I have a blackberry wine that has finished fermenting. I wanted to add more sugar at sg 1.10 or above but didn't get it done in time. It's not at a high alcohol content according to the sugar that I originally added.Can I just add the extra sugar or do I also need to add more yeast? Thanks, James
James, what was your original gravity?
I would shy away from a total graivty of 1.100 or higher for blackberry, unless you are making a very sweet wine or port. As a dry wine, it just balances best at around 11.5-12% abv, in my opinion.
Jack Keller, The Winemaking Home Page
Jack, Thanks for the reply.I do not know the original gravity.The SG is now below 1.000. In my original post,I misstated my target SG at which I would add more sugar to keep the fermentation going. I meant to type SG= 1.010 instead,thinking that this would be the lowest point at which I could add sugar to the must to keep the fermentation going. It is my Dad's batch of wine and we did not do an original gravity.He makes wine the "old way". I figured by tasteing it that It had very little alcohol content and suggested that he add another 2.5 lbs. of sugar fearing that it might spoil due to low alcohol content. So, I don't know whether it will begin fermenting again by just adding the sugar or do I need to add more yeast as well?
If there are viable yeast cells (probable) and you add sugar (well-dissolved) to the wine, chances are it will easily re-ferment. The only trouble you might have is if the alcohol percentage is already near the threshold of the chosen yeast strain's tolerance. I would remove a portion of the liquid, dissolve the sugar in it, and add it back to the wine. You should be able to estimate the quantity to add using the various sugar/SG tables on the internet.
Regarding the 11.5-12% target PA to balance blackberry, I would say that is highly dependent on the fruit quantity used in your must. I recently fermented a 15% blackberry wine (by accident...) but I used 100% juice- no water - and it is not unbalanced at all. I did nonetheless dilute it by 10% following fermentation to attain 13.5% alcohol and balance the acid (THAT was the issue, not the alcohol).
Roger Quinta do Placer
Roger, not to split hairs, but balance in wine includes acid (and sugar, and alcohol, and tannin, and glycerol), so if you had to dilute acidity, it wasn't balanced. I make a "pure" blackberry wine too, and I too have to correct for acid.
Jack Keller
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