"sweet red wine"

[intoxicating]

I have several friends who like "sweet" wines, either after dinner, or over ice as a "social" wine. I have a big red kit, and was thinking of back sweetening one or two gallons of it to give as gifts. Sacrilege, I know, but I am making wine so I can have what I want, not what "they" say we should drink. Not going to fortify, just sweeten. Any suggestions on what SG to shoot for?

All four of my 3G carboys are in use, and I refuse to buy another, so it will have to wait for the blueberry and another one to bottle before I can start it. My son doesn't drink alcohol, I am the only wine drinker in the house. I don't have space or money for another carboy, and I don't want this obsession to take over my house completely. Yes, I know, too late!

The Blueberry is MUCH BETTER dry than I imagined, and I am not sure how it will taste sweetened. That may need an F-pac. The French Med Toast Oak is a great contribution so far. The Brandywine is slow in clearing, but will get oak some time soon.

Thanks in advance for your opinions.

 

[vcasey]

I would take out a quart of the wine and put it in a safe container in the fridge. Then make the rest of the kit as normal. After stabilizing use the extra to sweeten.

 

[intoxicating]

Good idea, didn't think of that. What about taking out some quantity of the concentrate before diluting? Then how much water to add to the main batch? I have several one gallon jugs, so I could add water to make 5 gallons in the primary, then split up to one 3G and two 1Gs when I rack to secondary. How much wine would the quart of juice sweeten? I know to "let taste be my guide," but having a number for a general guideline is always helpful.

 

[vcasey]

How much concentrate would depend on how big the kit is and then I suppose you could do the math to calculate the rest, trust me you don't want me to even guess! The quart should sweeten the whole 6 gallons, but it does depend on your tastes.

 

[SBWs]

I checked the S.G. of a sweet/dessert wine that was about as sweet as I'd ever want and it was 1.031. It was a white diamond. Most of what I've read says below 1.000 is dry, 1.000 - 1.008 Med dry, 1.008 - 1.018 Medium Sweet and above 1.018 is Sweet. I'd say find a wine that is as sweet as you like and test it. Then shoot for a little below whatever S.G. you come up with. But then I'm new to this and know just enough to be dangerous. </span>

 

[cpfan]

I have several friends who like "sweet" wines, either after dinner, or over ice as a "social" wine. I have a big red kit, and was thinking of back sweetening one or two gallons of it to give as gifts. Sacrilege, I know, but I am making wine so I can have what I want, not what "they" say we should drink. Not going to fortify, just sweeten. Any suggestions on what SG to shoot for?

Get one of your friends to bring a bottle of their favourite "sweet red" to you. Measure the sg. Now you know what they like. More importantly, you learn what kind of wine they like, eg port, wine cooler, whatever.


Steve