I bought a hydrometer and test tube today and measured my blackberry (very
dry) second racking. The specific gravity is 990 (the very top of the
meter). I'm glad I had the tube because I was close to fishing for the
hydrometer.
Anyway, I would like to sweeten up the wine by adding sugar or honey and
sugar. My question is...
Should I sweeten a small amount, 1 gal, to taste after stabilizing,
or...should I sweeten to a specific gravity?

I honestly don't know how much the sweetness will change with ageing.

--
Ron Bohart
15491 SW Peachtree Drive
Tigard, OR 97224
503-590-0107

The first one. Take a bit and begin addind sugar syrup until you like
the ttaste, then repeat with the rest of the wine and mix the rest back
in.

Be sure to sulfite and sorbate the wine a few days beforehand.

The best way that I have found to sweeten a fruit wine is to make a
syrup of 1 pound of sugar to 1 cup water, cook unit the sugar is
dissolved, cool and put into a jar. Arrange 3 cups (100 ml) each, label
as 0, 1/4, 1/2. Add 1/4 tsp (1.25ml) syrup to cup labeled 1/4, add 1/2
tsp (2.5)syrup to cup labeled 1/2. stir then taste starting with the
driest to sweetest. My wife and I taste and then usually fine tune
slightly drier that what she liked as it seems to get slightly sweeter
the next day when we reevaluate after the syrup is added to the whole
batch (you can always add more if it is not sweet enough but can't take
it out. I have not had to add more that 2.5 ml per 100 ml wine but
started testing with more until I got an idea of how sweet I wanted the
wine.

Example: 2.5 ml syrup to 100 ml wine = 25 ml syrup to 1000 ml wine =
475 ml syrup to 19,000 ml wine (5 gallons) if my math is correct.

As Droopy stated you need to make sure that you add Potassium Sorbate
(1/4 tsp per gallon or per product instructions) and sulfide at least a
day ahead ( I have done it at the same time but have been lucky). Good
luck

I'm going to ask a question here that I asked on another thread but
didn't get an answer. Does it really matter if the sugar is added before
bottling as opposed to adding the sugar after opening the bottle and
before serving?

loco1 wrote:
> The best way that I have found to sweeten a fruit wine is to make a
> syrup of 1 pound of sugar to 1 cup water, cook unit the sugar is
> dissolved, cool and put into a jar. Arrange 3 cups (100 ml) each, label
> as 0, 1/4, 1/2. Add 1/4 tsp (1.25ml) syrup to cup labeled 1/4, add 1/2
> tsp (2.5)syrup to cup labeled 1/2. stir then taste starting with the
> driest to sweetest. My wife and I taste and then usually fine tune
> slightly drier that what she liked as it seems to get slightly sweeter
> the next day when we reevaluate after the syrup is added to the whole
> batch (you can always add more if it is not sweet enough but can't take
> it out. I have not had to add more that 2.5 ml per 100 ml wine but
> started testing with more until I got an idea of how sweet I wanted the
> wine.
>
> Example: 2.5 ml syrup to 100 ml wine = 25 ml syrup to 1000 ml wine =
> 475 ml syrup to 19,000 ml wine (5 gallons) if my math is correct.
>
> As Droopy stated you need to make sure that you add Potassium Sorbate
> (1/4 tsp per gallon or per product instructions) and sulfide at least a
> day ahead ( I have done it at the same time but have been lucky). Good
> luck
>

no, it is easier to add it before bottling though...and more consistant.

This is very subjective. If you add sugar to wine before bottling you have
to add potassium sorbate to prevent renewed yeast growth and fermentation.
Some people can taste the K sorbate. You can sterile filter, and avoid K
sorbate, but that's hard for home winemakers to do because everything
downstream from the filter has to be sterile also. But, due to the acidity
of wine, sugar hydrolyzes to glucose and fructose (invert sugar) in time and
I believe the wine has a different and better taste than the same wine
sweetened with sugar syrup at the time you open and pour from the bottle.
It's a personal preference type thing.

Bill Frazier
Olathe, Kansas USA

"RomeoMike" > wrote in message
...
> I'm going to ask a question here that I asked on another thread but didn't
> get an answer. Does it really matter if the sugar is added before bottling
> as opposed to adding the sugar after opening the bottle and before
> serving?

I agree with most everyone else to sweeten to taste. But I do find that
when I sweeten to taste and the age it the sweetness seems to fall off and
it ends up less sweet than I expected. I have found that it is better to
stabilize and sweeten to taste. Then let it bulk age for another 2 months.
Then I adjust the sweetness to taste again and bottle.

