Increasing body

[Rock Farm Winery]

I thought I read in one of the threads about increasing the body of a wine by adding raisins or a bannana to the must. But I can't find it now. How much do you add for a one gallon batch? Are there certain types of wines that it would be better to add one or the other? And - I'm not a big fan of the taste of bannanas - if you add one to the must - does the wine take on a bannana taste?? I've read elsewhere (Jack Keller's site, maybe?) about using bannana wine to blend wines to increase the body - so I'm assuming that this is the same concept?

Does anyone do this? Or are their better ways? We really like an almost viscous mouth feel - so I'm assuming that this is what is meant by full-bodied? Or am I using the wrong term?

Thank you!!

 

[Sacalait]

For a 1 gal batch 1 banana is all you should need. Make sure the banana is completely ripe (brown). Boil it in a little water until there is only liquid remaining and this to the must.
For a full bodied wine (viscus) I think blueberry is the best.

 

[Wine Maker]

Bananas are a very neutral flavor when adding to fruit wine for body. I added some to a rasberry blend to help reduce the acid.

 

[weltercat]

With Blackberries and I assume most other fruit wines as well you can increase the body of the wine by adding more fruit and less sugar to achieve the proper SG level.

 

[Wine Maker]

You can add more fruit to increase the Specific Gravity (SG) but sometimes the fruit is too low in natural sugar that adding more will not get you to where you need to be. Plus, it can contribute more tartness to the wine. The last batch of apple wine and the raspeberry blend wine I made had a starting brix of 14 (1.054 SG) and 13 (1.050 SG), respectivelty. If I added enough extra fruit rather than sugar to produce a wine with 11% to 12% alc. it would have been too tart.

 

[Rock Farm Winery]

So if you add extra sugar to increase the starting SG - does that make for a more full bodied wine? Does higher alcohol content equal fuller bodied?

 

[Wine Maker]

Adding extra sugar will not increase the body of the wine; it will increase the potential alcohol of the wine. Higher alcohol, to my knowledge, does not increase the body of wine. Too much alcohol can make a wine "hot". Meaning that you can get a slight burn when you swallow. In addition, too high an alcohol content can take away from the flavor of the wine.