After First Racking

I have a batch of beet wine going right now that is about 3 1/2 weeks old and has slowed down fermenting considerably. The recipe I an loosely following calls for the introduction of a substantial amount of light brown sugar (1 lb per gal wine) after the first racking. The recipe calls for the sugar to be slowly stirred in, but I find this troublesome and an invitation for a ruined batch. I am concerned about the method of introducing this sugar as I do not wish to contaminate the wine. I also question the need for the extra sugar as my starting sg. was 1.088. If I ferment down to .990 I think my alcohol content will only be about 9 1/2 %. Is that correct? I am not concerned as much about the alcohol content as I am that the alcohol level will permit long term storage.

P.S.

I did my first racking last night and the wine tasted coarse and somewhat yeasty but not bad and I am sure will smooth out with time.

Reply to
Pat Kennedy
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No, that's not correct. You're looking at about 12% alcohol for those numbers.

Pp

Reply to
pp

The sugar may have been in the recipe assuming a yeast tolerant of, say, 12% alcohol was used. Sweetness in a wine tends to round out the rough edges. If you used strong yeast as I do, it will take the brown sugar and convert it to alcohol, maybe throwing off the balance the recipe author has intended.

If you'll let this stuff sit for a spell to determine its true virtues, don't bother with the sugar. If you want to add the sugar, consider using

0.5 liters or so of the wine to simmer (just heat to dissolve) the sugar in to. You'll kill the yeast for sure but you have an ample amount in the vessel you've not heated. Let it cool to 70F or so and pour it back in, realizing you'll have a greater volume now. If you split with another container, rack back and forth between the two containers with minimal splashing to mix the sugar sufficiently.

Patrick

Reply to
patrick mcdonald

I have made a peach wine from C.J.J. Berrys book that calls for adding brown sugar over time. When I did it the way he suggested it came out very nice. The next time I mad a batch I was lazy and did not see a need to add it in small batches so I added it all at once. It fermented dry but was not nearly as good.

Just my comments and observations. Sometimes old recipes based on years of development cannot be improved on by our modern methods.

Ray

Reply to
Ray Calvert

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