Hi all,
I have white and reg grapes growing on my property and usally I have just sold them to locals in my area. This year we didn't get anyone wanting to buy any so my father and I decided to give the wine making thing a try. So far we have picked, chopped, pressed and poured the juice into our demijohns to start fermenting.
Right now they are in the basement and the little caps on top are still bubbling away.
We want to sweeten the wine a bit and could use some help with the best ways to sweeten the wine, when to do it and how to do it. We have refined sugar and wine conditioner.
Our neighbor who makes wine says we should add sugar in now but is vague as to how much to use. He is saying to put one bag in the first demijohn and to add an extra 1/2 bag to the second and an extra bag to the third and an extra 1 1/2 bags to the fourth. Also we didn't add yeast as he directed us not too and the juice is fermenting just the same. Does sugar increase alcohol either by adding at the beginning or the end? We also have wine conditioner that per the label should be added after fermentation. It is to treat excessively harsh or dry wine and it also stops fermentation. Our demijohns are the small carboys 23 liter or 6 gallons. Any thought or suggestions would be much appreciated.
Also before bottling should we filter the wine somehow or just siphon straight out from the demijohns with a small tube?
Any other advise or tips would be a lot of help as we really have no clue what we are doing here. Right now we are just winging it and seeing how it turns out.
Thanks in advance for any help. We really are going into this blind and could use some direction.
I have white and reg grapes growing on my property and usally I have just sold them to locals in my area. This year we didn't get anyone wanting to buy any so my father and I decided to give the wine making thing a try. So far we have picked, chopped, pressed and poured the juice into our demijohns to start fermenting.
Right now they are in the basement and the little caps on top are still bubbling away.
We want to sweeten the wine a bit and could use some help with the best ways to sweeten the wine, when to do it and how to do it. We have refined sugar and wine conditioner.
Our neighbor who makes wine says we should add sugar in now but is vague as to how much to use. He is saying to put one bag in the first demijohn and to add an extra 1/2 bag to the second and an extra bag to the third and an extra 1 1/2 bags to the fourth. Also we didn't add yeast as he directed us not too and the juice is fermenting just the same. Does sugar increase alcohol either by adding at the beginning or the end? We also have wine conditioner that per the label should be added after fermentation. It is to treat excessively harsh or dry wine and it also stops fermentation. Our demijohns are the small carboys 23 liter or 6 gallons. Any thought or suggestions would be much appreciated.
Also before bottling should we filter the wine somehow or just siphon straight out from the demijohns with a small tube?
Any other advise or tips would be a lot of help as we really have no clue what we are doing here. Right now we are just winging it and seeing how it turns out.
Thanks in advance for any help. We really are going into this blind and could use some direction.