Backsweetening calculations?

[skyfire322]

I know there have been quite a few posts on backsweetening, but there are two things I'm curious about. The first is stabilizing. Since I plan on backsweetening in two months (a few weeks before bottling) will I need additional sulfite plus the sorbate, or just add the sorbate?

Also, the one thing I can't wrap my head around and really couldn't find anything about is calculating the amount of simple syrup to add to the 6 gallons. I planned on doing the method of making a 2 cup sugar/1 cup water simple syrup, adding a few ml to a test tube of wine, tasting, and checking SG. Once I'm happy with it though, I just can't seem to figure out how to get from that few ml to the right amount for six gallons.

I'm sure it's something stupidly simple and I'm probably overthinking, but is there any sort of calculator or chart I could use to measure that?

 

[Ajmassa]

Great question. I’ve sweetened just 1 time. This might not be ideal but worked for me.
I took about 6 wine glasses and put a few ounces into each. With the same 2:1 syrup I added some to each glass trying to find that sweet spot. Once I settled on one I then set it aside. I combined the rest of over sweetened trial glasses into one. And then added more wine to recreate what I decided on so to have a big enough sample to take an SG reading.
Once I knew my target i then just added-mixed-checked little by little until I was home. Purposely undershooting a smidge since I was told the sweetening will bring out even more fruitiness in time.

 

[Stressbaby]

I don't use simple syrup. I just add the sugar after bench trials.

1/8tsp sugar in 37.5ml wine is 50g/gallon; 1/8t in 4oz wine is 16g/gallon.

I do smaller batches, so I typically put 37.5ml in four different glasses. Glass 1 is control. 1/8tsp of sugar each in glass 3 and glass 4. Then I split 1/8tsp in half and put 1/16tsp each in glass 2 and glass 4. This is the equivalent of 0g/gal, 25g/gal, 50g/gal, and 75g/gal in glasses 1, 2, 3, and 4 respectively. If you like your wine sweeter you could easily enough dial this up to 0-50-100-150g/gal instead.

 

[cmason1957]

I can answer the first part of your question, yes you should add sulfite when you add sorbate. They work together to prevent oxidation and refermentation. The second part I can't answer, since I always just use plain sugar, not a simple syrup and I don't shoot for a specific sg, but go by what sends to taste best.

 

[salcoco]

using simple syrup establish measured samples, for instance a 1/4 cup is equal to 60 ml. used measured sugar syrup start at 1/8 tsp is equal to .625 ml. use one sample as control. add 1/8 tsp in next , 2 time it in third, three time in nest etc. do taste test. find the right one let us assume it is 3 time that would be 3x.625 or 1.875. assume 6 gallons is 6 x 3.85 to get liters or 23.10 liter to get all measurements the same this would be 23100ml.. then 1.875/60=x/23100. solve for x the amount to be added to final batch. which in this case would be 721 ml of sugar syrup. if you want to be cautious take bench trial result and make small batch about 500ml let it sit for a few weeks do taste test again to insure it is what you want if so proceed to final batch blending. make sure you add sorbate to this sample.

 

[skyfire322]

Thanks for all the replies! I just got done racking and just added campden. I'll add the kit sulfite and sorbate when its time to backsweeten.

using simple syrup establish measured samples, for instance a 1/4 cup is equal to 60 ml. used measured sugar syrup start at 1/8 tsp is equal to .625 ml. use one sample as control. add 1/8 tsp in next , 2 time it in third, three time in nest etc. do taste test. find the right one let us assume it is 3 time that would be 3x.625 or 1.875. assume 6 gallons is 6 x 3.85 to get liters or 23.10 liter to get all measurements the same this would be 23100ml.. then 1.875/60=x/23100. solve for x the amount to be added to final batch. which in this case would be 721 ml of sugar syrup. if you want to be cautious take bench trial result and make small batch about 500ml let it sit for a few weeks do taste test again to insure it is what you want if so proceed to final batch blending. make sure you add sorbate to this sample.

This is exactly what I needed. You're my hero!!

 

[Scooter68]

Agree with Salcoco - I prefer simple math so I use 1 cup (16 cups to a gallon) Using a simple syrup (2 Sugar 1 Water) I start with 1/4 oz syrup. Use what ever amount you can measure accurately with what you have. If 1/4 oz addition tastes good then I know I will need 15 x 1/4 oz or 3.75 ozs for the remaining part of that gallon batch. Scale up for larger batches of course. IF you go to far you can draw out one more cup and mix that with the existing cup, You can then work from that point remember that you are now sweetening 2 cups not one.

Key to this is to remember the longer you can wait to back-sweeten the better. Once the edge is off the wine (normally after about 10-12 months of aging) your sweetening is less likely to go too far. Many folks who rush to bottle and back-sweeten in the first 1-3 months later find that their wine seems to become a bit too sweet because the as the edge of the young wine fades away that sweetness that seemed just right gets to be bit much. That's the reason for waiting to back-sweeten and of course not adding sorbate until about a week before back-sweetening. I like to age 10-12 months, add final k-Meta dose along with the sorbate, wait 1 week, back-sweeten, wait 1 more week, bottle. IF you go with a 3 month cycle of racking and adding k-meta doses at those rackings then you should have your aging time and racking time work out just about perfect. (The first 3 months may be a bit different as I often find it helpful to rack and add bentonite or fining agents during that first 3 months after fermentation.

With a little patience you can work out the schedule that works best for you with most wine batches. You will always have that batch that doesn't want to clear or develops some other quirk but that's what keeps this from being an assembly line job. That's why true vintners are paid well, they know how to monitor their wines and when and what to do. Even doing the same grape varieties there will always be differences from year to year vineyard to vineyard. Definitely NOT a 10 or 12 step process that always works the same way.