Sweetening
- Thread starter LucyT
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Ohio Bob
Senior Member
Absolutely. If back sweetening I would add sorbate to avoid refermentation, plus some Kmeta.
I had a Pinot Noir that started MLF unintentionally and had to debottle it. It happens. But is fixable.
I had a Pinot Noir that started MLF unintentionally and had to debottle it. It happens. But is fixable.
Thank you!
This is normal. If you have a full carboy, it's pretty much impossible to stir a sweetener in without making a mess. Also, you need sorbate and K-meta to be well distributed.
@LucyT I have a couple additional thoughts for you to keep in mind:
#1 - I back sweeten in the carboy, wait a few days, taste again. I HAVE added more sweetener a couple times.
#2 - There's no law that says the entire batch has to be sweetened the same. If there are different palates in the house (or as an experiment) you could bottle, add sweetener, bottle.
#3 - For personal reference I always measure the SG after back sweetening. Interestingly, my fruit wines are always within .002 of each other but my tree wines (apple and pear) are easily .01 or so higher but they don't taste sweeter. After the wines age and I start drinking I can reference that SG reading and maybe make adjustments for future batches.
#1 - I back sweeten in the carboy, wait a few days, taste again. I HAVE added more sweetener a couple times.
#2 - There's no law that says the entire batch has to be sweetened the same. If there are different palates in the house (or as an experiment) you could bottle, add sweetener, bottle.
#3 - For personal reference I always measure the SG after back sweetening. Interestingly, my fruit wines are always within .002 of each other but my tree wines (apple and pear) are easily .01 or so higher but they don't taste sweeter. After the wines age and I start drinking I can reference that SG reading and maybe make adjustments for future batches.
Thanks, I will be sure to put in the sorbate and kmeta!
At what point can I use the Sparkoloid? How many times can it be racked?
You can add a fining agent any time after fermentation is done.
You can rack a wine as many times as you desire. However, each racking exposes the wine to O2 and produces a loss of wine volume. Rack only when it produces a positive result, e.g., removes heavy sediment.
LucyT this isn't meant to confuse -
Wines will have negatively charged particles and positively charged particles depending on the wine and the ingredients. Sparkalloid works best on negatively charged particles. Bentonite and kieselsol work best on positively charged particles. If you're lucky the recipe will suggest a fining agent. And if you use a fining agent and it doesn't seem to work then chances are it was the wrong one for that wine.
Wines will have negatively charged particles and positively charged particles depending on the wine and the ingredients. Sparkalloid works best on negatively charged particles. Bentonite and kieselsol work best on positively charged particles. If you're lucky the recipe will suggest a fining agent. And if you use a fining agent and it doesn't seem to work then chances are it was the wrong one for that wine.
The wine I want to put it in, is a mixed berry juice but I also put in orange juice and i think there was fine pulp sediment on the bottom of the orange juice bottle.
Sparkaloid is recommended for lighter colored wines. I expect it will work fine for you.
I certainly agree with @winemaker81. I've learned a lot from him.
Just curious, LucyT, how "old" is this wine? Are you in a hurry to bottle/drink it?
Just curious, LucyT, how "old" is this wine? Are you in a hurry to bottle/drink it?
I started it on March 17th. 3 diff kinds. put in secondary on march 22. Added the campden on 4/9 (didn't know it was suppose to have been done already). All of the wines are made from juice.
Also on April 9, I racked to diff jugs. had to top off 2 of them, so i used white grape juice cause sg reading was already 11.81 % and I like a weaker wine. I haven't taken sg reading at that time so when I put those 2 (one is peach /white grape and the other is rasberry/white grape) in the final bottles I'm not using the sparkoloid on them. The 3rd wine is a berry blend and I did same thing as above except topping off with juice cause I ended up with over 2 gallons and I feel I have enough of that. The thing is, it is still cloudy and I want to get them all bottled. the berry blend also has orange juice in it-had little sediment on bottom of orange juice bottle.
If you added grape juice to a non-stabilized wine, you will most likely get a renewed fermentation.
Your wine is way too young to bottle. It's probably not done fermenting, and wine won't clear until it's done. Kits can be bottled in 4 to 8 weeks, because of the process. Even then, most of us recommend bulk aging.
Patience, Grasshopper! That is the one attribute that winemaking requires.
LOL, ok I will wait a bit!
Listen to @winemaker81, he's the man. There's a number of incredibly knowledgeable wine makers here.
I struggled with patience BIG TIME when I started. Skeeter pee and dragon blood helped, as did getting rid of the commercial wines on my rack.
I never get tired of passing this on - I bottled a fruit wine that was in bulk a bit over 4 months. It was absolutely perfectly crystal clear, I thought. After a couple weeks in the bottle I noticed minute particles. I bulk everything longer now. I was impatient.
I struggled with patience BIG TIME when I started. Skeeter pee and dragon blood helped, as did getting rid of the commercial wines on my rack.
I never get tired of passing this on - I bottled a fruit wine that was in bulk a bit over 4 months. It was absolutely perfectly crystal clear, I thought. After a couple weeks in the bottle I noticed minute particles. I bulk everything longer now. I was impatient.
