Back sweetening question

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Old Philosopher

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Does anyone have a tried and true method for back sweetening?
I tried to use a ratio formula awhile back, and failed miserably. I took a measured amount of the batch, and kept adding syrup in increments until it tasted right, then applied the ratio to the rest of a 3 gallon batch. Not even close.
Any advice? Thanks!
 
I am not sure if this will help or not but this is what I do.

I figure out how sweet I want the wine and pull out the wine I would need and add the amount of sugar to get me there. For every 1 cup of sugar I will pull out 1/2 cup of wine, around there. I usually just eyeball how much wine I need to pull out to disolve the amount of sugar I am using. For every cup of sugar I add, this will raise the sg approzimately .018.

If I have a reading of .996 and I want to backsweeten to around 1.010. For a gallon of wine I will add 3/4 cup of sugar, this should get be around 1.009.

Does this help?
 
I am not sure if this will help or not but this is what I do.

I figure out how sweet I want the wine and pull out the wine I would need and add the amount of sugar to get me there. For every 1 cup of sugar I will pull out 1/2 cup of wine, around there. I usually just eyeball how much wine I need to pull out to disolve the amount of sugar I am using. For every cup of sugar I add, this will raise the sg approzimately .018.

If I have a reading of .996 and I want to backsweeten to around 1.010. For a gallon of wine I will add 3/4 cup of sugar, this should get be around 1.009.

Does this help?
A bit. Thanks.
So you are going mainly by the SG, and what is considered a "sweet" wine, rather than taste?
 
A bit. Thanks.
So you are going mainly by the SG, and what is considered a "sweet" wine, rather than taste?

After a few batches and getting use to using a hydrometer, I would backsweeten to taste and then check what the reading was, because as I was sweetening to taste a couple of months later the wine would be sweeter than what I wanted. I started to keep a record of the different fruit wines I would make and where the reading was at on the sweet level that I liked. I know know that watermelon is about 1.016, elderberry 1.005, raspberry 1.01, etc.
 
That makes sense. Your experience is your guide. I'm still in the first stages (experience-wise) of this whole process. I do know that the plum wine I sweetened to taste was too sweet even a month later. I sweetened from .998 up to 1.006. So next time, I'd sweeten to about 1.003. That's the extent of my own database. :h
 
I pretty much use my hydro also and its almost always very close to the same.
 
That makes sense. Your experience is your guide. I'm still in the first stages (experience-wise) of this whole process. I do know that the plum wine I sweetened to taste was too sweet even a month later. I sweetened from .998 up to 1.006. So next time, I'd sweeten to about 1.003. That's the extent of my own database. :h

OP, I think you have a good sense on how sweet you want your wines. Just make sure you keep good notes and use that hydrometer constantly. Also, another thing that I do, is when I make a wine from a fruit that I haven't made before, I try to sweeten it to what I think it should be naturally. For example, watermelon is a sweet fruit so I made my wine on the sweet side. Elderberries are not as sweet so I make it a little drier.
 
After consulting my tables, and my crystal ball, and wearing the buttons thin on my calculator, I've come to the following conclusion: Adding 7 oz of cane sugar to my 4 gallons of cider should raise the SG from .996 to 1.003.
That sure doesn't seem like much sugar, but I'll give it a shot.

Possibility #2:
I could add a can of frozen 100% apple juice to the mix for an f-pak, check the SG and then adjust to 1.003 with sugar.

Hummm... decisions, decisions.
 
Last edited:
Sure can. Make sure you have added the proper amt of Sorbate before adding.
 
Ive used the frozen concentrate a few times, I like the Seneca myself and use a few cans but dont let them thaw out as the water in there stays frozen letting mainly just the flavor and sugars come out kind of like making an apple jack.
 

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