Back sweeten...how much sugar?

I have a batch of wine that is finished out at 1.000 or a little lower. I have taken SG readings on some wines I really like and they range from 1.010 to 1.016 ( I like sweet) I know HOW to back sweeten by tsting and adding and tasting then calculating for full volume..Can anyone tell me how much sugar it will take to get from 1.000 to around 1.010-1.012 on a 5 gallon batch? or is there an actual calculator to do this? I THINK yooper posted something for me a while back but I can't remember.

what kind of sugar where you planning on using to back sweeten? that makes a difference when calculating how much sugar to add.

Cane and corn sugar are both 46 points per lb/gal, so a pound in 5 gal. gives you 9 points. And don't forget that the ABV impacts the gravity of those wines you tested. My latest blackberry wine is about 15.5% and 0.991. Backsweetening to 1.010 would mean 2% residual sugar, not 1%.

I know it's been 10 years but... my wine is 1.000 and too bitter for me. If one lb of sugar sweetens 5 gallons then one level teaspoon should be correct for 6.6 ounces? Does that seem reasonable? What will my sg be? Thx.

1 tsp sugar should raise 12 oz by 10 points.

What is a point, in layman's terms?

the marks on a hydrometer. 0.010 is ten points, 0.001 is a point, ETC.

Thanks, I thought it might be Brix or something like that.

I have five different wines from juice in small bottles, hate to waste what little I have into a hydrometer. So I did add a teaspoon to 6 oz and it was just about right, so that would be 1.020?

Also, to prevent re-fermentation can I use a packet of artificial sweetner instead of sugar?

Hi Puttster, Wine ain't beer and fruit ain't grain. If you sanitize your hydrometer and your sample cylinder (and if you siphon the wine, you sanitize the tube and the siphon etc) then there should be no wastage if you need to take a gravity reading. The few seconds a little wine will be exposed to the air will not oxidize it and your wine is far more acidic than beer so lactic bacteria are not really going to be making any sour impression on the fruit.
As to using artificial sweetneners, if you and your friends and family cannot taste the difference between sucrose or frutose and artificial sweeteners then why not, but not every "artificial" sweetener is not fermentable. A better choice might be to stabilize your wine with K-meta and K-sorbate and then add whatever sweetner you prefer. That or else simply add sugar to the glass as if the wine is a coffee or tea to which you add sugar and cream

OHIOSTEVE said:

I know HOW to back sweeten by tsting and adding and tasting then calculating for full volume

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The amount of acid is a major factor in determining the best balance of sweetness for your palate. If you measure the TA, then the ratio of sugar to acid (both in g/L) is a good metric for sweetness. Under 1 is dry. 2-3 is semisweet and 5+ is sweet. This is a good guideline to start with for your benchtrial

jgmillr1 said:

The amount of acid is a major factor in determining the best balance of sweetness for your palate. If you measure the TA, then the ratio of sugar to acid (both in g/L) is a good metric for sweetness. Under 1 is dry. 2-3 is semisweet and 5+ is sweet. This is a good guideline to start with for your benchtrial

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Whoa Nelly. You are making my head spin. A ratio is the relationship between two numbers , say X to Y or P to Q So, yes, I see that you are referring to the relationship between sugar to acid, but 1, 2-3 and 5+ are not themselves "ratios". They are numbers. What is the actual ratio of sugar to acid that you suggest is a good "guideline" or rule of thumb to start with?

bernardsmith said:

Whoa Nelly. You are making my head spin. A ratio is the relationship between two numbers , say X to Y or P to Q So, yes, I see that you are referring to the relationship between sugar to acid, but 1, 2-3 and 5+ are not themselves "ratios". They are numbers. What is the actual ratio of sugar to acid that you suggest is a good "guideline" or rule of thumb to start with?

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Let's use a specific example so it's clear. Say you measure your TA to be 10g/L (this is what my Catawba measured yesterday actually). If I want the wine to be sweet, then I would shoot for a sugar/acid ratio of about 5. This means I would need 5*10g/L = 50g/L of sugar to be added to the wine.

The benefit of using the sugar/acid ratio is that it accounts for the tartness of the wine as it varies by variety or season. I feel it gets you in the ballpark for making the final sugar determination. It is also useful to assist in making the wine more consistent year-year.

jgmillr1 said:

Let's use a specific example so it's clear. Say you measure your TA to be 10g/L (this is what my Catawba measured yesterday actually). If I want the wine to be sweet, then I would shoot for a sugar/acid ratio of about 5. This means I would need 5*10g/L = 50g/L of sugar to be added to the wine.

The benefit of using the sugar/acid ratio is that it accounts for the tartness of the wine as it varies by variety or season. I feel it gets you in the ballpark for making the final sugar determination. It is also useful to assist in making the wine more consistent year-year.

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Aha.. so the ratio is 5 to 1 for a sweet wine (less, than 1 to 1 if the wine is to be dry and 2-3 to 1 if the wine is semi sweet) - sorry, I speak a Scottish English and I think the word "ratio" in Scotland is always given as a relationship between two numbers

2-5 precent. 2cups sugar per 5gal wine is where I like it.

I have found the best way to back sweeten a wine is to reserve some of the must when you start, I freeze mine. Then I add the original back to the finished wine after using sulfides. I believe this is the technically correct meaning to "back sweetening." Adding other sugars after fermentation is just "sweetening."

But aside from terminologies, I have found between 1/2 and 1 cup of original must added per gal of finished wine gives a very good result. Lots of berry taste (or grape or whatever), and a satisfactory sweetness.

I think you could calculate the final gravity of such a wine with the following formula:

15 X final grav of finished wine + SG of must / 16. That should get you really close. And here is an example from the Missouri Winemaking Society Fair page for wine categories:

I. DRY WINES no residual sugar (less than 0.5%). Specific gravity is < 1.000.

II. OFF-DRY WINES - They have up to 1% residual sugar and less than 14% alcohol. Specific gravity is 1.000 to 1.010.

III. SOCIAL WINES - They typically have 1% to 4.0% unfermented sugar with less than 14% alcohol. These are commonly known as "semi-dry" or "semi-sweet" wines. Specific gravity is 1.010 to 1.025.

IV. DESSERT WINES - Full bodied, very sweet wines that contain more than 4.0% sugar and may contain over 14% alcohol. These are commonly referred to as "sweet" wines. Specific gravity is > 1.025.

Hope this helps

GeneDaniels1963 said:

I have found between 1/2 and 1 cup of original must added per gal of finished wine gives a very good result. Lots of berry taste (or grape or whatever), and a satisfactory sweetness.

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I think the principle behind your technique is spot-on in terms of flavor but 1 cup of must at say, 1.090 when added to water to make one gallon will raise the gravity of that single gallon by just shy of 12 points and so if you are making 5 gallons that 1 cup will raise the gravity by just over 2 points, so if your wine is brut dry adding one cup is really not adding very much sweetness.

Maybe I was not clear, I add between 1/2 and 1 cup of must per gal of wine. So I am raising the finished wine something like 6 to 12 grav points. One cup would make a 0.999 wine 1.011, which is "semi-sweet."

Also, most of my wines start around 1.105, so that is a few more grave points in the backsweetening.

Thanks for the correction, GeneDaniels1963. I missed the point that this was 1 cup per gallon. I think your protocol makes really good sense. I am going to steal your idea (though in truth, I most often make mead and I simply add more of the same varietal honey (or a solution of the honey and water) to back sweeten which while is not exactly the same thing it is close enough if this was a game of horseshoes.

Close enough is my motto in homebrew. Some really enjoyable mistakes happen along the way