WineXpert Help with back sweetening...

[qlobb]

I'm about ready to bottle a WE Reisling kit, but I have a couple of questions. My wife loves German Reislings which tend to be sweet. I have not checked the SG of this kit since it went into the Carboy (my hydrometer broke just befor fining so I did not have the opportunity to check it then), but I have tasted it and it is definitely on the dry side. I have never altered a kit before, and this kit did not come with anything to back sweeten it with. How would I go about doing this? Can I just mix up a syrup of table sugar and water and add it slowly to taste? If so, how much sugar to how much water? Will all the stirring when adding this sugar expose the wine to too much oxygen? After back sweetening do I need to let it sit for a while or can I go ahead and bottle? This wine was fined about 6 weeks ago and is ultra clear and ready for bottling at this point aside from not being sweet enough.
Thanks for any help you guys might provide,
Q

 

[Wade E]

Make sure you have added the sorbate packet to it first. after
determining that has been added, you can proceed to sweetening.
Everyone has different tastes so a specified amount in my opinion is
kind of out of the question. the best way for me is to pour a glass and
slowly add sugar to taste. When you have reached the point at where you
like it, put it in the sample jar where you can use ypur hydrometer and
take a reading remembering how much wine you used and how much sugar
you used. after taking a reading you can multiply what you used to the
volume of wine that you still have or just add very slowly stirring
until yuo reach your targeted SG. Becareful not to oversweeten as then
you would have to add some commercial wine to bring it back down.

 

[qlobb]

do I need to dissolve the sugar in warm water first or is it alright to add dry sugar straight to the wine in the carboy?
Thanks,
Q

 

[jojo]

Dissolving it would be better imo.


Have you considered sweetening with white grape juice?

 

[Wade E]

Defininetly dissolving.

 

[kutya]

I prefer sweeter wine, and back-sweeten. be very careful not to over sweeten. I agree to dissolve the sugar, and add slowly. stir very good. I normally add sugar at the rate of about 1/4 lb per gal (that is my personal preference. I add a little at a time stir it, then let it sit for an hour, taste it, and add more if I need to... I have over sweetened wine so again be careful.....Like wade said, you can always add to it if you over sweeten... hope this helps...

 

[qlobb]

Thanks for all the advice! Afew more questions on the subject... How do you mix up the sugar and water (amount of sugar vs amount of water)?
And, will all the stirring expose the wine to too much oxygen? Should I stir with a Fiz X?
Q

 

[Bert]

I mix the sugar at 2parts to 1 part water...heat to a boil and let it cool before adding....a light stirring is all that seems to be needed to get a mix....I also just add the syrup to one gal. of wine and sweeten to taste to find what is needed to sweeten the rest of the wine. Usually 3 TBS. at a time, than taste. Left over syrup can be stored in the refrigerator for later use.

 

[PolishWineP]

We used to add 1T at a time to the gallon and were trashed before we could finish.

3T at a time seems to keep us a little more sober.

 

[Wade E]

The wine wine was gone before you had it sweet enough!