I am about to bottle my first wine. I would really appreciate some thoughts
on what is a good method to sweeten wine that you guys have had success with
prior to bottling. I am going to be bottling an apple wine. Thanks!

Jeff

Personally I tend to use commercal wine conditioner. However, I
haven't been making fruit wines, and I don't sweeten much.

If you do use wine conditioner, add potassium sorbate to the wine
first unless you add AT LEAST the minimum listed on the bottle
(usually 15ml of wine conditioner per litre). The conditioner
contains sorbate but not enough unless the minimum is added.

Some folks use apple juice, sugar, or a simple sugar solution. If you
use any of these, you must add potassium sorbate to prevent
fermentation starting up again.

If adding immediately prior to bottling I would definitely use the
commercial wine conditioner. The others may result in cloudiness or
sediment.

Steve


On Mon, 12 May 2008 20:36:53 -0500, "J Scott"
> wrote:

>I am about to bottle my first wine. I would really appreciate some thoughts
>on what is a good method to sweeten wine that you guys have had success with
>prior to bottling. I am going to be bottling an apple wine. Thanks!
>
>Jeff
>

On May 13, 10:32 pm, Steve > wrote:
> Personally I tend to use commercal wine conditioner. However, I
> haven't been making fruit wines, and I don't sweeten much.
>
> If you do use wine conditioner, add potassium sorbate to the wine
> first unless you add AT LEAST the minimum listed on the bottle
> (usually 15ml of wine conditioner per litre). The conditioner
> contains sorbate but not enough unless the minimum is added.
>
> Some folks use apple juice, sugar, or a simple sugar solution. If you
> use any of these, you must add potassium sorbate to prevent
> fermentation starting up again.
>
> If adding immediately prior to bottling I would definitely use the
> commercial wine conditioner. The others may result in cloudiness or
> sediment.
>
> Steve
>
> On Mon, 12 May 2008 20:36:53 -0500, "J Scott"
>
> > wrote:
> >I am about to bottle my first wine. I would really appreciate some thoughts
> >on what is a good method to sweeten wine that you guys have had success with
> >prior to bottling. I am going to be bottling an apple wine. Thanks!
>
> >Jeff

Another option is to bottle your wine as is and make a simple syrup of
one part water to 1 part sugar and 'back-sweeten'. Back sweetening
is a technique where the sugar is added to either the bottle or glass
after opening, not before bottling.

There are some advantages there, your wine is stable because it's dry
and by adding the sugar as you open each bottle you can experiment
with differing levels of sweetness to find the level you really like.
It also allows each person to fine tune the wine right in the glass.
Since it's your first you will be able to try differing levels over
time too because wine changes with time. Once you settle on a value
it's just basic math for next time if you want to pre-sweeten. Most
of the changes occur in the first year and are almost always for the
better.

Fruit wines are often drunk young depending on the style. Lower
alcohol wines are not protected by the alcohol so are usually drunk at
less than a year old, the lower alcohol (<10%) allows more fruit to
shine through so they are better young anyway.

Joe

Joe Sallustio wrote:

> On May 13, 10:32 pm, Steve
> > wrote:
>> Personally I tend to use commercal wine
>> conditioner. However, I haven't been making
>> fruit wines, and I don't sweeten much.
>>
>> If you do use wine conditioner, add potassium
>> sorbate to the wine first unless you add AT
>> LEAST the minimum listed on the bottle
>> (usually 15ml of wine conditioner per litre).
>> The conditioner contains sorbate but not enough
>> unless the minimum is added.
>>
>> Some folks use apple juice, sugar, or a simple
>> sugar solution. If you use any of these, you
>> must add potassium sorbate to prevent
>> fermentation starting up again.
>>
>> If adding immediately prior to bottling I would
>> definitely use the
>> commercial wine conditioner. The others may
>> result in cloudiness or sediment.
>>
>> Steve
>>
>> On Mon, 12 May 2008 20:36:53 -0500, "J Scott"
>>
>> > wrote:
>> >I am about to bottle my first wine. I would
>> >really appreciate some thoughts on what is a
>> >good method to sweeten wine that you guys have
>> >had success with
>> >prior to bottling. I am going to be bottling
>> >an apple wine. Thanks!
>>
>> >Jeff
>
> Another option is to bottle your wine as is and
> make a simple syrup of
> one part water to 1 part sugar and
> 'back-sweeten'. Back sweetening is a
> technique where the sugar is added to either the
> bottle or glass after opening, not before
> bottling.
>
> There are some advantages there, your wine is
> stable because it's dry
> and by adding the sugar as you open each bottle
> you can experiment with differing levels of
> sweetness to find the level you really like. It
> also allows each person to fine tune the wine
> right in the glass. Since it's your first you
> will be able to try differing levels over
> time too because wine changes with time. Once
> you settle on a value
> it's just basic math for next time if you want
> to pre-sweeten. Most of the changes occur in
> the first year and are almost always for the
> better.
>
> Fruit wines are often drunk young depending on
> the style. Lower alcohol wines are not
> protected by the alcohol so are usually drunk at
> less than a year old, the lower alcohol (<10%)
> allows more fruit to shine through so they are
> better young anyway.
>
> Joe

I agree with your procedure.

I use liquid "Stevia" at drinking time which is a
sweetener made from a natural herb whenever I
want a sweeter wine.

I have one planted in my herb garden but is is
much easier just to go to a health food store
that sells it. As little as a drop is enough to
sweeten most wines. There is even a liquid
"Chocolate Stevia" which is great.

Again a drop in a glass of red wine is enough to
both sweeten and had a hint of chocolate to your
wine. I do not do this very much but it works
wonders in salvaging a "not so good" wine

"J Scott" > wrote in message
et...
>I am about to bottle my first wine. I would really appreciate some
>thoughts on what is a good method to sweeten wine that you guys have had
>success with prior to bottling. I am going to be bottling an apple wine.
>Thanks!
>
> Jeff

I sometimes make cream pear wine by adding some pear syrup to the batch
after fermentation is complete. I add it to the carboy and put in some
sorbate at the same time. I then let the carboy sit for another few weeks to
make sure that fermentation hasn't started up again.

Paul