Making a too-sweet Pinot Grigio drier?

[newwineguy]

Can anything be done to make this drier (dryer?). Here's what I did:
Jan 23: started Vintner's Best Pinot Grigio kit per instructions. Initial SG = 1.0995. Importantly, I think, I used a wrap-around heater to keep the temp uniform during the fermenting process. I pretty much left it alone, but on Feb 6 I saw that the electronic thermometer had fallen off the fermenting bucket sometime since Iast I checked it two days earlier. Apparently, the thermostat got a false low reading on the must temperature and kept trying to warm it up, with the result that the must reached a temperature exceeding 80 degrees. At that point the SG was .098 and stalled there. I added 3 tsps of yeast energizer on Feb 6, and on Feb 13 the SG was 1.000 at 73 degrees. So the energizer did nothing. I racked it to another primary fermenter and added yeast (Lalvin CC-1118, the same as before). I didn't think that would help and it didn't. On Feb 16 the SG was still 1.000. I racked to to a carboy, added Kielselol, sorbate/sulfate per directions, and because it was near my elbow at the time, I added 8 oz of Skyy vodka.

On March 6 I tasted it for the first time and it's too sweet. More like a poor Moscato than a Pinot Grigio. Is it too late to do anything more?
Dave

 

[ibglowin]

Outside of adding a few bottles or a box of cheap (dry) Pinot Grigio there is nothing you can do really. The only solution at this point is dilution.........

 

[Rocky]

I suggest blending with the same wine. I would get another of the same kit and ferment it to as dry as possible, e.g. SG 0.992. I would then blend your first batch with the dryer batch. If nothing else, you gained some good experience. When I use an external heater, I wipe the outside of the bucket with Alcohol to degrease it and then I use a lot of duct tape to mount it.

 

[ChuckD]

I suggest blending with the same wine. I would get another of the same kit and ferment it to as dry as possible, e.g. SG 0.992. I would then blend your first batch with the dryer batch. If nothing else, you gained some good experience. When I use an external heater, I wipe the outside of the bucket with Alcohol to degrease it and then I use a lot of duct tape to mount it.

Double your wine… now that’s quality advice!

Seriously, that’s what I would do.

 

[winemaker81]

@newwineguy, welcome to WMT!

I agree with everyone else -- you have stabilized the wine, getting it to ferment again is not impossible, but highly unlikely. Blending with a dry wine is your best choice.

Also, wine drinks work, e.g., make a quickie "Sangria" by juicing an orange, lemon, and lime, and add that to the wine. There is a lot you can do with a wine that isn't quite your taste.

I have a few questions regarding your process:

The OG was 1.0995? I assume you have a high precision hydrometer which gives you 4 digits to the right of the decimal? This helps us help you, as it ensures we understand what you say.

Sticking at ".098" doesn't make sense -- I assume you misunderstood the hydrometer scale or mistyped. Some of the newer hydrometer markings are easy to misunderstand. Water has SG 1.000, and a wine is normally done fermenting when the SG is between 0.990 and 0.998. Was your SG 0.998?

In my sig is a link to MoreWine! manuals. I suggest you download the white wine manual and skim it. Don't read it intently, as there is too much to digest all at once. Get an understanding of the process flow, then read again. This will help you a lot.

 

[Ohio Bob]

Maybe I’m missing something, but the wine is done fermenting at sub 1.000 SG, whatever the final number is. It’s still too sweet, why not add a little acid in?

 

[winemaker81]

Maybe I’m missing something, but the wine is done fermenting at sub 1.000 SG, whatever the final number is. It’s still too sweet, why not add a little acid in?

@newwineguy, Bob is absolutely correct. Acid and sugar balance each other -- I have a bottle of Vignoles that is technically a sweet wine, but the acid level is high and balances it so that it tastes off-dry.

Adding tartaric acid in small quantities will reduce the perceived sweetness.

 

[Rice_Guy]

As @Ohio Bob said you could add acid.

A guideline for where to balance TA on wine;
after club contest this year I collected eight first place wines which are the red triangles
View attachment 81200

The sample set "cloud" is primarily commercial wines, with some collected in the vinters club and here on WineMakingTalk
NOTE: TA is one of several quality traits which a first place wine has as absence of flavor defect, appropriate aroma for the variety and clarity , , , etc.
NOTE 2: this is an easy test, if ya'll are interested in your wine ,,, PM me

Normally a balanced wine follows a line of gravity (sweetness) plotted against titratable acidity. However the taste buds react to tannin in a similar manner to acid so one could add either a finishing tannin or more acid to decrease the sweet notes. Either way run a bench trial to pick out a level which you like. Both acid and tannin will improve shelf life.

 

[newwineguy]

@newwineguy, welcome to WMT!

I agree with everyone else -- you have stabilized the wine, getting it to ferment again is not impossible, but highly unlikely. Blending with a dry wine is your best choice.

Also, wine drinks work, e.g., make a quickie "Sangria" by juicing an orange, lemon, and lime, and add that to the wine. There is a lot you can do with a wine that isn't quite your taste.

I have a few questions regarding your process:

The OG was 1.0995? I assume you have a high precision hydrometer which gives you 4 digits to the right of the decimal? This helps us help you, as it ensures we understand what you say.

Sticking at ".098" doesn't make sense -- I assume you misunderstood the hydrometer scale or mistyped. Some of the newer hydrometer markings are easy to misunderstand. Water has SG 1.000, and a wine is normally done fermenting when the SG is between 0.990 and 0.998. Was your SG 0.998?

In my sig is a link to MoreWine! manuals. I suggest you download the white wine manual and skim it. Don't read it intently, as there is too much to digest all at once. Get an understanding of the process flow, then read again. This will help you a lot.

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I appreciate the advice. The four digits are the result of me making adjustments from a table based on the temperature of the wine when taking the reading. I'm pretty new at this (year and a half) and am trying to be accurate. And you are correct that I mistyped; the SG was 0.998, not 0.098.

I decided to add a commercial pinot grigio to the wine as suggested, rather than make another whole batch to add to it, and that has improved the result quite a bit. There is still a hint of sweetness at the finish, it seems to me, but not nearly as pronounced as it was. I may go ahead and bottle it as is, let it rest for a couple of months, then see where it is.

 

[newwineguy]

Maybe I’m missing something, but the wine is done fermenting at sub 1.000 SG, whatever the final number is. It’s still too sweet, why not add a little acid in?

Adding acid to reduce sweetness is not something I knew about, but it makes sense. Thank you.

 

[newwineguy]

@newwineguy, Bob is absolutely correct. Acid and sugar balance each other -- I have a bottle of Vignoles that is technically a sweet wine, but the acid level is high and balances it so that it tastes off-dry.

Adding tartaric acid in small quantities will reduce the perceived sweetness.

 

[winemaker81]

I may go ahead and bottle it as is, let it rest for a couple of months, then see where it is.

Wait a week or two, then taste again. Give the wine time to meld before bottling.

If it's still bit too sweet, a small amount of acid will change the perception.

 

[newwineguy]

Tartaric Acid to change pH and add tartness, according to an article I just read. Thanks!