syrup making and all that just not when to add it in or how to mix it in our pour it in that's my current issue and question thank you

For me, backsweetening is a step that takes place right before bottling. I let fermentation finish, add the metabisulphite, let it sit and merge together, degas, clear for at least three months. Then add more metabisulphite, the potassium sorbate, clear, bottle.

 

[Rice_Guy]

When I rack I salvage the leftovers from the old carboy. I have tested stability with this left over and then overwrapped the bottle and put that in cardboard.? ? ? 14 day ? ? ?
The main carboy usually sits 9 months plus. , , , , patience

 

[jking]

Edward, just regular table sugar (sucrose) is fine. As for when you add the sugar, there are different preferences and I suppose all will work. If it were I, I would de-gas, stabilize (which is adding Potassium Metabisulfite and Potassium Sorbate) and let the wine clear for about 3-6 months, rack the wine off any sediment that drops out into a clean carboy, sweeten and then add a second dose of Potassium Metabisulfite (1/4 teaspoon per 6 gallons) and go back into bulk aging for a total of 12 months. After that period, the wine should be very clear and ready to bottle. As a personal preference, I rack once again before bottling because I usually let the wine in my cellar for another year or so before drinking.

Is there a hard and fast rule as to when it is recommended to add the sorbate? Every single wine I have backsweetened had sorbate added to the bottling bucket, kmeta, then rack the wine in and sweeten to taste. I have seen several on this site mention adding it way earlier than I have ever done. Does it matter much? I have never had an issue with clouding or carbonating in the bottles.

 

[Rocky]

Jking, to be totally candid, I have only added sorbate in a handful of cases and I make about 150 gallons per year. I like fully fermented wines and I have only back sweetened a few wines, one was a Port, one was a dessert wine and the few others I cannot recall. I like wines with an SG of about 0.995 or so.

Intuitively, I like Cmason's procedure, to wit: "backsweetening is a step that takes place right before bottling. I let fermentation finish, add the metabisulphite, let it sit and merge together, degas, clear for at least three months. Then add more metabisulphite, the potassium sorbate, clear, bottle."

 

[Rice_Guy]

The function of sorbate is to prevent reproduction of yeast/mold. As such I would have the wine as clean of yeast as possible before treatment. ALL treatments which lower the population should be done some time before adding sorbate, , , , a week or so.

Is there a hard and fast rule as to when it is recommended to add the sorbate? Every single wine I have backsweetened had sorbate added to the bottling bucket, kmeta, then rack the wine . . . .

As rocky above, I have limited experience. * I have seen that adding K sorbate to cherry wine will reliably produce a precipitate, * adding wine conditioner (sugar syrup & sorbate) works well in all flavors but is expensive, * I have learned what geranium flavor is and I didn’t like it, * time normally works, * I mainly do fruit wine and target pH 3.2 to 3.3 which can drop below 3.0 when it is full of CO2. a secondary preservative, * I have read about flavor degradation with age (but haven’t experienced this), * to the extent possible I use “natural” food rules ( haven’t learned how to skip meta)

 

[joeswine]

I've never back sweeten.....

 

[bshef]

I have back sweetened fruit wine but you need to wait, wait and wait. then be very light with the simple syrup additions. A sweetened wine will get sweeter in the bottle. I've started bottling dry or semi-dry and sweetening to taste after opening (decanting). That works especially well with Rose and fruit wine. I've sweetened Dragon Blood with fruit juice concentrate and the sweetness is perfect. I wouldn't want to back sweeten a Merlot early in the process. Merlot can be semi-dry, alone.

 

[joeswine]

Here's something to think about.
1,it all depends on what your base wine is supposed to be in the end from the start.
2,making adjustments to the process is and should be done in the primary and secondary.
3, I'm a guy who always thinks outside the box. Balance starts in the beginning and ends in the secondary the rest is for clearing and time.
4,just my thoughts.
.