Ray

"Ron Bohart" > wrote in message
. ..
>I bought a hydrometer and test tube today and measured my blackberry (very
>dry) second racking. The specific gravity is 990 (the very top of the
>meter). I'm glad I had the tube because I was close to fishing for the
>hydrometer.
> Anyway, I would like to sweeten up the wine by adding sugar or honey and
> sugar. My question is...
> Should I sweeten a small amount, 1 gal, to taste after stabilizing,
> or...should I sweeten to a specific gravity?
>
> I honestly don't know how much the sweetness will change with ageing.
>
> --
> Ron Bohart
> 15491 SW Peachtree Drive
> Tigard, OR 97224
> 503-590-0107
>
>

"Ray Calvert" > wrote in message
. com...
>I agree with most everyone else to sweeten to taste. But I do find that
>when I sweeten to taste and the age it the sweetness seems to fall off and
>it ends up less sweet than I expected. I have found that it is better to
>stabilize and sweeten to taste. Then let it bulk age for another 2 months.
>Then I adjust the sweetness to taste again and bottle.
>
> Ray

I have just the opposite experience. To me, sweetened wine taste sweeter
after aging a bit and it is easy for me to oversweeten just based on taste
at the time of sweetening.

Yeah, I find that sweetening with age as well.

It also seems to integrate better as it ages, but this is fairly minor.

In the original post there was thought about using honey, that may be a
good idea. My meads are notoriously slow fermenters that look for any
reason to stick; that might be a good thing when it comes to sweet
wine. I have had sorbated wine restart on it's own even though i had
bought the sorbate recently.

Paul E. Lehmann wrote:
> "Ray Calvert" > wrote in message
> . com...
> >I agree with most everyone else to sweeten to taste. But I do find that
> >when I sweeten to taste and the age it the sweetness seems to fall off and
> >it ends up less sweet than I expected. I have found that it is better to
> >stabilize and sweeten to taste. Then let it bulk age for another 2 months.
> >Then I adjust the sweetness to taste again and bottle.
> >
> > Ray
>
> I have just the opposite experience. To me, sweetened wine taste sweeter
> after aging a bit and it is easy for me to oversweeten just based on taste
> at the time of sweetening.

Same here, exactly. So it appears this is one more of those subjective
things so common in winemaking...

Pp

It is possible that you are not getting the sugar solution completely
stirred in?

The stuff is much denser and tend to sink to the bottom of the wine.

The only reason I say that is becasue the first wine I made that
happened to me. That stuff was sweeter than koolaid.

Droopy wrote:
> It is possible that you are not getting the sugar solution completely
> stirred in?
>
> The stuff is much denser and tend to sink to the bottom of the wine.
>
> The only reason I say that is becasue the first wine I made that
> happened to me. That stuff was sweeter than koolaid.

I doubt it, I'm getting the same effect even when I sweeten with
reserved juice, and in that case, the density is not that bad. Plus if
that were the case, only the stuff at bottom should taste sweeter
andnot the whole content.

It might just be a question of what mellows first - sugar or acid
and/or how we each react differently to the aged blend.

Pp

Well, acid definately mellows out. Ester formation continues as the
wine ages (esters are alcohol + acid)

Droopy wrote:
> Well, acid definately mellows out. Ester formation continues as the
> wine ages (esters are alcohol + acid)

Droopy:

I'm not sure but rereading our posts, it appears to me that we have the
same experience with Paul that the wine tastes sweeter after ageing
rather than less sweet. You've just given some reasons for that, which
is great. Just wanted to clear up that I think we completely agree on
these points...

Pp

Nope, we don't completely agree. I do not sweeten often but when I have, I
have found that a couple of months after I sweeten, it is not nearly as
sweet as I first thought. I have used different methods of sweetening. One
was making a sweet sherry. I used sugar and it seemed over sweet when I
bottled it. 6 months later, it is only slightly sweet. The next batch was
a mead where I sweetened it with honey. Same result. The next batch was a
mead that was too sweet and a batch of Niagara that was too dry. I blended
them to my wife's taste which was too sweet for me. 2 months later, it only
seemed slightly sweet and was very nice.

I do not doubt the observations that you guys are reporting but I can only
report mine. It may be something in the procedure or what ever. It does
indicate that you should probably adjust in stages and let the wine rest.
Maybe add less than you think you need, wait a few months and then check it
and make a final adjustment.

Anyway, I am glade I have the results I have rather than those you see. It
is easier to add more sugar than take it out. ;o)

Ray

"pp" > wrote in message
ups.com...
>
> Droopy wrote:
>> Well, acid definately mellows out. Ester formation continues as the
>> wine ages (esters are alcohol + acid)
>
> Droopy:
>
> I'm not sure but rereading our posts, it appears to me that we have the
> same experience with Paul that the wine tastes sweeter after ageing
> rather than less sweet. You've just given some reasons for that, which
> is great. Just wanted to clear up that I think we completely agree on
> these points...
>
> Pp
>

Man, I can't seem to get this thing cleared up :-0 ... What I meant was
that I and Droopy agree in our experience with this issue, I didn't
mean to imply that everybody should get the same results, If you ask
me, that's one of the best things about winemaking that everything is
so variable and life never gets boring!

