wine too sweet

[revid]

I made some partridge berry wine and added campden tablets after it was finished working according to recipe. I then bottled it .I tried some the other day after over a month in bottles and I find its still sweet,can I warm it up and add yeast to get it working again to get rid of some of the sweetness?

 

[wineforfun]

Ok, a lot of information needed.

What was your initial SG?
What brand/type of yeast did you use?
What was your ending SG?
What exactly did the recipe say, as far as adding the campden tablets?
Did you backsweeten it?
Did you add sorbate to it?

 

[BernardSmith]

Even if you sorbated it and so you won't be able to re-ferment this batch you can always add this batch to a more dry second batch and so reduce the sweetness in proportion to the amount of the second batch you add - if you double the size you half the sweetness and if you add twice the volume (1:2) then you reduce the sweetness by 2/3...

 

[revid]

no sorbate.SG aprox 1.2 ,Levin 1116,campden tabs 1 per gallon ,back sweeten with syrup you buy especially for backsweetening.Can't remember name

 

[Noontime]

What was your ending SG? If you back sweetened with "wine conditioner" then that has sorbate in it, which explains why you don't have bottle bombs exploding. Any time you back sweeten you should add sorbate and kmeta to make sure the yeast don't eat all the sugar you added. Not doing so causes a big loud mess of popping bottles, wine everywhere, and an angry spouse (ask me how I know ). I think Bernard's advice is probably your best bet if it's way too sweet for you. Keep in mind that it will integrate and mellow over the next year or 2. If you do open the bottles up and make any changes, I recommend keeping a couple of bottles of the original and the "fixed" to taste a year and 2 down the road, just for the education.

 

[Arne]

If you started at 1.200 s.g. your yeast probably died of too much alcohol. Think your only way to fix this would be to listen to Bernard's advise above. Arne.

 

[Floandgary]

If you stick with it, (this Winemaking Hobby) you will discover the "value" of the TIME ingredient! Most don't realize that what they put under cork will continue to evolve. Ergo the "Aging process".. Backsweetened wines will generally taste a little sweeter after some time in the bottle. In general the entire process, from picking the grape to popping the cork, can be viewed as simply a protracted experiment all in an effort to make your taste buds say AHHHH!!!

 

[revid]

thanks guys,great advice and lesson learned.Just starting at this racket so will have to get more educated at adding the additives like sorbate,conditioner,metasulfite ,campden etc. and what they do. I rhought you add campden tablets to kill the natural yeast thats in berries then add your own. But it seems when you add campden tablets you can't make sparkling wine.Do I have this right ?

 

[beatsalma]

A sweet wine is usually more palatable if very chilled. You can also add sparkling water to dilute the sugar and lemon juice to give it an edge.

 

[Noontime]

kmeta (potassium metabisulfite, in your case condensed form camden tablets) is used to suppress yeast and bacteria that you don't want, and also provides protection against oxidation. The cultured yeast you buy is much more tolerant of the sulfite, so it can handle larger amounts. You can definitely stun a fermentation with too much kmeta, but it is not used to control the fermentation, but only used to protect your wine from unintended organisms and O2. Potassium sorbate is what is used to prevent re-fermentation by not enabling the yeast to reproduce. So as the existing yeast dies out, the fermentation slows and stops completely because there are no more yeast cells to replace them. Sparkling wine is just keeping the wine contained and allowing the CO2 generated by the yeast to build and eventually saturate it with bubbles. So proper levels of sulfite will allow for fermentation, and thus will allow you to make sparkling wine.