I bought a gallon of wine (while waiting for mine to be ready), and it is so sickening sweet I can't stand it! I was going to let it turn to vinegar, but then thought, why can't I put some yeast in it?? Think it would work to tone down the sweetness?
Putting yeast in bottled wine
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Ohio Bob
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In theory I guess that might work, although I would not ferment it in a bottle but an appropriate sized bucket. Be forewarned it might have stabilizer in it that kills yeast (sorbate). So getting it to ferment might be more work than it’s worth. If I’m wrong on this someone will chime in.
Maybe it’s a lesson that the wine is not one of your favorites. Not to bash Concords, but that is a typically sweet wine. You won’t find where someone makes a Concord that is super dry and you like it that way. Some varietals need back sweetening because that’s what they are. Not everyone is a Zin or Cab. Depends on your preferences.
I like the creative thinking though.
Maybe it’s a lesson that the wine is not one of your favorites. Not to bash Concords, but that is a typically sweet wine. You won’t find where someone makes a Concord that is super dry and you like it that way. Some varietals need back sweetening because that’s what they are. Not everyone is a Zin or Cab. Depends on your preferences.
I like the creative thinking though.
I'm going to try it...I really have nothing to lose if it doesn't work, and it's a good experiment. Now I'm wondering if I should put a cam. tablet in it?? It's about 3/4 gallon
Ohio Bob
Senior Member
No.you want the yeast to work on the sugars in the wine without having to fight through more sulfites.
My initial thought is sorbate will likely inhibit a second ferment. Could mix it with another wine to dilute it, but then you might have more not quite so nasty wine.
IMO it's worth the experiment, but I agree with @Ohio Bob that your likelihood of getting it to ferment is low. OTOH, I'm totally cool if you prove me wrong.
My dad didn't like "sour" wine, so dry reds were out. Ports were too sweet, so he'd buy a bottle of Gallo Burgundy and Gallo Port, and mix 'em. I was already thinking about him when @vinny mentioned blending.
I tried blending it with a really dry wine, and didn't like it. The dry wine was too bitter to me, so I added 7-up to it and it was good.IMO it's worth the experiment, but I agree with @Ohio Bob that your likelihood of getting it to ferment is low. OTOH, I'm totally cool if you prove me wrong.
My dad didn't like "sour" wine, so dry reds were out. Ports were too sweet, so he'd buy a bottle of Gallo Burgundy and Gallo Port, and mix 'em. I was already thinking about him when @vinny mentioned blending.
So about an hour ago, I poured 2 inches worth of that wine into a clear glass, poured about 1/2 inch of expired (oct. 2021) bread yeast into it, and it already has foam on the top! I think that tomorrow morning, I will pour that 3/4 gallon wine into a pail, pour in some bottled white grape juice and then wine yeast--should I add extra sugar or yeast nutrition?? and this is Carlo Rossi Sweet Red wine.
Record the SG. You don't need more sugar, but I'd add nutrient.
okay thanks!
from a lab bench point of view, ,, What you are talking about is balance. The formulation trick to fix sweetness is to add an acid flavor and or a tannin flavor. ,,, Similar to wine judges you can add a few grains acid blend to a glass to doctor the flavor balance. If treating a whole gallon there are liquid tannins. A few drops of tannin could doctor the sweetness.
A Industry look at sweetness is that in the US currently sweet sells better, expect table wine to be 1.000 to 1.003 gravity/ sweetness.
Jug wine is a big volume business. As such it should have been filtered with a sterile filter to make a stable sweet product/ ie the cost effective method to stabilize 50,000 liter tanks of wine. Legally in the US if I added sorbate to a wine I should put this on an ingredient label. Check the ingredient statement, likely it only mentions contains sulphites.
Yield on three or four liters of wine will be low. In the future, folks who are in the home wine community, we would normally keep jug or box wine in the house for topping up the ullage on a kit after racking. The active yeast then make the sugar go away.
A Industry look at sweetness is that in the US currently sweet sells better, expect table wine to be 1.000 to 1.003 gravity/ sweetness.
Yes, ,, A jug wine can referment. A bread yeast normally dies off at 8 or 9% alcohol which is below normal US 11% alcohol. I would encourage avoiding extra sugar or adding a high alcohol yeast like 1118. The nutrients should be low. As a general statement white grape juice takes more active nutrient management than a red grape. Note oxygen is a nutrient required to grow yeast cells when starting a ferment. Your side effect is that adding oxygen causes acetaldehyde formation which also causes additional sharp favors which can be balanced with sweet.
Jug wine is a big volume business. As such it should have been filtered with a sterile filter to make a stable sweet product/ ie the cost effective method to stabilize 50,000 liter tanks of wine. Legally in the US if I added sorbate to a wine I should put this on an ingredient label. Check the ingredient statement, likely it only mentions contains sulphites.
Yield on three or four liters of wine will be low. In the future, folks who are in the home wine community, we would normally keep jug or box wine in the house for topping up the ullage on a kit after racking. The active yeast then make the sugar go away.
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Agree on the stabilizer comment. Liquor stores would not look kindly on exploding bottles.
Here's an update on my experiment with the store bought wine: I poured it into a bucket along with a bottle of white grape juice, package of classique yeast and 1 teas. yeast nutrient. I couldn't find my hydrometer, but the wine bottle said 8% abv . I took a taste and it was pleasantly diluted. That night, we had a bad storm and my basement flooded. The next day while trying to get stuff out of basement, I found my hydrometer. I also brought the bucket of wine upstairs. I noticed there was more action going on the day before, so I just poured in 1/2 cup of sugar! It fizzed up and then settled down. I didn't stir it or make a syrup from the sugar, just poured it in. This morning, I see foam on surface and a little thicker foam in spots. My question is: Should I stir this today?? Or just let it sit?
Never hurts to stir. I would.
Update: I just racked the wine to a gallon jug. I wasn't able to get sg reading at the beginning, but at the end it was .09 if I'm reading it correctly. Was up past the "wine" stage on hydrometer. It tastes very dry, and I poured a little glass and put a little strawberry syrup in it...It's good! So I put 1 cam. tablet in the racked wine. I'm planning on drinking it tomorrow and in a few days, (hope not too soon after the cam tablet), cause it's about 1.5 inches below the jug handle...I don't want to add any more juice, wine or water to bring it up to the neck opening. I have an airlock on it for now. So, my little experiment worked with this super sweet wine that I couldn't drink!
I couldn't find my hydrometer when I started this, so I don't know what the abv is.
Okay, that is fine. But it would still pay you to learn how to read a hydrometer. It is not possible to have a SG reading of 0.09. That would mean that your liquid was 1/10 as dense as water.
So I'm looking at the hydrometer, and the wine was above 1.000 on it. The number above that, is just 90. That's where it was.
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