First All Grape Wine, TA/pH Question

[Johnd]

I was just thinking about the MLB issue (even though I’ve never added the sorbate packet). If it were you would you delay MLF until after pressing or do you feel that you are better off adding MLF during primary so it’s not worth trying to keep the skins uncontaminated and therefore not try to reuse?

@Johnd, do you feel the extra skins really added anything to the Eclipse kit you tried this with?

Once I started coinoculation, I’ll never go back, make the main wine first.

After that, your call. The skins add a lot in my opinion, that’s the only way I’d consider doing another red kit.

 

[jsbeckton]

I’m not sure how adding sugar would make it less thin. It would raise the abv, but would not be adding any flavor. One of the best wines I have made (Cab Franc) was 23 brix.

I get what you are saying by sometimes less is more. However, I’ve been brewing beer for about a decade and often add a bit of DME when my SG is a little lower than expected and find it more robust than if I hadn’t so assumed the same would apply to winemaking. Maybe not but I guess we will see.

I just don’t like beer that has a ABV that is lower than the style so feel I’d probably have the same reaction to a wine. If it had been 23brix maybe I would have left it alone.

 

[jsbeckton]

I’m not sure how adding sugar would make it less thin. It would raise the abv, but would not be adding any flavor. One of the best wines I have made (Cab Franc) was 23 brix.

I’m still a novice but this article about chapitalization implies that this is a means to add body to your wines.

https://winemakermag.com/technique/371-how-sweet-it-is-chaptalization

This is what I was getting at when I noted that I am not found of wines I consider to thin which is what prompted me to want to bump the OG.

It’s the same way with beer for me. I find the light beers as “session” beers to be very “thin” and usually unenjoyable IMHO.

It’s not just wanting high ABV, I feel that the alcohol has a warming effect on the pallet and if it’s not there, or it’s low, I find it what I would characterize and “thin”.

Again, I’m still a novice with wine but I know beer so that likely influenced my decision. It’s at now 0.995 so I don’t think I bumped it too much.

 

[mainshipfred]

When I recently told a commercial winemaker I was going to add sugar to raise the brix his response was "why use sugar and not red grape concentrate, sugar will make it thin". I used a combination of both.