Additives and Nutrients

[WTD]

Looking for tips on what i need for say a 10-15%ABV wine before i go asking questions at my local home brew shop. they may just sell me things for the sake of it even though im a local.

at the moment im using frozen berries and apple juice as a beginner with some added sugar to get to 10% with red wine yeast.

I would like to go to about 14% soon with just berries and no apple juice (or maybe some) but dont know about all the additives ive been reading about.

do i need nutrient added and something else? tannin or something? seems theres a lot of additives i have no idea about even after a bit of reading.

i like a dry red with a bit of oak flavour. ive oaked a tonne of whisky in my time but wine is a new game to me. always avoided tannins in my whisky but from what ive been reading it seems a bit from oak chips is wanted?????

any help on what i should do to start a dry red journey at 14%abv would be greatly appreciated. I know it will take time but best i start in the right direction

using a 5L demijon and will soon buy a 10l bucket with lid for primary fermentation and demi will be secondary

Thanks

 

[jgmillr1]

To answer in general terms, the only difference between 10% and 14% abv wine is your initial starting sugar concentration. The rest is the same in terms of additives and process. You'll need a hydrometer if you don't already have one to measure it.

You should plan on adding yeast nutrients half way through the fermentation. Definitely will need sulfites. Tannin would be beneficial for your red wine, assuming you aren't using grapes with their skins which is already full of tannin. I'm not a fan of adding tannin to fruit wines since there can be enough tannin extracted from the fruit skin and seeds during fermentation. Toasted oak chips or cubes added to the secondary during aging would give you the oak flavor you want.

You'll need sorbate if you want some residual sugar for a sweet fruit wine.

If you are using apple juice, probably want to add bentonite to the fermenter to prevent protein haze. This may also be necessary depending on what other fruit you use.

Depending on whether you will add water and what fruit you use, you may need some acid. This is sold usually as a blend or you can buy citric, malic or tartaric separately if you want.

Without more specifics on what you are planning to make, that should get you started at least.