undissolved sugar

[mcass]

I am make white grape wine and I added cane sugar to bump up the brix

Unfortunately I did not dissolve all the sugar and there is a slurry of sugar on the bottom of the fermenter. The fermentation is going strong but I'm concerned the yeast will not get the undissolved sugar.

Should I try to dissolve the sugar by mixing the wine or not worry about it?

 

[Turock]

What is the current SG or brix? Without the sugar being dissolved, you won't end up with the proper ABV. If you stir the sugar to dissolve it, will that make the ABV too high for the yeast you're using?

 

[mcass]

My original brix reading was 17.2. I added enough sugar to bring the brix to 20. After I added the sugar the reading was 18.2 but I thought it was increase as the undissolved sugar dissolved. This morning the reading was 18.1 but even though fermentation started I doubt I could have had the sugar drop 2 brix in 9 hours.

I added enough yeast for the total volume with the total sugar addition.

 

[Turock]

Go ahead and stir the sugar up to dissolve it. Your alcohol content is on the low side. We like an alcohol content of 12 to 12.5% because that's a good number for preservation. 10% is OK for a fruit wine that you're going to drink in a short time, but we even take our fruit wines to 12.5% to be safe. Of course, if you have a lower PH on this wine, which most white wines do,then that helps with preservation too. Which yeast are you using? I'm fairly sure you'll be OK stirring the sugar to dissolve it as long as it's not a huge amount of sugar.

 

[mwhitnell]

The only question you have asked is " Should I stir to dissolve the sugar?" The short answer is "Yes".
Now if you wish for answers to other questions, you need to supply data such as:
OG original specific gravity using a hydrometer.
Sg current, and what day in the fermentation.
Yeast used.
Additives and qty
Now I will make an unsolicited comment, hope you don't mind.
You can only use a refractometer to measure Brix in sugar & water mixtures. That means before fermentation starts. If you use the refractometer to measure Brix after fermentation begins your number will not mean much, since the refraction index of an alcohol water solution will vary based on the % abv. You need to use the hydrometer after fermentation and quote sg. And a starting Brix of 17.2 is low for a starting wine...I would start a white wine about sg 1.090 to 1.100, just my thoughts.

 

[Jim Baranski]

I have a barrel of wine; mostly pear pulp, that doesn't have a enough sugar in it. I was adding 24 brim sugar water to it, but the pulp ended out taking up too much room.

I have been adding a couple of lbs of sugar to it, each time a punch down the pear pulp. I figure the sugar is getting mixed in with the pear pul, rather then dropping to the bottom of the barrel undissolved. I'm thinking the sugar will dissolve while suspended in the pear pulp.

People are saying your should stir to dissolve any undissolved sugar, but nobody seems to actually know if that's necessary. Is It?

 

[Rice_Guy]

About six months back I read an article on yeast growth where one of the variables was undissolved sugar on the bottom. The granular sugar ferment was slower / longer lag but reached the same numbers as the control.
Conclusion: if you let it there a month the added sugar is fermented out, ,,, but if you rack off that vessel at a week there may be some sitting on the bottom.

 

[Jim Baranski]

Thanks Rice!