Im about a month into my maple wine does anyone have advice on when to sweeten and should I use more syrup or honey. Or what!?!?!?! And how does the sweetening process go. Would I heat the syrup up again and add it???? Please advice and guidance is definitely appreciated. Just a gallon batch 3 at spring water 1 qt pure grade b syrup and some raisins for nutrient. And red star champagne yeast.
Pure maple wine
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pumpkinman2012
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Do you have a hydrometer? If so, what was your starting gravity level? What is your current gravity level?
Can you post the steps taken to make your wine, it would be easier to help you.
If you have been fermenting this wine, after 36 days I can only assume that it is finished fermenting, but again, without a hydrometer it only a guess.
If I'm going to back sweeten a wine, my goal is to add just enough simple syrup to balance out a wine that may be too acidic, cold climate grapes are notorious for being very acidic, i'll back sweetening more if I'm making a dessert wine or fruit wine.
If you want to back sweeten, ferment to dry, .990 on the hydrometer, then rack off the lees\sediment into a clean carboy, I let my wine age a minimum of 6 months to a year depending on the wine before I add anything, this will ensure that most if not all of the sediment has dropped out of suspension, the wine will start to clear naturally, and the wine will have a chance to age well and lose the young wine tartness and mellow out.
After the wine has aged 6-12 months, I'll rack to a clean carboy or demijohn and i'll add the potassium metabisulfite (meta) and potassium sorbate (sorbate), this will stabilize your wine and stop any new fermentations.
Just to clarify, Sorbate and/or Meta will not stop an active fermentation, sorbate will prevent further fermentation of sugars added after fermentation is complete, meta actually removes oxygen from your wine to prevent micro-organisms from getting established, used together, Meta and Sorbate create a harsh environment for micro organisms.
To back sweeten, I usually just make a simple syrup, 2 parts sugar to 1 part water, bring to a boil and simmer for a few minutes then let cool before adding it to the wine, but you can use a simple, syrup, honey, or the unfermented juice from the same fruit that you are using to make the wine, in your case I would use the simple syrup, just make sure that the meta and sorbate are added first.
I highly recommend doing a few small bench trials, take a few samples of the wine and add different amounts of your preferred sweetening agent, or add honey to one, syrup to another and simple syrup to the third sample, mix well and taste.
I hope that this helps.
Can you post the steps taken to make your wine, it would be easier to help you.
If you have been fermenting this wine, after 36 days I can only assume that it is finished fermenting, but again, without a hydrometer it only a guess.
If I'm going to back sweeten a wine, my goal is to add just enough simple syrup to balance out a wine that may be too acidic, cold climate grapes are notorious for being very acidic, i'll back sweetening more if I'm making a dessert wine or fruit wine.
If you want to back sweeten, ferment to dry, .990 on the hydrometer, then rack off the lees\sediment into a clean carboy, I let my wine age a minimum of 6 months to a year depending on the wine before I add anything, this will ensure that most if not all of the sediment has dropped out of suspension, the wine will start to clear naturally, and the wine will have a chance to age well and lose the young wine tartness and mellow out.
After the wine has aged 6-12 months, I'll rack to a clean carboy or demijohn and i'll add the potassium metabisulfite (meta) and potassium sorbate (sorbate), this will stabilize your wine and stop any new fermentations.
Just to clarify, Sorbate and/or Meta will not stop an active fermentation, sorbate will prevent further fermentation of sugars added after fermentation is complete, meta actually removes oxygen from your wine to prevent micro-organisms from getting established, used together, Meta and Sorbate create a harsh environment for micro organisms.
To back sweeten, I usually just make a simple syrup, 2 parts sugar to 1 part water, bring to a boil and simmer for a few minutes then let cool before adding it to the wine, but you can use a simple, syrup, honey, or the unfermented juice from the same fruit that you are using to make the wine, in your case I would use the simple syrup, just make sure that the meta and sorbate are added first.
I highly recommend doing a few small bench trials, take a few samples of the wine and add different amounts of your preferred sweetening agent, or add honey to one, syrup to another and simple syrup to the third sample, mix well and taste.
I hope that this helps.
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