letting the yeast go farther than prescribed...
 

SWMBO is doing vino.

We made one batch years ago. It was good, but a little too sweet. We would both like this to be a little dryer...(drier?)


I want to let this batch (a cabernet) go to a lower FG than the recipe calls for.

Will that dry it out?

From brewing beer, I would assume so, but vino is not my expertise and I don't want to mess this up for her.

Yes, dryness in wine is rated by residual sugar. A really dry wine will finish around 0.996. So if you stopped it at 1.000, you'd have 1% sugar, 1.004 2%.

Thanks Brother!

:mug:

Is Below 1SG going to be tooooo dry?

I know that is subjective, but anyone care to offer an opinion?

My reds vary, but most are in the .990 to .994 range. They are dry, but that's what I like.

For fun, take the SG of a wine you like when you open a bottle the next time. That will give you an idea of the amount of dry/sweetness you like. Sometimes tannins can cause a bit of a dry taste, or oaking can, but that ages out and smooths nicely and isn't reflected in the SG.

A few years ago, I saw a neat "scale" but I can't find it right now. It had a list of the SG numbers and what it was considered. I can't remember the numbers exactly, but it went something like this:

.990-1.000 dry
1.001-1.008 off-dry
1.009- 1.014 semi-sweet

etc.

The most sweet I've ever liked my wines (red or white) is off-dry but I had a very nice dandelion wine at 1.010 a few years ago that was nice. Generally, big bold reds are bone dry, while lighter fruitier wines are better with a bit of sweetening. I do like dry whites, though.

Thanks Yoop! That is a great suggestion for taking SG of vino we like already.