Flavoring?

[Goose]

I have a general question. Say you have a wine that went through primary fermentation and has been racked into a secondary vessel. Fermentation is still active. If you taste the wine and some of the flavors you wanted are there but others are muted or non existant, can you add to the wine? Will this through off fermentation or activate the yeast too much and produce more alcohol than wanted? Can juice be added after fermentation to increase a certain flavor and sweetness? How would you add it without ruining Alcohol content or creating a wine that has no shelf life?

I'm a newbie if you haven't guessed! Any advice would be great! Would love to hear about someone else's experience with something like this.

Thanks!

 

[Boatboy24]

What kind of wine are you making and what sort of flavors are you looking to bring out? It's hard to judge a wine when it is still actively fermenting, so what you're looking for may end up there, but you just don't see it yet.

 

[Goose]

I am just generally curious if it could be done or not. I have a few I am working on but if I had one that I wish had more flavors it would be my chocolate cherry. Didn't realize that the chocolate would be so strong. It definitely smells fruity though but not so much in taste. I am thinking of leaving it as is, but wondered if cherry juice could be added at some point if I wanted a little more of that flavor.

Thanks for the advice! I may leave it for now and see what develops.

 

[DoctorCAD]

Talk to me Goose...(from one of my top 10 movies)

The type of yeast you choose will help flavors more than adding more grapes.

 

[heatherd]

To get more cherry flavor, you could do a few things:

Add cherry concentrate, in the form of frozen juice, during fermentation.

Finish the fermentation process and blend with another finished cherry wine.

Add cherry extract.

I think that you don't want to mix fermented wine and non-fermented juice together afterwards.

Heather

 

[ffemt128]

To get more cherry flavor, you could do a few things:

Add cherry concentrate, in the form of frozen juice, during fermentation.

Finish the fermentation process and blend with another finished cherry wine.

Add cherry extract.

I think that you don't want to mix fermented wine and non-fermented juice together afterwards.

Heather

I'll agree with this however there is nothing wrong with adding a non-fermented juice after the fact. This is done quite frequently when you need to create a F-Pac. To do this take the juice and unless already a concentrate simmer to half it's original volume. This should retain the flavors and concentrate the sugars. Keep in mind this will only work if you are or want to sweeten the wine. It will not work if you are shooting for a dry wine.

 

[JohnT]

Talk to me Goose...(from one of my top 10 movies)

You beat me to the punch Doc!

 

[Arne]

I'll agree with this however there is nothing wrong with adding a non-fermented juice after the fact. This is done quite frequently when you need to create a F-Pac. To do this take the juice and unless already a concentrate simmer to half it's original volume. This should retain the flavors and concentrate the sugars. Keep in mind this will only work if you are or want to sweeten the wine. It will not work if you are shooting for a dry wine.

I would like to add if the wine is not stabalized it has a pretty good chance of refermenting if you add a juice with fermentable sugars in it. Also you stand a good chance of having to reclear the wine if it is already clear. The juices will probably cloud it up and you will have to wait again or use clearing agents. Arne.

 

[mikewatkins727]

I'll add my observations on flavoring. I made a mint wine last year and worried about how much mint would come through. So I added two mint leaves to two bottles at bottling as a trial. First regular bottle I sampled was okay at about 10 months after bottling. At each sampling the wine got better. Third bottle was one of the two I added the mint leaf. The wine was good and had a very strong mint flavor, boarding on too strong. Today I am on the last bottle. I don't think I need to add the leaf. Use the 3P principle from here on out. Patience, patience and patience.

 

[Goose]

Thank you so much for all your help! Looks like I may have a few options to consider!

 

[Rodnboro]

Brewers Best makes several different flavors of flavoring. I've used some to flavor Skeeter Pee and boosted a Blueberry wine with it and won bronze at a competition. I wouldn't use much though, it can give the wine an off taste.