My wife loves blueberries and asked me to make a batch of blueberry wine for her. I bought a big can vintners harvest ( I think thats the name) blueberry syrup. I followed the directions on the can for a 5 gallon batch and got an OG of 1.110.........I figured OH WELL lets see how it ends up. It was fermenting and my wife asked to taste it. she said she LOVED it right where it was at and asked if I could just bottle it like it is. I stopped the fermentation and added some gelatin ( crystal clear now) ANYWAY the SG is only 1.036!!! She loves it and to me it tastes like blueberry syrup. Everyone else loves it ( I bottled 24 bottles and put them away...she kept one out to let folks taste) NOW my son has blackberry wine going and wants it sweet like his moms wine... I know his has fermented past the 1.036 point but I don't know how to calculate how much sugar to add to get there. I know how to taste test and measure and add but I also know there is a formula somewhere. Anyone wanna point me in the right direction?
Blueberry wine
- Thread starter OHIOSTEVE
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boo boo
Well-Known Member
Unless you are sure you are killing the yeast, I woudn't be adding any sugar to sweeten wine.
I make blueberry wine and let it completly ferment out, usually to a SG of .990 to .995.
I can then add blueberry wine sweetner to get the level of sweetness I want.
I don't know of any scale that will let me adjust to get a certain amount of sweetness in wine after it has fermented past what I want.
I make blueberry wine and let it completly ferment out, usually to a SG of .990 to .995.
I can then add blueberry wine sweetner to get the level of sweetness I want.
I don't know of any scale that will let me adjust to get a certain amount of sweetness in wine after it has fermented past what I want.
OHIOSTEVE
Well-Known Member
potassium metabisulphite and potassium sorbate added then start taking hydrometer readings to make sure the SG doesn't change over a few days.
boo boo
Well-Known Member
Sorbate should kill the yeast.
Are you filtering it?
Are you filtering it?
OHIOSTEVE
Well-Known Member
Let it set and clear...then added gelatin finings to REALLY clear.... Then bottled. SG was steady for 4-5 days................I think it is sickeningly sweet but when you are making it for someone else I guess you make what THEY like. I like sweet wine but this is syrupy sweet. With the Blackberry I will clear it the just pull of a measured sample and sweeten until he likes where it is then multiply the swetener to the right amount. The only sweetener I know how to use is sugar. Gotta learn how to do wine conditioner I think.
Wine conditioner is easy--it's just non-fermentable sugar and sorbate in a clear syrup form. I just sweetened two batches with it. One of the threads somewhere recommended starting with two ounces per gallon, so that's what I did. That hit it just about on the head. Just measure, pour, and stir gently with a wand so you don't oxidize.
DavidSteel
Well-Known Member
lol hope your bottle corks (assuming you used corks) won't start inching their way out due to yeast waking up.
OHIOSTEVE
Well-Known Member
it sat a long time with no additional fermentation.....keep in mind I did not add any MORE sugar, just stopped it before all of the original sugar was gone. I hope I don't have blueberry wine all over the basement in a few weeks or months.
DavidSteel
Well-Known Member
lol It shouldn't leak or explode, just the corks might inch their way out.
MikeRLynch
Well-Known Member
That was blueberry wine. You have been warned.
36 points is 9 Brix. If the wine fermented out to 0.992, that's another 2 Brix. So, he's looking at 11 percent by weight. 5 gal ~ 40 lbs, 11% ~ 4.5 pounds.
That's really sweet. Dessert wine sweet. I'm back-sweetening my blackberry wine 1%.
That's really sweet. Dessert wine sweet. I'm back-sweetening my blackberry wine 1%.
I haven't made any wine yet (I make cider but from what I've read you guys go through more work to finish wine, degassing etc.) but after stabilizing with sodium metabisulphite and filtering, is there much chance of bottle bombs? To the guy with the nuked closet, what happened?! Did you try it again with a blowoff tube?
Sorbate doesn't kill yeast. Neither does metabisulfite. In fact, wine yeast are very tolerant of sulfites- that's why they are used in winemaking.
Sorbate inhibits yeast reproduction, and does it better in the presence of sulfites. So, the yeast in there won't die, but they won't further reproduce. so, yes, trying to stop fermentation by sulfites and sorbates does have a very good risk of bottle bombs. Fermentation very well may end. And then start up again at some future point. Or not.
The way most people sweeten wine is to allow it to ferment out. Wait until the yeast is finished, and dropped out, and the wine is racked several times. Then, add the stabilizers. A few days later, the wine can be sweetened. This generally works very well, as the yeast is mostly gone, and the ones that are left can't reproduce.
Another way to make a sweet wine is to use more sugar than the yeast can ferment and a less attenuative yeast. The yeast will be overwhelmed at 14-18%, and stop fermenting and the resulting wine will be sweet. That's a less reliable way to do it (you may have sweet 18% rocket fuel for a few years) but it's possible.
But trying to stop a fermentation mid-point is like stopping a train. Probably possible, but not the easiest way to do it.
MikeRLynch
Well-Known Member
That was a primary fermentation, bits of blueberry got stuck in the airlock. To ensure no bottle bombs, chilling the wine down in the fridge is another way to drop out any yeast leftovers
And yes, the blueberry mead I've got going is my third attempt. This time it's a larger batch with a fair amount of headspace in the carboy for primary
It's good to see that everything went well after that batch causing a messy explosion. I imagine a blueberry mead or wine would have a very nice color to it.
MikeRLynch
Well-Known Member
It didn't go well. Had to dump that batch. And you don't have to imagine the color of the wine, just look at the inside of my door
