How to backsweeten

[montyfox]

I ran a search for this, but nothing came up. Maybe I didn't search for the right wording. Anyway, I'm getting ready to backsweeten some wine before bottling and I was wondering if there is a rule of thumb of how much sugar to add per gallon.


I realize that the final brix is a matter of taste and I know what I'm shooting for. My real question is more aimed at how much sugar per gallon should I add to raise the brix 1%? Is there such a standard? What do you guys live by when doing this. I definately don't want to over do this.


Thanks


Monty

 

[jobe05]

I'm sure there is a correct formula for doing what you asked montyfox, but my taste buds don't know the difference between 1.010 in a blackberry wine to a 1.020 in a strawberry............

In a fruit wine (fresh fruit), I take some of the fresh fruit juice and condense it by boiling it till I get the right consistency, and add sugar to that, a pound......... plus or minus. When that cools, I add it a little at a time to the wine till it is almost sweet enough, then I let it sit in the carboy for a few weeks to settle out.

This method is as about unscientific as my taste buds are, but it works for me.

Remember, don't over sweeten...... as the wine ages it seems to mellow and sweeten more.

 

[grapeman]

Check on Jack Kellers site for sugar along with the bix/SG chart here at FVW. Scroll down this link a bit and it will tell you how much sugar to add to raise it.
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/hydrom.asp


and http://www.finevinewines.com/brix_table.htm

 

[ftut]

Theres two things you have to be concerned about. First, when you back sweeten you will lower your ABV. You must know your volumne, ABV and desired ABV when you are done. This formula is volumne x abv divided by desired abv substract volume. This tells you how much juice to add. It looks like this:


V x abv - V = volumne to add
dabv


V= volumne
abv= alc by volume
dabv= desired alc by volumne


The second thing you have to do is find out how sweet you want your juice to make the wine come out where you want it. To do that it is just a wee bit more complicated. I use the balling scale because thats what I have. I'm not sure about bix but if water is zero and it goes positive and negitive from there it wil work also. It looks like this:


(OV x DB) + (AV x DB) - (OV x OB) = AB
AV


OV= original volumne
DB= desired balling
AV= volumne to add (from the other formula)
OB= original balling
AB= balling of added volumne required to make it what you want

 

[joeswine]

YOU HIT IT ON THE HEAD<<<<<<BY TASTE>>>>HOW SWEET WOULD YOU LIKE IT NOT A GENERALIZATION>>>>ITS YOUR WINE>>>TASTE IT TO YOU LIKE IT <THEN LET IT SET A COUPLE OF DAYS AND TASTE IT AGAIN BY THEN IT WILL HAVE TIME TO SET UP AND BECOME MORE UNIFORM<<<<<TASTE

 

[scotty]

My method is super un scintific.
I add 5.2 ounces of sugar per gallon USING A MEASURING CUP. We like this ratio. On lighter wines like a white fruity wine we start with about 3.8 ounces per gallon.

We usually break the measurement down to a fifth with a scale.


I call it scottys a[[les to oranges method


I think that 2 oz by weight of sugar will increase the % of backsweetning by .05%
But i never use the formula

One of the northern ladys said she put wine in a few glasses and added diferent amounts to get a satisfactory taste.

 

[Rocky_Top]

I keepa recordofwhat the SG is when it isbottled. I put the SG on the lable so that a year later if it is good I can repeat.Some wines like my peach taste good at SG=1.018, others like my cranberry taste better atSG=1.010 or even SG=1.005. It is too easy to over sweeten. Edited by: Rocky Top

 

[grapeman]

Could you explain what you mean by a SG of 18, 10 or 5. Is that 1.018?

 

[Rocky_Top]

Yes!

SG=1.018 , 1.010 ,1.005 18.000 would be too sweet for an ant.

My notes have the full SG=1.005 yet I forget to post SG=1.005

 

[grapeman]

Thanks Rocky, I thought maybe there was a new scale I had to learn now! Just checking.

 

[gc605]

Hey Monty,

I hope I'm not too late. If you want to add sugar prior to bottling, then you're talking about upping the RS (residual sugar) 1%. RS is reported as a weight/volume ratio, unlike Brix, which is weight/weight. 1% RS can be thought of as 1 gram sugar dissolved in 100 mL wine (and on a larger scale, 10 mL sugar in 1 L wine). I'm guessing your working w/gallons, so a useful conversion is 3.785 L / gallon. Hope this clears things up, and Happy Thanksgiving!