I'm one of the new guys here. I'm getting set to make a batch of fruit wine from raw juice.
I think I know the answer to the sugar question. Is the task to add enough sugar so the hydrometer level indicates 10-12% potential sugar for the fermentation stages? If not, then how do I determine how much sugar to add.
What is the ideal acid level? I read that if the acid is low, add more and if it is high, add water to dilute. But I can't find what ideal or even nominal is.
You need a hydrometer to measure this, for fruit wines to get 10-12% alcohol in the end, you want to be around 1.075-1.085 on trhe specific gravity scale.
You can measure acid by titration. Fruit wines are different from grape wines in terms of acid management in that the acid goes up during the fermentation, so if you want a dry wine, you'd start with a lower acidity than for grapes, maybe around 5g/L? Or you can balance the wine in the end with some sugar. Ben Rotter wrote about this on the newsgroup - do a search.
The other thing is that for many fruits, straight juice is too acidic to produce a good wine, so it's typically diluted with water, sometimes a lot. Jack Keller's and Ben Rotter's sites have info on average acid values for fruit, so check there - I would think that a pomegranate would definitely need so dilution.
There is a lot of variables, so although I don't myself like the recipe approach, if you're just starting up, it'd make sense to follow a recipe. That will get you into a decent ballpark in terms of the balance.
Pp
Thanks for the response. The specific gravity approach makes the sugar answer pretty straight forward.
I'll do some digging to find Rotter's paper on acid. Meanwhile, I'm sure -- like you said -- that I'll have to add water to dilute the acidity. Sounds logical that I should handle the acidity first since the dilution will change the specific gravity. At least I'm intuiting that the specific gravity will change.
I know that as a rank amateur in winemaking, I should heed the experts and go with someone's recipe. Alas, I'm just not good at recipes. Especially in the case where the recipe calls for three units of 'concentrated' grape juice for each unit of undiluted pomegranate juice. Or start with a batch of boiled barley. Isn't barley used to make beer?
Can I bother you with one more question? Is there any problem with making a simple syrup by boiling the sugar in water (and then cooling it down, of course) rather than dumping the dry sugar in the juice and stirring the daylights out of it?
Merci,
Casey Wilson Freelance Writer and Photographer
A simple syrup is actually prefered but isn't necessary. Table sugar has to break down into more simple surar to be fermented but wine is acidic and does that naturally. Either way is going to be fine.
Malted barley is used for beer; boiled barley, sounds a little nasty as a wine but I could be wrong. When you make beer you get the grains out before you boil the 'wort' which is the fermentable liquid.
You have it right.
There is no limit to questions with this group; most of us were new at this at some point and were helped by others.
Joe
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