Adding the Sugar

[TARRENEL]

Ok i'm about to add the 6 cups of sugar to my clear pee. I wanted to buy a frozen can of margarita mix and add it to the pee. Question number one is how many do I add to the 5 gallon batch of pee. The can has 106 grams of sugar per the label. Second question is, if I add the can(s) to the batch how much sugar do I leave out? Thanks in advane for your help

 

[Julie]

That depends on how sweet you want it. Use your hydrometer. You should always shoot for a certain gravity. Those who like sweet wines seem to like an sg of 1.010

 

[TARRENEL]

Thank you for the quick response. This is my first batch of pee, I don't want to go to sweet . So stay at or bleow 1.010 thank you

 

[djrockinsteve]

Just invert it in some of the wine (pee), then add to the carboy.

I will take about 2-3 cups of wine, add some sugar to a pot and invert it. Then add some from the pot and the carboy to a beaker with the hydrometer in it to get a reading. Sample some of it. Too dry, add more sugar/wine mix. Sample again until you find the reading you like..

Now add the wine/sugar mix to your carboy. Take a reading. Now calculate how much sugar you need to get to the gravity you like.

Remember 4 ounces of sugar by weight will raise 1 gallon of wine .010

 

[Sirthomas42]

I use my first batch of Pee, the "original recipe", as my guide. I followed the recipe exactly, and arts sweetening, my Pee was SG 1.016. So now, when I make a flavored Pee, if I add other kinds of sugars on the back end, such as strawberry or grape concentrates, I just use my hydrometer, and add additional sugar incrementally until I get 1.016. Works great.

 

[djrockinsteve]

and add additional sugar incrementally until I get 1.016. Works great.

You really can't go by that entirely. The sweetness that you like will be affected by the amount of acid in the wine. The more the acid % the more sugar you will need to get the same taste.

It is a rough guideline. Always shoot low and you can always add more.

 

[TARRENEL]

But one can should do for added flavor (5 gallon batch)? Then just add until I reach 1.010

 

[Julie]

But one can should do for added flavor (5 gallon batch)? Then just add until I reach 1.010

yes and my rule of thumb that I go by is, 1 cup of sugar will raise sg approx. .018. But if by that rule I need 1 cup to get me to 1.010, I will add 3/4 of a cup and take a reading, if I need 2 cups, I add 1 1/2 cups. LOL, why do I give you a calculation and then go against that? I'm terrified of oversweetening my wine, so I go on the shy side and I constantly take sg readings.

 

[Sirthomas42]

Hah, yeah, any time I calculate out how much sugar/honey I need for a batch, I start with 75%, and go from there. I got burned early on, when I calculated what I needed, and it turned out to be too much.

 

[MurphyTexas]

yes and my rule of thumb that I go by is, 1 cup of sugar will raise sg approx. .018. But if by that rule I need 1 cup to get me to 1.010, I will add 3/4 of a cup and take a reading, if I need 2 cups, I add 1 1/2 cups. LOL, why do I give you a calculation and then go against that? I'm terrified of oversweetening my wine, so I go on the shy side and I constantly take sg readings.

Great advice Julie.

On my first batch of SP I used Old Orchard frozen cranberry apple wine as the starter slurry. When it was clear and finished 0.995; I added the Potassium Sorbate / Campden to prevent new fermentation. I then sweetened only 2 quarts of the 5 gallons because I was also concerned with it being too sweet. I used part of a can of the Old Orchard, a glug of lemon juice and then gradually mixing in sugar (simple syrup) and tasting with relatives. (I borrowed the kids little dixie cups for the tasting session) We all liked the end result which had a Specific Gravity on the Hydrometer of 1.006 which is slightly less sweet than 1.010. Or perhaps we were tipsy by the end and hooch would have tasted good.

The use of a "wine thief" really makes it easy to check the SG when sweetening.