Brix 21

[thesnow]

Making Zin, Merlot & Pe, total 14 cases. After crushing, Brix 21, Ph 3.65, & Ta 6.5 g/l
I think I need to raise my brix to at least to 23, before adding my yeast.
Never done this. it looks like I need to add somewhere 4kg of sugar into the Primary. Is this correct? What do you recommend I use as sugar? Regular white table sugar? or should I use a special type of sugar. Do I dilute it in distilled water? or do I use the must juice?

 

[joea132]

According to my calculations you need 6 pounds of sugar. I've never had to do this so don't go solely based on my word.

 

[thesnow]

2.72kg is this worth the effort?

 

[thesnow]

What type of sugar is recommended? What is recommended, do I use the must juice, or water (distilled) to dilute the sugar?
Any input is appreciated..
Thanks

 

[Rocky]

Thesnow, I am getting a higher number for the amount of sugar to be added. I get something like 8.2 lbs. Here are my assumptions:

Initial volume of juice: ~35 gallons (i.e. ~2.5 gallons per lug)
Initial SG: 1.088
Target SG: 1.097

I used the FermCalc calculator: http://web2.airmail.net/sgross/fermcalc/FermCalcJS.html

I would use table sugar and dissolved in some wine juice.

 

[thesnow]

Hmmm.. your right, 3.73kg or 8.2lbs. Should I target brix 23 or 24? When dissolving in the must juice do I warm it up ? or there's no need to ; maybe warming up the juice is a bad idea.
Thanks Rocky

 

[thesnow]

Question, could one use something more natural? like natural brown sugar, instead of white table sugar. Is there any reason why to use regular table sugar..

 

[joea132]

I used a wine calculator I just installed onto my phone. The good news is that you can very easily test for sugar as you go to make sure you have the right number.

 

[joea132]

Cane sugar is fine per my books. I don't know about brown sugar, I would stay away as the molasses flavor might stay through the finished product. I have used molasses in hard apple cider but I would think it would be a detriment in quality red wine. Like Rocky said before, take the cane sugar and dissolve it in a (large) sample of your must then add it back to the main batch and stir it in.

 

[thesnow]

Found some corn sugar, very fine white powdered form. guess its used for beer making. Should do fine for wine.

Thanks

 

[Rocky]

thesnow, better read this first: http://www.wellsphere.com/healthy-living-article/corn-sugar-vs-cane-sugar-don-t-be-fooled-there-are-differences/1247903. I would stick with cane sugar. And, yes, you can warm (not boiled) the juice on the range to help with the dissolving.

 

[thesnow]

Rocky...! , oh man to late, you came close to saving me. It been add already 5 mins ago. Goes to show the wine retailers are just that had no knowledge. I wanted to buy cane sugar at the market put they convinced me it was better.

 

[thesnow]

I used dextrose corn sugar.
Oh well, never fails my first time and I had feeling something could go wrong its never perfect the first time.

 

[joea132]

I used dextrose corn sugar.
Oh well, never fails my first time and I had feeling something could go wrong its never perfect the first time.

Winemaking is never perfect, whether it's a misinformed decision or the wine being finicky. I believe that the dextrose will break down to a fermentable sugar, I'll have to research it. As I remember correctly, one of my books had a nice breakdown of the difference. I'll check it out for you.

 

[grapeman]

Cane sugar is generally the preferred sugar to use. Keep the corn sugar for beer. Also you can just mix the sugar in the crushed grapes/must. Stir it in a bit. The yeast is very aggressive and will find the sugar. I ahve never had any sugar left on the bottom after a ferment. 21 brix isn't all that bad but will be a bit in alcohol so I would go ahead and add it.

 

[BeerAlchemist]

The yeast will pretty much use all of it, whether corn or cane/beet sugar so the health implications Rocky posted about wouldn't really play into the matter. Whatever you do, don't use brown sugar like mentioned unless you are doing something in which you desire molasses...and even then use molasses not brown sugar so you know exactly how much you have added.

Grapeman, what is the difference between corn and cane/beet sugar in the final product? I know there is a subtle difference between the different sugars in the end product as the Mad Fermentationist did some good side-by-side tests...just wondering if you know the actual impact to wine?

 

[grapeman]

I don't have concrete specifics on differences, but have always heard to use corn sugar for beer and cane sugar in wine when needed and that is what I do.

Another point in cane sugars favor to me is that much of todays corn sugar supply is from genetically modified corn bred by Monsanto to be "Roundup Ready". I am not a "Green" person to the point of being fanatical, but I prefer to use natural selection for breeding purposes, not manipulating genes to make them more attractive to one chemical company over another.

This is as close to an editorial comment you are likely to ever get out of me, but I feel very stongly about it.

 

[Runningwolf]

As Rich said, I also add cane sugar directly to the wine to up the brix. The simple formula to add sugar assuming you want to attain 21 brix is; (21-(brix level of juice)x.1)x gallons of juice.

example is if you have 15 gallons of juice at 16 brix and you want to take it to 21 brix the formula would be;
21-16=5 5x.1=.5 .5x15 gallons would be 7.5 pounds of sugar

 

[thesnow]

Guys, thanks for the info, I will know better next time . I will keep you guys posted on how the wine turns out ten to twelve months. I will invite guests and see if there's any side affects....Lol

 

[altavino]

actualy the best sugar to use is plain white table sugar its the easiest for wine yest to metabolise . brown sugar will ruin your wine with carmel flavours .

no need to invert the sugar as the acid in the wine will do than naturaly .

there is a handy set of winemaking calculators on the left hand side of this page
http://vinoenology.com/

the chapitalisation one is the one you want.