watery wine

[trudy]

My wine tastes watery, can any one tell me why and is there anything I can do. It's been bottled a couple of weeks.

 

[Julie]

what kind of wine is it, what was the beginning sg, ending, did you backsweeten, what was the ph, acid and what all did you add to it.

 

[trudy]

I can't remember the sg on it. I used a carton of pomegranate and cherry juice, water, red wine yeast.

 

[trudy]

Also went more of a rose colour but smells good just watery.

 

[jamesngalveston]

usually it will taste watery for two reasons..the ration of fruit are juice was to low, are your ratio for water to fruit are juice was to low..
all that said.
You needed more fruit/juice.

 

[jswordy]

Too much water is the primary culprit of thin flavor. You want the initial must to taste strong, not like a fruit juice drink. Whatever flavor you have in the beginning is what you'll have at the end - or less. The process does not build more flavor where it is not already there. It's sometimes actually somewhat subtractive. The same goes for nose.

If you use fruit juice, use 100% juice and zero water for best results. Try to avoid topping off with water whenever possible.

All that said, you can blend weak wine with a fruit pac or a concentrate during back sweetening and help correct thin flavor. Or you can blend with a strong wine.

 

[sour_grapes]

I am no expert in this, but I believe you could also add glycerine to your wine to improve the body and mouthfeel.

 

[trudy]

Where can I buy glycerine from and can I add this just before drinking as it's already bottled.

 

[sour_grapes]

Where can I buy glycerine from and can I add this just before drinking as it's already bottled.

You can get it from just about any brewing/wine store. Here it is from one of our sponsors:

http://brewandwinesupply.com/index.php?route=product/search&filter_name=glycerine

I believe you can also get it in a drugstore, but make sure it is food grade.

 

[Julie]

glycerine will give you a better mouthfeel but if you have a watery taste to your wine, this will not improve it. How big of a batch did you make and what do you mean by carton? We cannot give you a good solution if we do not know what your recipe was.

 

[trudy]

Sorry it was a carton od pure pomegranate and cherry juice. I haven't made a lot so not too sad if isn't any good.

 

[Julie]

what size was the cartons or juice and what size of a batch did you make?

 

[Wiz]

You have received lots of good suggestions for your wine. What about future wines? It sort of sounds like you do not have a hydrometer. For fruit wines you need a starting s.g. of 1080 to 1085 to arrive at the proper ending s.g. Your wine will end up below an s.g of less than 1000 which will give you an non-watery tasting wine.

 

[trudy]

I have a hydrometer I didn't really know how to read it but I think I understand it now. And I didn't realise I had to do a reading at the start. What should the reading be when I first start.

 

[jamesngalveston]

starting sg is dependent really on what alcohol abv you want in your finished wine...most start there fruit wines out at 1.095...

 

[Julie]

Trudy, I understand about the difficulty of reading a hydrometer but the more you do it the better you will get at it. Taking a reading at the beginning will help you in getting the abv that you want, taking a reading there after will help you to determine whether or not your wine is done fermenting or has stuck. And James, starting a fruit wine at 1.095 is way too high. Fruit wines should only have an ABV between 10% to 12%. I would start 1.080.

 

[Turock]

I agree with everyone. When using juice---when making wine from fruit---use no water. I know you might be following a recipe, but recipes don't produce great wines, except for a few.

Glycerin won't realy help you. Just chalk it up to experience. Next time, don't use water.