Help . Wine lacks body

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mrbeachroach

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Please help. My pepper wine lacks a full body. It has 10% abv and a decent flavor , but just goes down to fast and taste a little light. What can be done to make the wine more full at this point. A 5 gallon batch I only used 3 lbs peppers and 3 lbs white grapes. The wine is already clear.

Tannin?

Glycerin?

Mixing?

Please help.
 
Not sure what stage you're at now and it may or may not be too late to add body at this point. I haven't done a pepper wine (yet...), but have done alot of other things with peppers.

That being said, peppers don't add much by way of body themselves. Only 3lbs of grapes to a 5gal batch seems very low. Are these wine grapes or grocery grapes? Pressed for juice or chopped and added to primary? Either way, that's where the recipe is lacking. Others will chime in on adding body after fermentation as I'm unaware how that'd work.

BTW, if there isn't a solution, pepper wine will make a GREAT marinade and cooking wine (and easy to gift for holidays!!).

Best of luck!!!!
 
Glycerin will help--tread lightly. You can add tannins on the back end. And you could consider blending with a white in same FG range that would complement your wine, plus one you like.
 
I would try aging on raisins- that is a great body producer. Also, believe it or not, adding a few mashed overripe bananas and letting that ferment out provides body.
 
I would try aging on raisins- that is a great body producer. Also, believe it or not, adding a few mashed overripe bananas and letting that ferment out provides body.

Are you meaning adding these to an already finished wine and kick off ferment again, if wine has not been dosed with meta and sorbate? OP indicates wine is already being consumed.
 
Ok. All great advise. I was feeling the aging on raisins thing as well.

It was 3lbs grocery grapes.

I was just winging it and now I see where that has got me.

I'm gonna split down the batch and top off the carboy with 3-4,lbs raisins. On the rest I'll blunt with apple when final racking is done. I'll keep you all posted. I may also pull off a gallon or two for the glycerin test.
 
mrbeachroach said:
Ok. All great advise. I was feeling the aging on raisins thing as well.

It was 3lbs grocery grapes.

I was just winging it and now I see where that has got me.

I'm gonna split down the batch and top off the carboy with 3-4,lbs raisins. On the rest I'll blunt with apple when final racking is done. I'll keep you all posted. I may also pull off a gallon or two for the glycerin test.

A word of caution on the raisins: it will sweeten your wine.
 
novalou said:
A word of caution on the raisins: it will sweeten your wine.

O.k. I'll back down the raisins,

How about aging on more peppers,

Garlic

Onions

Sausage!!!

Bacon?
 
mrbeachroach said:
O.k. I'll back down the raisins,

How about aging on more peppers,

Garlic

Onions

Sausage!!!

Bacon?

Didn't mean to steer you away from raisins. As Yopper stated, it probably will re-ferment.
 
Group,

Do you squeeze the wine from your raisins? I have a couple wines that are looking very good and taste great but I haven't bottled them just yet because I dread the loss from the raisins. I am thinking about flooding a bucket with CO2 and pouring into a mesh bag then squeezing the caught fruit bits. Does this sound like a bad plan?

Thanks!
 
Swifty said:
Group,

Do you squeeze the wine from your raisins? I have a couple wines that are looking very good and taste great but I haven't bottled them just yet because I dread the loss from the raisins. I am thinking about flooding a bucket with CO2 and pouring into a mesh bag then squeezing the caught fruit bits. Does this sound like a bad plan?

Thanks!

I would rack off the raisins then take what's left and strain to get the remaining wine.

The mesh bag would be great.
 
I racked the clear good stuff from them and then it got messy. I have the remainder back in a carboy clearing again with a shot of co2 on it to protect it.
 
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