As for the procedure, yes, I've started doing exactly as you suggested
- either in stages or just sweetening a portion to taste and then
blending later if necessary. It seems to work better, but since I've
started doing this fairly recently, I have to wait how things will
change with aging.

Anw, on to some more experiments...

Pp

Ray Calvert wrote:
> Nope, we don't completely agree. I do not sweeten often but when I have, I
> have found that a couple of months after I sweeten, it is not nearly as
> sweet as I first thought. I have used different methods of sweetening. One
> was making a sweet sherry. I used sugar and it seemed over sweet when I
> bottled it. 6 months later, it is only slightly sweet. The next batch was
> a mead where I sweetened it with honey. Same result. The next batch was a
> mead that was too sweet and a batch of Niagara that was too dry. I blended
> them to my wife's taste which was too sweet for me. 2 months later, it only
> seemed slightly sweet and was very nice.
>
> I do not doubt the observations that you guys are reporting but I can only
> report mine. It may be something in the procedure or what ever. It does
> indicate that you should probably adjust in stages and let the wine rest.
> Maybe add less than you think you need, wait a few months and then check it
> and make a final adjustment.
>
> Anyway, I am glade I have the results I have rather than those you see. It
> is easier to add more sugar than take it out. ;o)
>
> Ray
>
> "pp" > wrote in message
> ups.com...
> >
> > Droopy wrote:
> >> Well, acid definately mellows out. Ester formation continues as the
> >> wine ages (esters are alcohol + acid)
> >
> > Droopy:
> >
> > I'm not sure but rereading our posts, it appears to me that we have the
> > same experience with Paul that the wine tastes sweeter after ageing
> > rather than less sweet. You've just given some reasons for that, which
> > is great. Just wanted to clear up that I think we completely agree on
> > these points...
> >
> > Pp
> >

No offence taken or meant, pp. It was just that your response did fall
under my response as well as Droopy's. The best bet would be to just figure
that it might not come out the way you expect on the first adjustment so
adjust accordingly. I think that is where you were going anyway.

Ray

"pp" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> Man, I can't seem to get this thing cleared up :-0 ... What I meant was
> that I and Droopy agree in our experience with this issue, I didn't
> mean to imply that everybody should get the same results, If you ask
> me, that's one of the best things about winemaking that everything is
> so variable and life never gets boring!
>
> As for the procedure, yes, I've started doing exactly as you suggested
> - either in stages or just sweetening a portion to taste and then
> blending later if necessary. It seems to work better, but since I've
> started doing this fairly recently, I have to wait how things will
> change with aging.
>
> Anw, on to some more experiments...
>
> Pp
>
> Ray Calvert wrote:
>> Nope, we don't completely agree. I do not sweeten often but when I have,
>> I
>> have found that a couple of months after I sweeten, it is not nearly as
>> sweet as I first thought. I have used different methods of sweetening.
>> One
>> was making a sweet sherry. I used sugar and it seemed over sweet when I
>> bottled it. 6 months later, it is only slightly sweet. The next batch
>> was
>> a mead where I sweetened it with honey. Same result. The next batch was
>> a
>> mead that was too sweet and a batch of Niagara that was too dry. I
>> blended
>> them to my wife's taste which was too sweet for me. 2 months later, it
>> only
>> seemed slightly sweet and was very nice.
>>
>> I do not doubt the observations that you guys are reporting but I can
>> only
>> report mine. It may be something in the procedure or what ever. It does
>> indicate that you should probably adjust in stages and let the wine rest.
>> Maybe add less than you think you need, wait a few months and then check
>> it
>> and make a final adjustment.
>>
>> Anyway, I am glade I have the results I have rather than those you see.
>> It
>> is easier to add more sugar than take it out. ;o)
>>
>> Ray
>>
>> "pp" > wrote in message
>> ups.com...
>> >
>> > Droopy wrote:
>> >> Well, acid definately mellows out. Ester formation continues as the
>> >> wine ages (esters are alcohol + acid)
>> >
>> > Droopy:
>> >
>> > I'm not sure but rereading our posts, it appears to me that we have the
>> > same experience with Paul that the wine tastes sweeter after ageing
>> > rather than less sweet. You've just given some reasons for that, which
>> > is great. Just wanted to clear up that I think we completely agree on
>> > these points...
>> >
>> > Pp
>> >
>