Sweetening Question - Please Help!

[ZakKnight92]

I'm fairly new to winemaking and I would like to know the general steps in sweetening my wine.

 

[Rocky]

First, Zak, welcome to the forum.

Sweetening, normally referred to as "back sweetening," is best accomplished in these steps:

1. ferment your wine to dry, i.e. SG at 0.992 or so.
2. stabilize your with with K-meta (1/4 teaspoon for 5-6 gallons) and K-sorbate (1/2 teaspoon per gallon). The former protects the wine from bacteria that can spoil the wine and the latter is to prevent re-fermentation after sugar is added.
3. add the sweetener which can be simple syrup (2 parts sugar fully dissolved in 1 part water), various fruits or fruit juice, to taste or to a target SG. Most people start to discern sweetness at SG 1.000 and very sweet wines are SG 1.020-1.025. This is best accomplished by bench testing and scaling up.
4. observe the wine for a few days to assure that fermentation does not restart.

 

[ZakKnight92]

Thank you!

 

[geek]

To second Rocky's post, make sure you also put an air-lock and not screw caps ...!!!

I am going through a batch that re-engaged fermentation after back-sweeten and I tell you I got so pissed off when it burst one of the gallon jugs in pieces and the wine lost, just a lesson learned..!!

..

 

[SBWs]

One thing to remember is all wines don't taste sweet at the same Specific Gravity. Acid levels have a lot to do with how sweet a wine taste. Concord wine is a great example. One year you may get grapes with low acid and it won't need a lot of back sweetening. The next year the weather may be off and the grapes end up with a lot of acid. You will need more sugar to get the same level of sweetness if this happens.

The one rule I follow when sweetening wine is go slow, sweeten a little at a time. It's very easy to add more sweetness later but very hard to take it away. Also as a wine ages it may not need as much sweetening. So if you sweeten early and then age you may find your wine sweeter than you like later on.

 

[Tom_S]

I personally never go by SG when backsweetening, but go by taste. I stir the sugar in and allow it to dissolve completely, then take a taste sample. When I get it as sweet as I want, then I stop. And I have to second the idea of adding just a little bit at a time. It's easy to oversweeten if you add a lot each time.

 

[GreginND]

If I do any sweetening I usually make three samples at 1%, 2% and 3% sugar. I have a couple other people taste them with me. For most wines I find 1-2% is just right.

 

[Poormanfarm]

If I do any sweetening I usually make three samples at 1%, 2% and 3% sugar. I have a couple other people taste them with me. For most wines I find 1-2% is just right.

Greg,

Can you give more details. How do you calculate the 1%? By volumn, by weight, etc? It sounds like a good procedure to arrive but curious about how you figure the percentage. Thanks.

 

[GreginND]

I do it by weight. Not exactly precise but close enough. Assuming 100 mL of wine (water) weighs 100g for 1% I add 1 gram sugar and bring the volume up to 100 mL. Adjust the grams of sugar for whatever % you are making.

 

[MichaelJ]

When Is the best time to sweeten?

Is it best to sweeten before filtering and then bottle or should I filter then sweeten and then bottle?
Many thanks to all and all the best of the season.

 

[GreginND]

I sweeten before filtering. I usually let it rest a month or so after sweetening to make sure the sugar doesn't cause any instability with haze or fermentation.

 

[Arne]

I sweeten before filtering. I usually let it rest a month or so after sweetening to make sure the sugar doesn't cause any instability with haze or fermentation.

You have to be a bit careful when letting it rest. Those #$ wine gremlins seem to get out in the winery and there is not as much left to bottle. Arne.

 

[jensmith]

There are lots of gremelins here! I'd set traps to catch the pesty critters, but they save me a lot on botteling cost!

 

[Arne]

Just make sure you make enough so you can share. You can tell which carboys have the best wine in them, they go down the fastest. Arne.