sweeten the wine

[hannabarn]

I am making chianti from vintners reserve kit. I would like to make it a tad sweeter. How much and when can I add sugar? Edited by: hannabarn

 

[Wade E]

You can back sweeten right after stabilizing with k-meta and pot. sorbate. As for how much, that is up to your taste buds but I will say add sugar syrup(2cups sugar mixed with 1 cup boiling water and cooled down to wine temp) very slowly as if you over sweeten it will have to be blended with another drier wine to bring it back. Another tip is that the sweeteness will be perceived more after the wine has aged a little so dont sweeten to what you feel is good now as it will taste sweeter later as the hotness of the alc. disappears.

 

[hannabarn]

Thanks Wade. The timing is right as I will be stabilizing in about a week

 

[PolishWineP]

When we sweeten we use a gallon jug. We rack about 3/4 of a gallon into the jug then add the simple syrup to the gallon juga few tablespoons at a time. Stir well then taste. Once we find what we like we add the syrup to what is left in the carboy, (for a 6-gallon batch, multiply the # of Tbs by 5) stir, then add back the testing batch and stir some more.

 

[hannabarn]

Good idea! That helps a lot since I'm just getting started at this. I'm glad I joined this forum!!

 

[joeswine]

just remember like wade stated its your wine ,taste,taste and taste,until your satisfied a little at a time

 

[Tomy]

I tested the SG of a semi sweet wine with a hydrometerthat I had and it read 1020, that might also be a tool to use when sweeting. Being new at this myself this gave me a insite of what a semi sweet wine should taste like as to the SG reading.Edited by: Tomy

 

[Wade E]

At that SG it is really considered a sweet wine. A semi-sweet is usually considered 1.008- 1.014

 

[Tomy]

Thanks Wade, thats what it said on the bottle semi sweet, so thats what I was reporting. So another lesson learned, ya can't allways believe the label

 

[hannabarn]

I just sweetened the chianti to what I thought was still a little dry. The SG is 1.000 so maybe it will sweeten as it clears???

 

[joeswine]

I might be mistaken but that style of wine is a dry red why would you want to make it semi sweet it changes the complexity and structure of a good red ?,just asking!

 

[hannabarn]

You are correct! It is a dry wine. I like the taste but it is a little too dry for me. I sweetened it just a tad to make it a little less dry. That's the beauty of making your own wine. I tasted it again yesterday and it is still dry but seems OK for my taste buds. Now I will let it alone and it can age peacefully!!!!!