First batch of wine

I know I got about 1 gallon to much water in my 5gallon jug. But after a couple months it has all but quit workin. The gurgling in the trap has stopped. The wine tested at 12.5 alcohol but is pretty bitter. How can I save this 5 gallon of wine and reduce the bitterness? Cranberry/Apple . If I add sugar to the 5 gallon jug and mix it well will this reduce the alcohol. Content? Or what's the best way to get rid of some of this bitterness? Thanks, Frogman1

Stabilize it and add sugar. Alcohol level will not be affected.

HI Frogman, Do you have any way of measuring the acidity of the wine (the pH and the TA)? Adding sugar may help but if the problem is that the wine is too acidic then you may want to reduce that by adding a base like K-carbonate. Cranberries are quite acidic.

Thanks Montana. What do you mean by stabilize?
Bernard, I don't have way to check acid but can get the instrument if I can find what to buy.
Thanks guys for the help!

Potasium Sorbate will stabilize the wine preventing further fermentation if/when you add sugar.

My suggestion is to find a jar, and fill it with a single cups worth of your wine, and add sugar. If you can get a cups worth to your satisfaction then scale up the remedy to your carboy. If sugar is not the solution, you only lost a cups worth in determining that.

Really need more info. Source, process, goals, etc. It's not about the alcohol,,,,, or is it??

I made a cranberry/apple and it took at least 10 months for it to smooth out. It may just need a little more time. I then had to back-sweeten, but I always use simple syrup: 1 cup water and 2 cups sugar, bring to just almost boiling. It will mix instantly with your wine and you will be able to do some fun taste testing.

Thanks everyone! I got some potassium sorbate . Says 1/2 tsp per gallon . Do I mix this potassium with the hot water/sugar mixture that I am going to back-sweeten with?

Frogman1 said:

Thanks everyone! I got some potassium sorbate . Says 1/2 tsp per gallon . Do I mix this potassium with the hot water/sugar mixture that I am going to back-sweeten with?

Click to expand...

I toss it in dry a day before I do any sweetening.

Montana I got the sorbate in and tomorrow gonna back sweeten and bottle it up. Now I need a slurry to start my skeeter pee. As I look in the bottom of the carbon I don't see much sediment maybe because I used juice instead of fruit to make the cranberry/ Apple . Is there still gonna be a slurry in the bottom to make a starter for 5 gallon of skeeter pee? How much do I leave in the bottom of carboy to get enough slurry to start the 5 gallon skeeter pee? Thanks, Frogman

Can't help you. I've always used fruit, and I've never made Skeeter Pee.

I make probably three or four batches of skeeter pee every year, I never use a slurry. I just make a good yeast starter. Yeast, into warmish water that has a bit of fermaid. Let sit for 15—30 minutes, pitch. Never have a problem.

Thanks CMason. Sound good enough for me. Now I need to know how much water, how much yeast and what do you mean fermaid? Thanks, Frogman

After a bit of search I am starting to see what you mean by fermaid. I do have yeast and yeast energizer. Will the energizer work as a fermaid? And how much of each, water, yeast and energizer? Thanks, Frogman

I would love to Telkom you exactly how much to use, but I don't measure. For 6 gallons of wine I use maybe 1/2 cup or so of water and pinch of fermaid (I have used both O and K) and one packet of yeast. I don't use energizer for anything. It is like candy for yeast, nutrient (fermaid) is like vitamins. If I don't have any nutrient, I use a pinch of sugar.

Sorry about slow answering, I am on vacation and have limited internet.

To stabilize you need more than K-sorbate. You need to add K-meta (Potassium Meta-bisulfite) at the same time. Adding one without the other will not in fact prevent any fermentation from taking place if you add sugar. Indeed, "stabilizing" wine when there is a large and active colony of yeast will also not really prevent the yeast from converting the sugar into more alcohol and CO2. What you need to be sure of is that the yeast colony is very depleted and near exhausted. You do this by racking every two or three months as the wine ages. Racking removes a significant percentage of the active yeast. You might also "cold crash" the wine too. You do that by chilling the carboy in your fridge for several weeks (some say several days... but that is their business). The cold will put the yeast to sleep and they will drop out of suspension and fall towards the bottom of your carboy. You can then rack the wine off the yeast and then return the carboy to the fridge. Should more particulates drop out of suspension you repeat the racking process (the particles will include yeast cells). This way you remove almost all the active yeast cells. You can then stabilize the wine with no worries.