OK, I just bottled my first 4 batches of sweet wine(well, not counting kit
wines), and not exactly happy with them. Tasted good warm, probably even
better cool(2 sweet whites, one blush, one red), but wondering method y'all
use to judge how much to sweeten wine, and how much you put in on average,
if there is an average, or if not, some exmaples from particular recipes.
Recipes I bottled this weekend were two batches of Zucchini(think one using
Darlne's recipe and on eusing Jack's, but not sure without getting out
journal), one batch of Jack's Concord recipe, and one batch of Jack's Tinned
Cherry. I used 3/8C of sugar in each, as at time I was sweetening(a few
weeks ago, after stabilizing, gave time to stabilize, then time to make sure
sugar wouldn't start any further reaction), thought I remembered that as
number Darlene had mentioned she used on her Zucchini.

Oh, and working 1 gallon batches here. Haven't yet made anything bigger,
besides kits, though the canned blueberry and canned grapefruit recipes are
showing enough promise I will probably make a 6 gallon batch of each this
summer.

Thanks for the help everyone, sorry I haven't been around much lately.

Joel

Joel,
Hey, sounds like you've been busy. A couple of questions, were the wines
fermented to dry before you decided to stabilize and sweeten? and did you
try testing your SG in between adding the sugar to your wine and/or after
you were all done sweetening?
I guess I wouldn't worry about it now...the zucchini and the cherry
require a bit more aging, so I wouldn't necessarily be overly concerned
about present taste, other than to write it all down for future reference.
I ferment to dry, rack and age over a period of 7 months or so, and then I
stabilize and sweeten, let the wine sit some more (about a month; Jack
recommends at least 10 days), and then bottle.
Back when I first started and decided that I don't really like dry
wines, but something a bit sweeter, not too sweet though - I started like
this...first, I did know what my ending SG was for the wine was. I would (as
Jack suggests) add a crushed campden tablet, add wine stabilizer, and then
add the sugar. However, since I didn't know how much sugar I wanted to add,
I would start with adding 1/8 cup sugar, mixing it in, checking the SG, and
taste. Then, I would add another 1/8 cup sugar, check the SG, and taste.
Time consuming, I know, but I learned a lot. The trick is, each fruit and
veggie wine is different (take notes on everything so you don't forget), so
with each batch, I learned what I liked and didn't like.
Hope this helps a bit...
Darlene

> wrote in message news:niR7g.74526$gE.65326@dukeread06...
> OK, I just bottled my first 4 batches of sweet wine(well, not counting kit
> wines), and not exactly happy with them. Tasted good warm, probably even
> better cool(2 sweet whites, one blush, one red), but wondering method
> y'all use to judge how much to sweeten wine, and how much you put in on
> average, if there is an average, or if not, some exmaples from particular
> recipes. Recipes I bottled this weekend were two batches of Zucchini(think
> one using Darlne's recipe and on eusing Jack's, but not sure without
> getting out journal), one batch of Jack's Concord recipe, and one batch of
> Jack's Tinned Cherry. I used 3/8C of sugar in each, as at time I was
> sweetening(a few weeks ago, after stabilizing, gave time to stabilize,
> then time to make sure sugar wouldn't start any further reaction), thought
> I remembered that as number Darlene had mentioned she used on her
> Zucchini.
>
> Oh, and working 1 gallon batches here. Haven't yet made anything bigger,
> besides kits, though the canned blueberry and canned grapefruit recipes
> are showing enough promise I will probably make a 6 gallon batch of each
> this summer.
>
> Thanks for the help everyone, sorry I haven't been around much lately.
>
> Joel
>
>

I always bench test with small samples. Get the samples to the
temperature you will be serving at then add small amount of sugar and
taste then add a little more if necessary and taste, etc. until you
find the level you like. Then extrapolate that amount to the total
amount of wine and sweeten it all.

If you get a few people to help with the taste testing you can blame
someone else if it doesn't turn out right in the end.

Thanks Darlene and Mike. Just the type of info I was looking for. As
always, this group is a great help.

Joel


> wrote in message news:niR7g.74526$gE.65326@dukeread06...
> OK, I just bottled my first 4 batches of sweet wine(well, not counting kit
> wines), and not exactly happy with them. Tasted good warm, probably even
> better cool(2 sweet whites, one blush, one red), but wondering method
> y'all use to judge how much to sweeten wine, and how much you put in on
> average, if there is an average, or if not, some exmaples from particular
> recipes. Recipes I bottled this weekend were two batches of Zucchini(think
> one using Darlne's recipe and on eusing Jack's, but not sure without
> getting out journal), one batch of Jack's Concord recipe, and one batch of
> Jack's Tinned Cherry. I used 3/8C of sugar in each, as at time I was
> sweetening(a few weeks ago, after stabilizing, gave time to stabilize,
> then time to make sure sugar wouldn't start any further reaction), thought
> I remembered that as number Darlene had mentioned she used on her
> Zucchini.
>
> Oh, and working 1 gallon batches here. Haven't yet made anything bigger,
> besides kits, though the canned blueberry and canned grapefruit recipes
> are showing enough promise I will probably make a 6 gallon batch of each
> this summer.
>
> Thanks for the help everyone, sorry I haven't been around much lately.
>
> Joel
>
>

My method is a bit different, but along the same line of thinking. I take
equal amounts of sugar and water ie: 1 cup water to 1 cup sugar. I first
boil the water and while it is hot I add the sugar and stir it up real good
until it is a clear syrup. I don't boil this as you dont want to carmelize
the sugar and have an off taste. Cool the mixture next. Now I take a bottle
of dry wine and then I use a syringe to add a known amount of sugar syrup
mixture. A typical semi sweet dose is in the range of 25-40 ml per bottle.
This is dependant on several factors such as: is the wine truly "dry" or is
there residual sugar present, is it acidic and needing the addition of more
sugar to come into balance, personal preference etc. Another benefit of
individual additions is that you can make your wine several different
sweetness levels within the same batch. Or you can extrapolate the amount to
add to a whole carboy if you like.
Don't forget to sulphite and sorbate your wine together so as to not
create bottle bombs.
HTH John Dixon
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