Fresh concord crush

[chris889671]

I crushed three gallons of concord and added camden tabs last night. My SG was 1.050 it seem to be correct for a sweet wine. I would like an alc. content around 12% should I add sugar now to adjust this? how would I do it? also I will have three 3gallon fermenters going this weeked I plan to mix at first racking, will this work?

 

[Rocky]

With an SG of 1.050, your must contains about 1 lb 5 oz of sugar per gallon. If you want a wine at 12% ABV, you need to start at an SG of 1.090 or 2 lb 6 oz sugar per gallon. Therefore you would need to add 1 lb 1 oz of sugar per gallon (i.e. the difference between what you need and what you have). In your case, with three gallons, that would be 3 lb 3 oz of sugar. Take a couple quarts of the juice, put it in a stainless or porcelain pot and heat it (do not boil it) enough to dissolve the sugar. Let this cool and add it to the rest of your must and stir well. Check that the SG is about 1.090 (It wiill probably not be exactly.)

 

[Rocky]

Chris, sorry, I just read the rest of your original posting and I did not answer all your questions. I would add the sugar now and check the temperature of the must. You need to get it above 72* F but not above 85* F, before you pitch the yeast. When you say you have "three 3gallon fermenters going this weekend" are you talking about 3 gallon buckets or 3 gallon carboys? Mixing at the first racking would be fine and you need to get it under an airlock at that point.

 

[chris889671]

Thanks Rocky. I will have three 3.5gal. buckets with 3 gal. of must each. I've been desteming and crushing by hand so its very time consuming. I have one done and two to finish desteming and crushing tonight. I think with 9 gal of must I can fill a 6 gal. carboy after removing the fruit. I hope its a good plan. Any other suggestions would be great.

 

[chris889671]

One more question. should I add tannin and bentonite when using fresh grapes?

 

[naperwineguy]

One thing to note on doing any type of additions, its best to work in phases - i.e. add half of your intended amount, remeasure and adjust accordingly. You can always add more - its much more difficult or impossible to remove something once its been added.

You might find this document useful -

http://www.baderbrewing.com/PDF Articles/Concord_Grape_wine_instructions.pdf

 

[Rocky]

Chris, great advice from Naperwineguy. I did the calculations but realtime feed back is best. As an alternative to dissolving the sugar in the wine as I suggested above, you can make a simple syrup (2 parts sugar to 1 part water, heat, don't boil, to dissolve the sugar and let it cool before adding). Add it slowly, stir and take hydrometer readings until you hit your intended target.

Naperwineguy, great read. Thanks for the link.

 

[chris889671]

Thank you Naperwineguy, the link had some good info. thanks Rocky for all the help. I'm only two weeks old at this and already addicted. winemaking is a load of fun.