We are done with our wines, some questions

[Sammyk]

Today we did the final racking of 4 wines, Peach, Blueberry, Red Raspberry and Plum, plus the 4 berry Skeeter Pee. A total of 20 gallons in 1 gallon carboys. We are coming into our busy season for our business and needed to get everything done as we will not have time later.

They were clear so we did not fine them. There was only a tiny bit on the bottom of each carboy. We did add sorbate, 1/2 teaspoon per gallon and 1 Campden tablet.

We plan to let them all sit until Spring/Summer to age. (we have a about 4 assorted quarts in the fridge that did not fit in carboys).

Some we will back sweeten and maybe add fruit packs later on when fresh fruit is available. Depends on how it tastes at in a few months (or more) We did not do any SG readings today because they were are .99 or lower when they were racked a month or so ago so I did not think it necessary.

The question is, when is the final ABV measured? Should it have been now that the SG is measured or when we back sweeten and add fruit packs?

If we back sweeten and or fruit pack down the road, would we need to add sorbate again?

I kept very detailed notes on each one right from the start.

If all goes well with taste, we will make more next fall when our business slows down again.

 

[Geronimo]

Measure ABV before sweetening.

As far as re-stabilizing goes, I doubt you'll need to. 1 dose will drop the last few yeast out of your wine and if any are left alive they can't reproduce (assuming that no wild yeast or bacteria can get at it and make trouble). If you sweeten with simple syrup, it's been boiled so you aren't adding wild yeast or bacteria that way. If you're adding fruit, that's a little different. My personal preference is to add the fruit 1 day after adding the sorbate/campden mix. That way you're stabilizing the wine and still have a significant amount of the mix active for anything that comes with the fruit.

 

[djrockinsteve]

Your ABV is determined based upon the starting and finishing specific gravity. As long as you have added sulfite and keep a minute amount of headspace you will be fine until you back sweeten. No need to add sorb ate again but you should add almost a pinch more later on.

 

[wvbrewer]

I agree with Steve, your alchole proof is deterimened by your starting and final gravity at the end of fermentation. If you have these readings try this these intructions I found.

Calculate the amount of alcohol in the wine by using this formula.

Percentage of alcohol = ((1.05 x (OG -- TG)) / TG) / 0.79

OG is the original gravity reading that you took. TG stands for terminal gravity or the reading you took at the end of fermentation.

For example, if the original gravity was 1.06 and the terminal gravity 1.01, the equation would read:

Percent alcohol = ((1.05 x (1.06 -- 1.01))/1.01) / 0.79

Therefore, the wine's alcohol percentage is 6.6.


I think this should should help/

 

[Sammyk]

I just put a note on my calendar to add sulfite in early March.

 

[Flem]

Yes, your ABV will be as stated above. However, depending upon the volume of the product you are using to backsweeten, your final ABV may decrease simply because you are diluting your original gallon of wine. If you are using your original wine to add sugar to, the amount of ABV change will be minor, but if you add a large volume to the wine, it could change significantly. Good Luck!

 

[Sammyk]

Except for the skeeter pee, they were all Vinters Harvest fruit bases and SG was around 1.080 and ending around .99 or there about. The ABV is really not that important to us. I know they are around 10%.

I was fairly certain that back sweetening and fruit packs would change the ABV.

 

[Geronimo]

Typical sweetening only changes the volume by 2-5%. If you have 10% ABV and add 5% volume you end up with 9.5% ABV. You always want the sweetener to be as concentrated as is practical.