muscadine wine

[gesnipes]

i've read some people that say the wine will degas and clear all on its own if you just give it enough time. on the other hand, waldo, the author of this muscadine recipe, recommended to me that i degas and sorbate anyway to eliminate the risk of fermentation restarting. i don't think that will be a risk on the first batch since it is so sweet and such high abv. i think my only concern will be trying to lower the TA. i guess i didn't add enough calcium carbonate at the beginning because TA is between .9 and .95. my second batch i did a little better at somewhere between .8 and .9.
gesnipes, what is your finished TA usually at?

My TA is usually between .7 and .9.

Muscadine, in my opinion, is better as a sweet wine. The flavor comes through better when sweet. However, letting it ferment on its own for 3 months is fine. Fermentation might kick in a little when you sweeten it later.

If you don't mind high alcohol, skip the potasium sorbate. I like to keep chemicals at a minimum, so I don't use sorbate or sulphites. I have 2 year old bottled muscadine wine, and it tastes better than when I first started drinking it in 2008. It keeps well and because I let it ferment until the yeast reaches its tolerance, there is no need of sorbate. I try to keep it a healthy wine.

This is my third year winemaking, and I have never fouled a batch yet.

 

[n2tazmania]

Just joined and was reading through some of the posts here. I am making my first batch of muscadine wine this year and I started out with a s.g. of 1.08. I let it work for 7 days in my primary and then it has been in the secondary for 3 weeks. I just added the fining and sorbate and took another reading and it is 1.02. Is this too high of a s.g.? I read several posts that says wine should be less than 1.00. Any help would be appreciated. This is my first go at wine making.

 

[gesnipes]

Just joined and was reading through some of the posts here. I am making my first batch of muscadine wine this year and I started out with a s.g. of 1.08. I let it work for 7 days in my primary and then it has been in the secondary for 3 weeks. I just added the fining and sorbate and took another reading and it is 1.02. Is this too high of a s.g.? I read several posts that says wine should be less than 1.00. Any help would be appreciated. This is my first go at wine making.

It will be a sweet wine, but that's not a big deal as long as the abv (alcohol by volume) is high enough.

In my opinion, muscadine wine is better as a sweet wine. I always back sweeten it. Plus I go for a high abv.

 

[Julie]

Hi n2tazmania

Welcome to winemakingtalk. Can you post your recipe and what you did? 1.020 is high to be done fermenting. It really needs to go down below 1.000 and then you can backsweeten it. Since you added sorbate I don't think you are going to be able to get your sg any lower but muscadine is good as a sweet wine.

 

[n2tazmania]

recipe

Here is what I used.

2 qt juice from muscadines
2 qt water
6 cups sugar
pectic
yeast nutrient
1 pack yeast that came with kit

Disolved sugar in water. Mixed all ingredients but yeast for 24 hours. Added yeast and stirred daily for 7 days. Racked over to my secondary and capped. It had been sitting for 3 weeks and had stop bubbling. Racked again and added gelatin finings and sorbate yesterday. Degassed once yesterday and once today.

s.g. was 1.080 when I started
s.g. was 1.020 yesterday

If I figured it right, my abv should be ~7.87%. Is that high enough?

So will it be undrinkable?

I have two other batches that are still going. Both were racked from primary to secondary 2 weeks ago and they are still bubbling. Thanks for the help.

 

[gesnipes]

Here is what I used.
s.g. was 1.080 when I started
s.g. was 1.020 yesterday

If I figured it right, my abv should be ~7.87%. Is that high enough?

So will it be undrinkable?

I have two other batches that are still going. Both were racked from primary to secondary 2 weeks ago and they are still bubbling. Thanks for the help.

For future reference, visual bubbling isn't a good indicator of when fermentation is complete. Chances are, the yeast were still active when you stopped it with sorbate. Check the SG once a day for three days. If the reading is the same, fermentation is complete.

As far as being drinkable, let your tastebuds decide. Sample it and see if it's good. Based on your starting and ending SG, you are probably between 7.5 and 8% alcohol. That's enough for a lightweight wine and will probably be enough to stabalize. It won't be a great wine, but it should be good enough to drink.

 

[n2tazmania]

update

I checked my other two batches today. They were both racked to the secondary carboy at the same time. One is at s.g. .990 and the other is at 1.020. My questions are

1. Is it time to add sorbate and gelatin finings to the batch that is at .990 or should I let it continue?

2. Do I continue to let the 1.020 batch ferment and keep a check on the s.g. or should I do something to it?

 

[Wade E]

The one that is down to .990 it is time to degas it and stabilize with k-meta and also sorbate if you plan on sweetening. As to the batch that is sgtill fermenting, did you use any nutrient or is the temp cool ? If its cool fermenting then its time to warm it up as its near the end and if you want to make sure it ferments all the way which I highly recommend. If yu did not use any nutrient or not much it may need it to get it to where it needs to be.

 

[smack]

so just to make sure i understand, you always back sweeten, but never add sorbate or k-meta before doing so? do you bulk age? use a fine filter? how many rackings? keep the bottled wine especially cold? just curious how you've made sure that fermentation doesn't restart without sorbate and k-meta. thanks in advance for the info.

It will be a sweet wine, but that's not a big deal as long as the abv (alcohol by volume) is high enough.

In my opinion, muscadine wine is better as a sweet wine. I always back sweeten it. Plus I go for a high abv.

 

[gesnipes]

so just to make sure i understand, you always back sweeten, but never add sorbate or k-meta before doing so? do you bulk age? use a fine filter? how many rackings? keep the bottled wine especially cold? just curious how you've made sure that fermentation doesn't restart without sorbate and k-meta. thanks in advance for the info.

The only way to guarantee it won't start fermentation after sweetening is to use sorbate. I keep mine in 1 gallon jugs and drink them as a go. If I were going to bottle, sorbate is probably a good idea.

If I'm going to use kmeta or sorbate, I do it before I backsweeten. You can do it afterward, but since the yeast isn't dormant, sometimes it takes a while for fermentation to stop. For me, it's easier to do this after the wine is stablized.