Back Sweetening with fresh pressed grape juice

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WillM

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I have about 4 gallons of muscadine wine that just finished primary fermentation…started at 1.100 and after primary, .988. I just racked to carboys for secondary. In a few months, after secondary is done and cleared, I would like to back sweeten with some muscadine juice. I have a little over 5 lbs. of muscadines in the freezer that I will press when the time comes. I am concerned that using this juice to back sweeten will cloud the wine. Has anyone done this before? I would like to not use sugar to back sweeten if at all possible. thanks Will
 
as an industry person I am concerned about adding live yeast to the wine, when I add juice it is usually a cleaned grocery product, I am aware that the percent alcohol decreases which increases the stability risk ,,, pasteurization would eliminate the yeast/ bacteria issue.
I was thinking about pressing the juice from the muscadines and then making a syrup out of it on the stove. Would that pasteurize the juice? Of course, I would be adding some sorbate to the wine.
 
I was thinking about pressing the juice from the muscadines and then making a syrup out of it on the stove. Would that pasteurize the juice? Of course, I would be adding some sorbate to the wine.
Any heating of the juice will kills any existing yeast, although you need to be concerned about yeast present in the wine, so sorbate + K-meta need to be added. Heating may produce a pectin haze, so adding pectic enzyme may be required.

But backsweetening with juice is feasible. I'd skip the heating, as you need to add sorbate + K-meta either way, and it eliminates the pectin problem. You will need to let the wine clear, as the juice will probably have solids.
 
Any heating of the juice will kills any existing yeast, although you need to be concerned about yeast present in the wine, so sorbate + K-meta need to be added. Heating may produce a pectin haze, so adding pectic enzyme may be required.

But backsweetening with juice is feasible. I'd skip the heating, as you need to add sorbate + K-meta either way, and it eliminates the pectin problem. You will need to let the wine clear, as the juice will probably have solids.
thank you for your advice. I was going to use sorbate and K-meta anyway, so this seems feasible.
 
thank you for your advice. I was going to use sorbate and K-meta anyway, so this seems feasible.
I'm happy to help.

Another thing to keep in mind is that diluting the wine with juice reduces the ABV. It's generally recognized that an ABV below 10% reduces the shelf life. In your situation the ABV is near 15%, so you can add 30% juice and still be above 10%.
 
I was thinking about pressing the juice from the muscadines and then making a syrup out of it on the stove. Would that pasteurize the juice? Of course, I would be adding some sorbate to the wine.
You could effectively pasteurize at 150F/ 45 minutes. You likely will be boiling and when doing maple syrup it seems to take hours.
You are good
 
My muscadine wine had been sitting for months. I pulled out some muscadines from the freezer, mashed/squeezed juice and made I guess what would be a fruit pack. I added to the wine with some pectic enzyme to help clear. 3 weeks later, it's clear and very tasty. The extra juice brought the specific gravity from .988 to 1.000. Fruity on the nose and I really taste the muscadine flavor! The final ABV is 13.2%.
I'll let it age a while longer and then bottle. I'm very pleased with the results. Thanks to all
 
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