what fg do i want?

just getting into wine. 1 kit down now on to bigger things, my own creations. as I have never seen gravity readings on the wines i have bought im not sure where to end up. if i want a wine that is nicely in between dry and sweet what gravity do i want for a fg? example wine drinkers on both sides like the liebfrauen milch my wife usually has here, but not sure where that ends up(yeah i know ake a hydro sample sometime) any help would be great

I'm doing this off the top of my head, but iirc <1.000 is dry 1.000-1.010 is semi dry/semi sweet and over 1.010 is sweet.

The %alcohol can change the perception of this, as can the tanin and ph levels.

I think the usual way of doing this is you ferment to completion (a few days at <1.000 and the same number) then stablize -aka add in a preservative - and backsweeten to taste.

ACbrewer said:

I'm doing this off the top of my head, but iirc <1.000 is dry 1.000-1.010 is semi dry/semi sweet and over 1.010 is sweet.

The %alcohol can change the perception of this, as can the tanin and ph levels.

I think the usual way of doing this is you ferment to completion (a few days at <1.000 and the same number) then stablize -aka add in a preservative - and backsweeten to taste.

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That's the way I do it. A typical wine will finish at .990-.996 or so. If you want to sweeten, you can either start with a higher OG (over 1.130 or so) so that the yeast will peter out leaving some sweetness behind or ferment it out completely, stabilize, then sweeten.

The problem with the first way (overwhelming the yeast) is that some wine yeasts will easily push 18% ABV before petering out. Then you get hot, sweet, jet fuel. It's more dependable to start with an OG of 1.090-1.100 and ferment it out to .990 and then stabilize and sweeten later.

An easy way to start is with kits. Some kits for sweeter wines have something called a "F-pack" which has a stabilizer and sweetener in it. One of my friends makes a ton of sweeter kits and they come out really good.

I make mostly dry wines, both grape wines and "country" wines but some wines, like dandelion, are better slightly off-dry.

i got 5g of cherry juice(only needed 1g for a beer im making) from my local fruit farm/winery. until sept i could only get it 5g at a pop. so im makin cherry wine outa the remaining 4g(hey gotta do something with it lol)

tchuklobrau said:

i got 5g of cherry juice(only needed 1g for a beer im making) from my local fruit farm/winery. until sept i could only get it 5g at a pop. so im makin cherry wine outa the remaining 4g(hey gotta do something with it lol)

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It should finish at .990 or so.

Make sure you use the correct sized secondary- for a 4 gallon batch, you'll need 4 one gallon jugs, or a 3 gallon carboy and a 1 gallon jug (they don't make 4 gallon carboys). You don't want any headspace once fermentation slows. You must fill up to the bung.

was contemplating adding 1g of sugar water to make a 5g batch. or is this a bad idea?

tchuklobrau said:

was contemplating adding 1g of sugar water to make a 5g batch. or is this a bad idea?

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I guess I'd try following a recipe at first if in doubt. 4 gallons of juice and 1 gallon of water might not give you the best wine. To put 5 gallons of wine into a carboy, you'll probably want to start with about 5.75 gallons more or less in primary. Any extra wine, for topping up, can be placed in sanitized growlers or wine bottles with a stopper and airlock.

k well i got all parties involved coming over for the 4th festivities, so we will brainstorm and come up with something. thanks. ill post the results in a few weeks what we came up with.