Wine color

[fyredawg1]

I know this has been asked before but I just racked my first batch and it looks like strawberry milk. I used real fruit and followed the recipe to the letter. Should I be worried?

 

[Julie]

No you shouldn't be worried. It takes time for it to clear. What recipe did you follow?

 

[fyredawg1]

I used a recipe out of a book I purchased at local supply store called "winemakers recipe handbook".

 

[Julie]

Lol, that is the book I started with also! It will be fine, just give it some time. Also, don't follow the recipe to the letter, add only the amount of sugar to get you to the desired sg.

 

[fyredawg1]

It seems I'm ahead of the schedule in the book. The s.g. after 5 days is already at 1.000 so I guess I'm just being cautious or paranoid.

 

[DoctorCAD]

It seems I'm ahead of the schedule in the book. The s.g. after 5 days is already at 1.000 so I guess I'm just being cautious or paranoid.

There is no schedule...your wine will be done when it is done. Any reference to "days" is just that...a reference.

Trust your hydrometer.

 

[fyredawg1]

Thanks for the tips, everything seems to be going as planned. Is there a preference of type of sugar when sweetening before bottling?

 

[KevinL]

I've typically use plain ol' table sugar.

For a cherry wine I did I actually found some concentrated cherry juice (the kind that comes in the frozen cans) and dropped them in for sweetening, it altered the flavors slightly, but in a good way. Kind of like an F pack out of a kit.

 

[Julie]

Like KevinL said you can use juice to backsweeten or just cane sugar. Just be careful on how much you use, I would suggest you take some out sweeten it to your liking and then take a hydrometer reading, using cane sugar, a rule of thumb is 1 cup of sugar will sweeten one gallon of wine by .018.

 

[fyredawg1]

My local brew store recommended corn sugar( that's what I used in the beginning) but it didn't seem to sweeten it very much. I just wanted to make sure adding a different sugar in the end wouldn't ruin my first batch. Thank for the tips

 

[wineforfun]

My local brew store recommended corn sugar( that's what I used in the beginning) but it didn't seem to sweeten it very much. I just wanted to make sure adding a different sugar in the end wouldn't ruin my first batch. Thank for the tips

I always use plain ole table sugar and everything works out fine. You will find some on here like to make simple syrup and add that. For me, it is table sugar.

 

[Arne]

Make sure your wine is stabilized before adding sugar or you are on the line for a referment. Arne.

 

[fyredawg1]

Thanks guys!