Adjusting Sweetness

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AidenHalle

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Hi, I am new to all this and have made a white chardonnay and a blush. I made the mistake of bottling the Chardonnay before really tasting it and I find it on the very dry side. I am now ready to bottle the blush but before doing so, I would like to slightly sweeten it a bit. I have fermented it dry ( as i think this is a easier method with my experience- which is none!). Is there a specific gravity table in which to use for deciding how sweet or how dry you want your wine to be?

Thanks a bunch
 
Welcome aboard!!

There is a table that categorizes the SG levels into dry/sweet categories.

My best advice on sweetening is to sweeten to your taste. Once you have it sweetened to your taste - take an SG reading and write it down for the next time.
 
Is this table listed within this forum? I have googled it and cant seem to find what I am looking for.
 
Aiden, welcome and glad to have you here.

Adjusting sweetness is best done to your own preference. My reds are usually under 1.000, whites the same to maybe a bit higher and fruits I've gone as high as 1.020 with a plum and that was really sweet.

Acid affects how the taste will be as well so from one year to another your sp. gravity will vary a bit.

4 ounces of sugar (weighed) will raise a gallon of wine .010 Invert the sugar in some wine and blend in.

I suggest you invert a lil sugar in some wine then add wine to a beaker with your hydrometer until you get say .995 and sip it, is it too dry? Mix in some more inv. sugar/wine to 1.000 and see how that is etc.

Once you have found the right point you enjoy, blend the 2 wines back together, take a new reading and calculate how much sugar you need for the entire batch.

Remember to add sorbate (1/2 teaspoon / gallon) to prevent back sweetening.

If you check on the Home page there is a section titled Tutorials, there is a lot of dif. stuff to help you.
 
here are 2 charts

Dry table wine : .997 - 1.000
Medium table wine : 1.000 - 1.002
Sweet table wine : 1.002 - 1.005
Dessert wine : 1.010 - 1.020

Here is another:

Dry: <1.000
Medium dry: 1.000-1.010
Medium sweet: 1.010-1.020
Sweet: 1.020-1.030
Dessert: 1.030-1.040
 
Tom,

I think the second one is the one most of the local wineries use. What a big difference between the two charts.
 
Tom,

I think the second one is the one most of the local wineries use. What a big difference between the two charts.

yea. That's why we say TO YOUR TASTE. Then record gravity
 
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