Wine Fortification

[A. Simon]

Hello, i have 2000 liters of fruit wine, I need to fortify it but the cost for brandy and other spirit under 40%ABV is very high here and make my process to be very cost-fully. Can i use an Ethanol instead?

 

[sour_grapes]

Hello, i have 2000 liters of fruit wine, I need to fortify it but the cost for brandy and other spirit under 40%ABV is very high here and make my process to be very cost-fully. Can i use an Ethanol instead?

Well, yes, but you must be CERTAIN that it is food-grade, that is, fit for human consumption. If you buy "pure ethanol," it often was produced in ways that make it dangerous to drink. Sometimes they do that on purpose ("denatured alcohol") and sometimes it is that way due to the chemicals used in processing it.

In many locales, the thing that makes spirits expensive is taxes. If the ethanol is cheap, I would guess that this means that it is NOT meant for human consumption.

 

[A. Simon]

Well, yes, but you must be CERTAIN that it is food-grade, that is, fit for human consumption. If you buy "pure ethanol," it often was produced in ways that make it dangerous to drink. Sometimes they do that on purpose ("denatured alcohol") and sometimes it is that way due to the chemicals used in processing it.

In many locales, the thing that makes spirits expensive is taxes. If the ethanol is cheap, I would guess that this means that it is NOT meant for human consumption.

Thank you, let me find out more about it.

 

[winemaker81]

It may not help now if the wine is done fermenting, but a partial solution is to feed the wine sugar to increase the ABV to the limit of the yeast used. If it's available, Lalvin EC-1118 has a potential ABV of 18%, IIRC. Depending on your target ABV, this will reduce the amount of liquor needed, or may eliminate it.