Newbie back sweetening question

[Huck]

I’m nearing the end of my very first batch of wine. It’s completely fermented, cleared and ready to stabilize and sweeten. I used frozen white grape concentrate for my first try to keep cost down and would like to back sweeten with some more frozen concentrate to add some flavor back into it. Starting gravity was 1.095 and ended at .990, so 12-13% alcohol and it’s a 6 gallon batch. Is there a calculator to determine how much sugar it will take to make it a semi sweet wine? I know I can just add until I get the desired sweetness but I’m trying to figure out how many cans of concentrate to buy. Each can of concentrate contains 36g of sugar. Thanks

 

[RPh_Guy]

You want at least 30g/L (3% RS) of sugar for what people generally consider sweet.

I doubt there's only 36g of sugar in a can. You might want to double check that.

By the way, the label only provides an estimate. You should measure the gravity for more accuracy. You may need to do a 50% dilution to read it.

Welcome to HBT!

 

[Huck]

Good catch, there’s 6 servings per can 36g per serving so a total of 216g per can. That sounds more like it

 

[brianwattsturkeycalls]

You want at least 30g/L (3% RS) of sugar for what people generally consider sweet.

I doubt there's only 36g of sugar in a can. You might want to double check that.

By the way, the label only provides an estimate. You should measure the gravity for more accuracy. You may need to do a 50% dilution to read it.

Welcome to HBT!

would you use 1 can per 5 gallon? I am still learning….

 

[RPh_Guy]

would you use 1 can per 5 gallon? I am still learning….

How much to use depends entirely on your taste, and the particular wine.

I highly recommend using a bench trial to determine how much sugar to add.

Using the above example:
50mL sample * 3g sugar / 100mL sample * 240mL concentrate / 216g sugar = 1.7mL concentrate.

So pour a 50mL sample and add 1.7mL concentrate with a small syringe or pipette. If it's too sweet or not sweet enough, pour a new sample and add more or less. Repeat until you like it, and then you can calculate how much is needed for the entire batch.

You can also do a bench trial for any acid you want to add. Same goes for flavorings.

 

[Coffee49]

You want at least 30g/L (3% RS) of sugar for what people generally consider sweet.

I doubt there's only 36g of sugar in a can. You might want to double check that.

By the way, the label only provides an estimate. You should measure the gravity for more accuracy. You may need to do a 50% dilution to read it.

Welcome to HBT!

I have post sweetened an Ives with 4 cups of sugar and hit 2%RS. Too much sweetener will cloak the varietal grape taste.

 

[RPh_Guy]

I agree it would be a shame to mask the varietal characteristics from the frozen white grape juice concentrate.

I just picked a middle-of-the-road value to recommend for how much sugar to buy:
This site suggests 35-120g/L for "medium sweet".
This site suggests 19-50g/L for "medium dry/semi sweet".
Wikipedia suggests up to 45g/L for semi sweet.
This site suggests >30gL for "sweet".
This site suggests 8-45g/L for semi sweet.
BJCP (for cider) suggests 20-40g/L for "medium sweet".
Etc. Etc.

I suggested a bench trial for sweetening because people have widely different tastes. For example I handed a glass of unfermented Riesling grape juice (1.081 s.g.) to my mother in law and she says something like "that's the level of sweetness I like".

 

[brianwattsturkeycalls]

I agree it would be a shame to mask the varietal characteristics from the frozen white grape juice concentrate.

I just picked a middle-of-the-road value to recommend for how much sugar to buy:
This site suggests 35-120g/L for "medium sweet".
This site suggests 19-50g/L for "medium dry/semi sweet".
Wikipedia suggests up to 45g/L for semi sweet.
This site suggests >30gL for "sweet".
This site suggests 8-45g/L for semi sweet.
BJCP (for cider) suggests 20-40g/L for "medium sweet".
Etc. Etc.

I suggested a bench trial for sweetening because people have widely different tastes. For example I handed a glass of unfermented Riesling grape juice (1.081 s.g.) to my mother in law and she says something like "that's the level of sweetness I like".

thank you sir...iam on here 7 days a week search I over look this some how.... again thanks for your time

 

[Coffee49]

Just got a cold front moving in all week 30-45°, good time to cold stabilize those stubborn suspensions.