how to keep wort for backsweetening

[GeneDaniels1963]

I have saved 1 qt of wort from a raspberry-honey wine. I have it in the fridge now, but how long can I keep it there? I expect that the wine will be ready to back sweeten in 2-3 months.

Will it keep in the fridge that long?
Should I freeze it?

 

[Yooper]

It's "must" if it doesn't have yeast in it (not wort- that's beer). Anyway, you would need to freeze it to keep it for backsweetening. I would also add some campden to it, if you haven't already, just to ensure that there are a minimum of microbes in it.

 

[GeneDaniels1963]

Great, thanks for the info Yooper.

Another related question. If I freeze must like this, could I later thaw it and use it for brewing? Kind of like using frozen fruit?

 

[Yooper]

Great, thanks for the info Yooper.

Another related question. If I freeze must like this, could I later thaw it and use it for brewing? Kind of like using frozen fruit?

Sure.

 

[paindragon1]

How well does that even work for sweetening? I would imagine that you would have to use a substantial amount of left over must to make using it as a sweetener worth while... And at that point you're diluting your ABV. If you over do your ABV expecting to dilute / sweeten later I would think you could just make it the way you wanted and add strait sugar later.

 

[IslandLizard]

How well does that even work for sweetening? I would imagine that you would have to use a substantial amount of left over must to make using it as a sweetener worth while... And at that point you're diluting your ABV. If you over do your ABV expecting to dilute / sweeten later I would think you could just make it the way you wanted and add strait sugar later.

^ that!

I would use honey to backsweeten a Honey Raspberry Wine. If you can obtain a Raspberry concentrate from real fruit, where most of the water component was removed without killing the flavor, you can add some of that too.

 

[GeneDaniels1963]

The leftover must is pretty high in sugar, 26 BRIX, so that should sweeten quite nicely. And from everything I've read, true back-sweetening is adding some of the original must to the finished wine. Anything else is wine "sweetening." Not that sweetening is bad, but it is different from back-sweetening and changes the taste of the final product.

The wine is now sitting at about 15% abv (yes wild yeast will go that high), so I don't mind losing 1% (or even 2%) with back-sweetening if I achieve the taste profile I want.

I have run the numbers through a wine fortification calculator, and although this is in reverse, it will still work. I comes out that 1 cup of the must added to 1 gal of 15% wine will reduce my wine by 1%. I think one cup will make it plenty sweet and really brighten the berry flavors.

 

[GeneDaniels1963]

has anyone tried adding a little PGA or vodka to the back-sweetening must? I figured 2oz in one cup of must will keep the final product about the same.

 

[madscientist451]

When I backsweeten cider with frozen apple juice concentrate, I use about 175ML in 1.5L of cider. Your wine must probably has less sugar in it than FAJC, so I'm thinking you'll have to use way more than 1 cup to get the flavor adjustment you are looking for.

 

[GeneDaniels1963]

When I backsweeten cider with frozen apple juice concentrate, I use about 175ML in 1.5L of cider. Your wine must probably has less sugar in it than FAJC, so I'm thinking you'll have to use way more than 1 cup to get the flavor adjustment you are looking for.

whoa, that is a lot of added sweetness. I might use 2 cups per gal, but I cannot imagine more than that.

 

[madscientist451]

Well 175 Ml is about 3/4 cup, so that's close to 2 cups/gallon.

 

[GeneDaniels1963]

Yep, but FAJC is much sweeter than my left over must.

When I back sweeten cider I use 1/2 or as much as 1 cup per gallon, and we like a sweet cider. But since it is all a matter of personal taste, if that is the way you like it, go for it.