A question for sweet wine lovers

[Larryh86GT]

I enjoy sweet wine such as plum wine (like Akadama or Kikkoman) or Sangria. When I bottle my first batch of raspberry wine is there a good starting point for how much sugar to add to get it sweet? The recipe I am following says "for a little sweeter wine add 1/4 cup sugar per gallon. And I know everyone says sweeten to taste. I think 1/4 cup won't get it where I want it and I don't want to taste it, find out it's too dry and have to add again. Any beginners advise you can send my way? Be gentle. I'm a noob at this. And yes I did a search but couldn't find much beyond the "sweeten with sugar to your own taste".
Thanks,
Larry

 

[MN-winer]

What I did on my last batch of wine is I set out 4 glasses with 4 ounces measured. Then I added, like 1/4 tsp in the first, and increased it for the other 3. I used simple syrup which is 2parts sugar 1 part water boiled down and cooled. Once I found the one I liked, I got out the calculator and figured out how many tsp of syrup I needed for the gallon.

Good luck.

 

[Larryh86GT]

Thanks, This is a very small batch. It is in a 3 liter secondary bottle now so I am going to end up with only two 1 1/2 liter bottles and would like to fill the bottles. If I sample 4 glasses I may end up with one of the bottles really depleated.

 

[ffemt128]

What I did on my last batch of wine is I set out 4 glasses with 4 ounces measured. Then I added, like 1/4 tsp in the first, and increased it for the other 3. I used simple syrup which is 2parts sugar 1 part water boiled down and cooled. Once I found the one I liked, I got out the calculator and figured out how many tsp of syrup I needed for the gallon.

Good luck.

I did pretty much the same with my apple when determining how much f-pac to add except I used a smaller 2 oz sample. You could go this route and start with 1/4 or 1/2 tsp in one and increase for second sample and again for a 3rd sample. Keep in mind, what you add back in may end up displacing your samples if you samples are smaller in size like mine were.

 

[Hillbilly Bill]

You can use a sanitized butter knife or fork, or even a spoon (not a spoonful) to get just a taste out of the batch. With only a couple of liter to sweeten, it definitely won't take much. I like sweet wine, too. You can also sweeten your wine after you pour it into the glass. This is good if you like your wine sweet and your wife, friend, etc. does not like it so sweet.
If you want a sweet kit, try RJ Spagnols Blackberry Merlot. I bought mine from George at Fine Vine Wines at a real goood price. My wife (SWMBO) absolutely loves it! Sometimes this can be a real benefit, if you know what I mean.
I know you have been making wine for quite a while, but here is the link to where I get all my wine supplies... just in the remote chance you have never checked his store out. The customer service is absolutely unmatched... anywhere.

http://www.finevinewines.com/products.asp

 

[Julie]

8 oz. of sugar should raise s.g. approxx. .018. Shoot for 1.020, this would be a sweet wine. You should try and taste it to make sure this is sweet enough and remember it after a few weeks it will taste sweeter.

Julie

 

[Runningwolf]

8 oz. of sugar should raise s.g. approxx. .018. Shoot for 1.020, this would be a sweet wine. You should try and taste it to make sure this is sweet enough and remember it after a few weeks it will taste sweeter.

Julie

Don't forget to stabalize first

 

[Larryh86GT]

Thanks for the help everyone. On a positive note I had planned to start my second 1 gal. batch of raspberry wine this weekend but forgot to start thawing out the raspberries from the freezer so I called my wife from work this afternoon and asked her to take out 3 lbs or about half (I thought) of what we had frozen. She called me back and said we had 14 lbs in the freezer. Wooo Wooo - 4 more 1 gallon batches at 3.5 lbs a batch..

 

[Luc]

Thanks, This is a very small batch. It is in a 3 liter secondary bottle now so I am going to end up with only two 1 1/2 liter bottles and would like to fill the bottles. If I sample 4 glasses I may end up with one of the bottles really depleated.

Now you know why we all make larger batches

Luc

 

[Larryh86GT]

Now you know why we all make larger batches

Luc

I know Luc. I usually overdo everything but am restraining myself for once. After I get a good handle on this winemaking I may expand my horizons.
Larry