Can I add some brandy to my wine?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

scottmd06

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 20, 2008
Messages
388
Reaction score
3
Location
Phoenix, Arizona, USA
My abv was low due to a poor yeast selection, so would adding a shot of brandy to each bottle help level out the abv as well as aid in the flavor perhaps? Thanks!
 
I have added French Brandy to fortify my wine a few times. 1 bottle per 5 gallons.
Really turned out nice.
You would have to add quite a bit to bump up the ABV though.
 
No Ive never heard of that. I just did a grape juice concentrate wine like Yoopers... After a 3 weeks I racked it from primary into bottles. Its been in the bottles about a week.
 
No Ive never heard of that. I just did a grape juice concentrate wine like Yoopers... After a 3 weeks I racked it from primary into bottles. Its been in the bottles about a week.

YIKES...3 weeks!!!!!

Should be more like 3 months before bottling.

You probably have bottle bombs in the making.
 
USED A BEER YEAST.

there's your problem. I'm guessing your fg is like 1.010 or so? If it was a big batch, I'd pour it back into primary and repitch with wine yeast. If it's a 1 gal batch or so, then sure add some brandy...add a lot of brandy:drunk:
 
it was a 3 gallon batch with 3 cups sugar and 3 cans grape juice concenrate. i just went ahead and mixed brandy in and brought it over to a party. people are drinking it right now lol ill do better next time.
 
it was a 3 gallon batch with 3 cups sugar and 3 cans grape juice concenrate. i just went ahead and mixed brandy in and brought it over to a party. people are drinking it right now lol ill do better next time.

Haha, good call. Longer primary and wine yeast for next time and you'll be on your way.:tank:
 
I’ve never done it, but have read about a few different approaches. One traditional way is ferment for just a few days, just to get the wine taste and until it reaches above a sweetness level you prefer. then dump in enough brandy or a neutral spirit (grain Alcohol or high proof vodka) to exceed the abv tolerance of the yeast to deactivate/kill them off. Then you age it to let the flavors mellow. You need to shoot for more than 20% abv in the final blend, but I don’t remember what the minimum really is. Problem is, if you go too low and don’t knock out the yeast fast enough, it’ll leave the yeast stresses and produce off flavors. You’ll have to do some calculations if you want to know exactly how much of what alcohol to put into your wine.
The other way is to simply let it ferment dry, then either fortify it to taste, or to exceed the abv tolerance and back sweeten if desired.
I guess when you add really depends on how much you want it to taste like a spiked juice vs strong/fortified wine. Add it early and you get more fruit flavor before it’s fermented, adding it later will give it more wine quality.
 
I fortify 4.5gals of strawberry with a handle of bourbon every year. So after the 7day primary I rack over and pour up with the bourbon. Seems to really slow/ stop fermentation. I guess takes the wine to 16-17% abv and helps clear the wine if you ask me. Settles out faster and leaves a good heat oak flavor to the strawberry. So good aged a year.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top