Step Feeding Help

[Justin_Sane]

Hey guys and gals.
As some of you may have seen I've recently started my first batch of Wine, as you can read up on here.
http://www.drinksplanet.com/natures-nectar-grape-juice-wine-1270.html
Now I have estimated, if I ferment from a SG of 1.091 to a final SG of 0.995 I should end up with an ABV of 12.60%.

So my question is, 4 things really:

1. Should I consider step feeding at all on my first batch to raise the ABV to around 13-14% The reason being is I have read a lot about the ABV being useful as far as it goes on aging, flavor, preserving etc.

2. Would it really even make any difference at a 1%- 1.5% raise in ABV?

3. If I do add some more Invert sugar to my primary, when is the best time to do so? And how do I go about it?

4. Is it safe to stir the Primary at this point, or would it cause disturbance of the settlement and cause longer wait for it to clear later on?

A little side note that may help, I do not know the SG of my batch at this point, I'm right at 36 hours into my fermentation. And it seems to be going strong, the airlock won't set still. It's releasing gas at a rate a little over 120 Bubbles per minute.

Thanks a lot,
- Justin Sane

 

[Noontime]

Congrats on your first batch Justin!

Whether you step feed sugar or not really doesn't matter for this wine; the yeast are going to eat all the sugar they can until it runs out or the environment gets inhospitable. I've heard of people using step feeding when they want to boost the alcohol to much higher than normal levels, so they add sugar as they go because the yeast don't like extremely high sugar environments (I know it seems counter intuitive, but I believe it is too much osmotic pressure).

Since you're making this wine from concentrate, I don't think higher alcohol will help. The best wines have balance, and pumping up one characteristic will usually create unbalanced wine. Without the solids of grape skins, your wine will be light bodied, and thus probably be better off on the lower end of alcohol. You're probably good where you are.

As for invert sugar, there may be others with a different opinion, but I don't think there is a strong reason for going to the trouble. Yeast convert the sucrose on their own, so inverting it is doing them a favor but I don't think it has any effect on the finished wine.

Stirring the wine the first few days of fermentation is helpful and important, since the yeast can use the oxygen. You just don't want to do too much near the end of the fermentation. The gross lees will settle to the bottom within a day, so it shouldn't have a big effect on racking.

 

[Justin_Sane]

Very helpful thank you =].

 

[Noontime]

Is that your real name? I just want to know who to compliment, you or your parents.

 

[Justin_Sane]

Haha, no it's not my actual real name. Justin is my real name, but the Sane is a nickname. My brother gave it to me when we were kids, and it just stuck. But I'm glad you like it =].

- Justin Sane

 

[Noontime]

Well...kudos to your brother then!