what exactly does dry mean

[lieu]

Morning all
this might be a silly question but what exactly does fermenting till dry mean?. I thought dry was when there was no sugar left in the wine. If thats the case doesnt all wine get fermented till dry ( sg less than 1.000). If this is the case how is some wine sweeter than others? Sorry if this is a "dumb" question.

We (my father-in-law and myself) started our first 2 kits on 3/18. We transferred into the carboy a few days early due to the sg being where it was supposed to be according to the directions. We will be bottling soon. Can't wait. Will let you know how it goes. Thanks all for the help.

 

[ibglowin]

Yep, dry means less than 1.000. Most wine does get fermented to dry by choice. Some get back sweetened afterwards. Which means they are now "off dry" as they do contain some sugar. Rieslings and even some Pinot Grigio's fall in the is category.

Some wines are stopped by choice before they go completely dry as well.

 

[scotty]

dont believe that. it really means you need another glass of wine

 

[Wade E]

After what Mike said I must comment on that. I dont recommend trying to stop a wine in progress unless you have the means to sterile filter this wine using an Absolute .45 micron filter set up! Any other way and you are probably going to end up with refermentation in the bottle later. To sweeten a wine you MUST stabilize first by letting it finish fermenting, then add both sulfite and sorbate before adding any sugar back to your wine!

 

[Jerry1]

Wade, what happens if you stop the fermentation by using the sulfite and sorbate prior to completing fermentation? Is there a danger of refermentation and consequently exploding bottles? Or does one have to backsweeten beforeworrying about refermentation?

 

[ibglowin]

As long as there is sugar there is a danger of fermentation starting back up. Its pretty hard to stop fermentation once its going. There is a way but its not for the casual winemaker. Backsweeten (after fermentation to dry) is the preferred method. Sorbate should always be used if you backsweeten. It does not kill the yeast, it will just render any surviving yeast incapable of multiplying.

 

[Runningwolf]

+1 to what Mike said. I even sorbate if I don't sweeten. I opened a bottle that was given to me last year that did not have sorbate in it and it was not sweetened. It definitely had a renewed fermentation going on in the bottle again after all this time. It had been in my wine cooler the whole time so it was very slow. If it had been in my wine cellar it surely would have blown!

 

[ibglowin]

It appears the only wine you can trust was fermented to dry was one that YOU verified went to dry!