"Michael Thompson" > wrote in message .com>...
> IMHO the only toast that should be associeted with wine is one with a glass
> in the air

Well said.

> I'm certainly no expert on the matter but in my mind's eye I pictured the
> yeast eating up as much sugar as it could in the primary period, so I
> figured I would save the second half of the sugar for the fermentation that
> makes alcohol.

IMHO, this is really a misconception fostered by a lot of winemaking
and brewing books. There really aren't two separate phases of the
fermentation as some state. A lot of books refer to a lag or growth
phase and then an alcohol production phase. In reality, yeast will
start producing alcohol and CO2 almost immediately, unless the sugar
content of the must is very low and there is O2 present. They will
divert some energy towards building cell mass and budding, but that
doesn't mean they forego fermentation.

Yes, alcohol production is low in the beginning, but that's more
because the yeast colony is small and there just aren't many cells
processing the sugar. As the cell count increases, the overall rate of
alcohol production increases and cell growth rates decrease (due to
competition for nutrients/food), but there isn't a magic switch that
turns the cells from growth mode to alcohol production mode.

With typical sugar levels, I don't think you will find a significant
difference in adding all the sugar in the beginning vs. half up front
and half later. Actually, if the initial SG is too low, you could find
the yeast using respiration instead of fermentation, which could lower
the total alcohol produced.

> Also with being new to all this I read somewhere that its
> possible for yeast to get stuck when the sugar levels are too high. Not
> knowing what this level was for the strain of yeast I was using I tasted the
> must and decided it too sweet for me to bear and figured the yeast would
> feel the same way.

Yeast like must sweeter than we do. You shouldn't have to worry with
the sugar levels your using.

Welcome to the hobby, good luck and let us know how it turns out.


Andy