Back-sweetening question

Casey,

Congratulations on the Pomegranate wine. It sounds interesting.

I don't have an exact answer on your sugar addition, but a piece of advice: Do several small-quantity bench tests before you commit to the whole two gallons. You can always add the test samples back to the batch after you zero in on the right amount. Here's the problem, or possible problem: You probably don't know the acidity levels of both the pomegranate & Muscat wines. Since acidity & sweetness balance off each other, it's hard to predict the effect of your calculated addition.

It sounds like you're on the right track though.

Good point, Mike. Pity -- the Muscat didn't last long enough to do a TA test. What I see as a potential problem for me with your idea is tracking the volume/weight ratios on small samples then having to extrapolate the result to the final volume. But I'll definitely consider ways to do that -- unless you have some suggestions.

???

Casey

According to my daughter's modification of Walter's sweetness calculator you would need 13 .5 oz sugar for 2 gallons.

I sent you the Excel file I think.

Anyway I'd add your 7.5 oz and then take another reading.

Regards Charlie

I come up with close to what Charlie said too; I would do exactly what he said but taste it too, besides measuring. This is not Muscat Canelli. You may like it with more or less sugar and if you only add in half you can add more. That's never a bad rule if you don't have access to weighing equipment. Figure it out maybe using measuring cups, add a tenth and taste; keep adding until you like it.

Joe

[snip]

What I see as a potential problem for me with your idea is tracking

How about counting out how many level teaspoons it takes to get 7.5 (or

13.5) ounces, and then use the appropriate fractional measurements to sweeten a 8 oz samples? A set of measuring spoons often has fractions down to 1/8 tsp.You can get fair precision that way.

Still, don't put complete faith in your initial calculations.

Mike is right. Preceived sweetness is not something you can readily measure. It depends greatly on a lot of things including acidity and tanin level. Your pomegranet wine is not going to come out the same as a muscat. I would recomend you measure out a given quantity of wine (liter or pint or whatever) and do it by taste. This is the funest part of winemaking!

It sounds like you do want something sweet so start off with 1/2 oz per pint. This is roughly what the muscat was. Taste it. If it is too sweet, add more wine, keeping careful records of quantity. If not sweet enough add more sugar. When you get the right sweetness, think about the brightness of the wine which is the acidity on the tounge. You may need to adjust it. When you close in on a solution, ratio the additions up to the remaining wine. Add a little less than you calculated and put it back for a month or so. Then taste it again. You may need a final adjustment after the wine and new sugar are fully integrated. Then bottle.

Oh, I assume you are stabilizing the wine so it will not starte fermenting again. Either steril filter or add sorbate.

Ray

Looks to me like 7.5 will be not enough.

Sucrose solution density changes are close to linear (ie same amount of sugar added, same change of SG almost regardless of initial concentration; that's not always the case with density changes). To change from 1.0100 g/mL to 1.0200 g/mL (0.0100 g/mL difference) you need to add 25.2 g sucrose per liter. You want to change your SG by 0.019 g/mL - so you need about 48g sucrose (=25.2*0.019/0.01) per liter. Thats about 6.4 ounce per gallon, or 12.8 ounce per 2 gallons.

That's less than 13.5 proposed by others, but at least it is obvious that

7.5 is not enough :)

Borek (density from the CASC built-in density tables, unfortunately sucrose is not present in the trial version)