I have 5 gallons of apple wine that after the last racking, I tasted
and it was what I had hoped it would be. Very clear, very dry and
crisp with a slight tart bite to it. My wife asked if I could sweeten
it a little, just off dry. I added a half bottle of commercial
sweeter to the 5 gallons, mixed well, racked into another 5 gallon
carboy and let it sit for a week to see if there were any reactions
and let it stabilize. When I tasted it again, it was very smooth with
the same flavors and bouquet as before, just a hair off dry, but it
seems to have lost that crisp bite, its acid. Now it seems bland. Is
this typical of the results that can be expected when adding a
sweeten? I have 5 gallons of Ravat-51 that I was think of sweetening,
but am hesitant to do now. Any suggestions?

"genekay" > wrote in message
om...
> I have 5 gallons of apple wine that after the last racking, I tasted
> and it was what I had hoped it would be. Very clear, very dry and
> crisp with a slight tart bite to it. My wife asked if I could sweeten
> it a little, just off dry. I added a half bottle of commercial
> sweeter to the 5 gallons, mixed well, racked into another 5 gallon
> carboy and let it sit for a week to see if there were any reactions
> and let it stabilize. When I tasted it again, it was very smooth with
> the same flavors and bouquet as before, just a hair off dry, but it
> seems to have lost that crisp bite, its acid. Now it seems bland. Is
> this typical of the results that can be expected when adding a
> sweeten? I have 5 gallons of Ravat-51 that I was think of sweetening,
> but am hesitant to do now. Any suggestions?

I suspect you didn't lose your acid, you just mask it with the sweetness.
It's referred to as "balance." If you raise one taste component like
sweetness, it will tend to mask other flavor components. That is why
sweeter wines must have elevated levels of acid to avoid the "flat" taste.
Might try adding some malac or tartaric acid to offset the sweetness. The
sweet will remain, but the finish should crispen.

Fred