Back sweetening tart cherry wine

[Zwack]

I'm new to the wine making world and was wondering if back sweetening wine with tart cherry concentrate is a poor choice. Removed juice from first two carboys into second two carboys and added recommend amounts Pectic enzyme to each. Think I’m willing to settle with clarity I have currently. I’m planning on adding Potassium Sorbate before I backsweeten and then bottle. Any ideas or helpful hints. Thanks Zwack

 

[StevenD55]

Zwack. I made a batch of tart cherry wine from some wild cherries growing on my own trees and thought it was some of the best wine I’ve ever made. Don’t give up on clarity, my recommendation anyway. It can make for a really beautiful wine. I did backsweeten some to my taste. It would give a little temporary lockjaw. But still, I would like to make it again when I get a chance.

 

[salcoco]

just try a small batch about a bottle let it sit for about two weeks and then taste. should give you idea for the rest.

 

[Zwack]

I appreciate the information. I’ve never joined anything in my life let alone text people I’ve never met. I’m very very bad at this form of technolgy so please forgive me if I ramble or write something improperly. As for my wine, I may have screwed things up but I thought I read somewhere that if you like it and don’t get sick then it’s a good day. I added my Potassium Sorbate and still see things clearing up from top to bottom. I found a abv of about 20% after back sweetening with limeade concentrate and 50/50 honey and water so we will see how things turn out . Still have another 6 gallons of tart cherry with berry concentrate to play with and I think an abv of 32 as it’s sits with no sweetening. Thank you guys greatly

 

[sour_grapes]

I appreciate the information. I’ve never joined anything in my life let alone text people I’ve never met. I’m very very bad at this form of technolgy so please forgive me if I ramble or write something improperly. As for my wine, I may have screwed things up but I thought I read somewhere that if you like it and don’t get sick then it’s a good day. I added my Potassium Sorbate and still see things clearing up from top to bottom. I found a abv of about 20% after back sweetening with limeade concentrate and 50/50 honey and water so we will see how things turn out . Still have another 6 gallons of tart cherry with berry concentrate to play with and I think an abv of 32 as it’s sits with no sweetening. Thank you guys greatly

How are you calculating your ABV? Your figures seem very high.

 

[Zwack]

Measured a sg after pressing of 1.155 and a sg .098 when fermentation was complete. Then I added recommend amounts of Pectic enzyme. Cleared okay but still hazy. Added 8 oz of limeade concentrate and stirred which I think was an oops. Probably should have racked off but it cleared. I set it in about 45 degrees atmosphere to help cold crash it which really helped. Played with honey and boiling water, 50/50 mix. I racked a gallon with mixture an measured sg of 20?

 

[cmason1957]

Measured a sg after pressing of 1.155 and a sg .098 when fermentation was complete. Then I added recommend amounts of Pectic enzyme. Cleared okay but still hazy. Added 8 oz of limeade concentrate and stirred which I think was an oops. Probably should have racked off but it cleared. I set it in about 45 degrees atmosphere to help cold crash it which really helped. Played with honey and boiling water, 50/50 mix. I racked a gallon with mixture an measured sg of 20?

You are misreadding your final sg value. and that will impact your sg calculations greatly. it isn't 0.098, your hydrometer (well mine at least) won't go that low, it is maybe .980, but more likely .998, I haven't ever had any get much lower that .992. It's also possible you misread your starting SG value.

 

[Johnd]

@cmason1957 is right with his line of questioning, if you started with SG 1.155 and finished up at .998 (not .980, which would be even higher ABV if it were possible), you'd be pushing 22% ABV in the final wine. Don't know what yeast you used, but even the most robust that I know of won't get you much above 18%, so something seems a bit out of whack............

 

[Zwack]

Sounds great. I’ll look back into log and at hydrometer. I’m sure I’m suffering from a little crainial rectal inversion, and appreciate the help. I’ll check this again and if everyone is interested I’ll post it again

 

[sour_grapes]

I am also confused about what you are making. Your first post references concentrate, and your later post references "after pressing." Which is it? I would be surprised if tart cherries could contain enough sugar to get the juice to 1.155 SG.

Here is a good video to explain how to read a hydrometer:

 

[Zwack]

Thank you for setting me straight. Wine pressed at 1.054 and after complete fermentation finished at .995. I used Latvian D47 which I was told has a alcohol tolerance of about 14% and a temp range good for my current atmosphere here in Michigan. Does approximate abv of 7% seem to be more in the realm?

 

[Zwack]

My apologies for not mentioning that I added 11 pounds granulated sugar desolved in boiling water then cooled. Did this after my starting gravity was recorded

 

[Scooter68]

Re: Tart Cherry wine, I think a ALL tart cherry wine is going to fall outside the taste interests of most folks. I've done 2 batches of a 3:1 Tart to Sweet Cherry wine and even that is a bit too tart for a lot of folks. My next batch will be a 2:2 (1:1 for the mathmatically demanding.) I use 16oz tart / sweet cherry concentrates each is supposed to make 1 gallon of pure cherry drink. For a 3 gallon batch I'm using 4 x 16 oz bottles. So this time it will be 2 tart and 2 sweet bottles. Also I typically make it a dessert wine with an ABV of 14% or higher and back-sweeten it up to an SG of 1.018. Even at that Sweetness the Tartness covers it up until the finish

 

[Rice_Guy]

Re: Tart Cherry wine, I think a ALL tart cherry wine is going to fall outside the taste interests of most folks. I've done 2 batches of a 3:1 Tart to Sweet Cherry wine and even that is a bit too tart for a lot of folks. My next batch will be a 2:2 (1:1 for the mathmatically demanding.) I use 16oz tart / sweet cherry concentrates each is supposed to make 1 gallon of pure cherry drink. For a 3 gallon batch I'm using 4 x 16 oz bottles. So this time it will be 2 tart and 2 sweet bottles. Also I typically make it a dessert wine with an ABV of 14% or higher and back-sweeten it up to an SG of 1.018. Even at that Sweetness the Tartness covers it up until the finish

I have been doing cherry every year and usually enter one in contest. We had a baby shower last weekend therefore I took a vote for how sweet to make this years submission. The choice was back sweetened to 1.019 or 32 grams of sugar in a 750ml bottle (pH 3.35). (I grow enough montmercy cherries that I can ferment straight cherry juice)
A few reference products I bought:
gravity 1.032 pH 3.88 - - DP winery
gravity 1.022 pH 3.32 - - WT winery
gravity 1.075 pH 3.82 - - V winery (sweet/ more like a fruit punch)

You might be correct about taste preference, , I have gotten blue but not best of show.