Uh Oh, I Made Rocket Fuel

[Gracie]

I started a batch of my usual closet hooch from red grape juice yesterday. I'm new to using a hydrometer, have only had it for the last 2 or 3 batches, and I've learned that my usual recipe is yielding a finished product much lower in alcohol than I wanted. I have been getting about 9.5% ABV when what I want is closer to 12%.

Well, I got carried away in the other direction this time. I had a starting SG of 1.114 which, if it ferments dry, I think gives me a PAV of 16.49%... Am I correct?

So I guess I need to stop fermentation. Can someone give me some guidance on this please? At what SG should I stop it, if I want 12% ABV? And am I correct that I'm going to use a combination of potassium sorbate and k-meta to stop things I. Their tracks? This is a 5 gallon batch.

Thanks.


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[dralarms]

I'd let it ride. If it's too strong in the end, make another slightly weaker batch and mix it.

 

[Gracie]

Thanks. I'm also wondering if I can let it ferment dry, then split the batch and just back sweeten with plain grape juice, using sorbate and k meta to keep it from going back into fermentation?


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[dralarms]

Yes, you can do that. You just have to let it clear complete lyrics, then add sorbate and kmeta. Then you can dilute it with juice.



What yeast did you use? Most won't give you the 16.9 your looking at. Most die off closer to 14.5. Ec1118 from lavin will take you to18 under the right cconditions.

 

[sour_grapes]

I think gives me a PAV of 16.49%... Am I correct?

No, a starting SG will give you only about 15 to 15.5% ABV (depending on where the fermentation stops).

There are a lot of ABV calculators out there that are aimed at the beer world, and are inappropriate for the wine world.

 

[GeoS]

The highest ABV I have ever achieved is 13.5%. Anything higher will kill the yeast. A typical wine is around 11%.

(Starting SG - Ending SG) / Ending SG * (1.05 / 0.79) = %ABV

Where 1.05 is the number of grams of ethanol produced for every gram of CO2 produced, and 0.79 is the density of ethanol

 

[GeoS]

Sorry, my bad.

1.05 / 0.79 * 100 so you can just multiply by 132.9 to get %ABV

 

[Gracie]

Thanks all. I did use Lavin1118. I really appreciate the help. I'll let it ride itself out as far as it wants to go and then make up my mind which way to go to salvage it. Btw I was figuring the potential alcohol by assuming it would ferment dry to .990. So 1.114 - .990 x 133 = 16.492 I'm still very new at this, so I might be doing that wrong.


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[Gracie]

Update: yesterday I took the SG reading and it was about .992 which roughly gives me around 16% ABV I think. I say roughly because I'm nowhere near my notes to find the starting SG reading. I think it was 1.114 so... 1.114-.992*133= 16.226.

It burns going down and is sickly sweet. I am determined to salvage this. So I moved it to s SF (just another drilled 5 gallon pail, because getting carboys mailed here, where alcohol is illegal is too conspicuous.

I found 2 kilos of chopped strawberries in my freezer. I am thawing them now. My plan is to add just a couple of cups of sugar, enough red grape juice to make up 5 gallons (the size of my bucket), and pitch the yeast tomorrow. I'm thinking I don't need pectic enzyme since the long freeze will have broken down the cell walls on the strawberries already. Am I right? Hope so, because I don't have any PE!

Then I'll proceed as usual, and after the initial fermentation is done in a week or two, split and combine both the strawberry and the rocket fuel batches.

Do I need to add k-meta to the strawberries before pitching the yeast? I will be using Lalvin EC-1118 yeast, along with yeast nutrient and an acid blend.

My hope is to get 10 gallons of red that is A. Around 11 or 12% ABV, and B. Not very sweet.

I am a rank amateur and any input is appreciated.

Tannins. Should I add tannins?


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[Gracie]

PS In my limited supply cupboard I also have dried elderberries, plus any of the usual fruits available at a moderately dismal grocery store. Worth adding? Or save it for a different batch? I'm not really going for something replicable, just trying to turn a trainwreck into a masterpiece. LOL.


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[GeoS]

I would add the KMeta then let it set for a day before pitching the yeast. The KMeta (potassium bisulfite) will kill any unwanted bacteria that could cause an unwanted fermentation. You want your yeast to do the fermenting and not some wild strain or bacteria. They usually cause bad flavors.

 

[GeoS]

Oh, and you can mix the rocket fuel with a carbonated water to cut it. Its rather good that way.

 

[sour_grapes]

yesterday I took the SG reading and it was about .992

It burns going down and is sickly sweet.

I just don't understand where the sweetness is coming from. At SG=0.992, there shouldn't be any residual sugar to speak of. I realize that the alcohol will alter the perception of sweetness, but that still seems odd to me.

I am no expert on country wines, but your plan for blending seems solid to me. From what I have read here, I think you may have to let the strawberry sit for a long time to clear. (Although, personally, I think clarity is overrated! )

 

[GeoS]

The sweetness you are tasting may be the berrys themselves. Its a young wine taste. The flavors have not blended yet. Let it age for a few months and try it again. The sweetness should start to go away and it should take on more deeper flavors. This is why wine is aged for a year or so.

Take a batch you made and bottled fairly quickly after fermenting and try a bottle every 2 to 3 months. Write down the flavors you experience and after a year go back and read through your notes. Its interesting to see how the wine changes with time.

I have tried many cloudy wines and could not tell the difference in taste. Its a presentation thing. If you want though you could try sparkaloid or other clarifying agent. They take about 2 weeks to do their job.

The one thing I have learned about, or am learning, is patience.

 

[Gracie]

Thanks again, everyone. I just tasted this again. It definitely burns and it's definitely sweet, though not as sickly sweet as my first impression the other day. At .992 SG it shouldn't be sweet. My thought on that is that it probably has to do with the temperature fluctuations of the room. With an unreliable power grid and an overworked A/C system it's nearly impossible to keep a constant temp. I try to keep it at 22C but I am gone about 14 hours a day and sleeping 7 of my "home hours," so the temperature is often a crapshoot.

I think this can be salvaged. Hoping the strawberry wine turns out nice and light on the ABV so I can mix the two.

Eta: to clarify, I mean that the temp fluctuations probably threw off my hydrometer readings. I guess a thermometer is next on my list of things to buy.



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[GeoS]

What kind of temperature swings are you seeing? You would need 10°C to 15°C swings to see a significant change in SG. Unless your at the sweet spot on the curve around 30°C.
SG is simply the ratio of a fluids density to the density of water, at a specified, equal volume. Check out engineeringtoolbox.com. they have some good information on SG. Adjust your SG based on the ratio of the different SG's of water at the various temperatures. As long as you have your adjusted SG at start and end of fermentation you can calculate the ABV.