Enough sugar to my 5 gallon juice

[johnyrrr]

I am making a 5 gallons of Syrah and am using Montochet yeast and added 4 cups of sugar to it and it is fermenting but I wondered if I added enough sugar to it. I dont want some low % weak wine but something that tastes like closer to a real Syrah. Its been fermenting for about a month now. I was thinking of racking into another better bottle I have but adding some more sugar.....but how much? Not looking for Rocket fuel(I know montrochet is only good for 13%) just a good wine.???

 

[DoctorCAD]

Dia you take a SG reading?

 

[johnyrrr]

yes but sadly it had started to ferment b4 I started. So I dont really have a starting point. I did add a yeast nutrient, 4 cups sugar and the montrochet yeast. after I did a camden tablet treatment to try and kill the wild fermentation that started. My question was as it was just a juice how much sugar do I need to add for the 5 gallon batch, I added 4 cups of table sugar.

 

[Tusch]

That depends entirely on the juice's SG. We have no idea how strong it would have been with just the juice alone, much less with 4 more cups of sugar or if you added more. What was the reading you took, even if it was after fermentation had already started.

 

[summersolstice]

Most kits don't require sugar additions. Alexander's concentrates do and call for (I believe) 4 1/2 lbs. per can. But without a beginning hydrometer reading, it's impossible to know how it's going to turn out.

 

[johnyrrr]

Ok I checked my notes and I used D-47 yeast. The Sg when I opened it(bubling of course) was 1.02 and after adding the sugar and yeast nutrient and new yeast it sayes 1.03 from 2/4/09. BTW the place I bought the juice California wine grapes in Downtown Detriot was rude when I called about the already fermentation when I got home. The Lady sayes it happend all the time and I should just let it finish fermenting with the wild yeasts. I asked her why then do they sell specific yeasts and she kind of blows me off and tells me she has been making wine for 25 years and it will be fine fermenting the way I opened it. Soooo should I add more sugar?

 

[summersolstice]

Were you instructed by anyone to add sugar? It sounds like you have a pail of fresh or previously frozen juice, or reconstituted concentrate that doesn't require the addition of sugar. Do you have the specific instructions or recommendations from the vendor?

 

[johnyrrr]

No instructions, I will take a pic of the pail it came in and maybe someone here might have made a batch. I doubt it was ever frozen cause wouldnt that have killed the wild yeasts? It was refrigerated when I bought it.

 

[summersolstice]

Without even seeing your photo I can guess that the product you bought requires (or desires) no sugar addition and only requires yeast. Was there something that made you think it needed additional sugar?

As for freezing killing the wild yeast, no. The air is also full of wild yeast and even if there was no wild yeast in it before, it will get in the juice from wherever it was opened unless you add sulfites to kill any yeast present. Commercial yeast strains are much more aggressive than wild yeast and will also quickly overcome and kill any wild yeast that may be present.

 

[CBBaron]

No instructions, I will take a pic of the pail it came in and maybe someone here might have made a batch. I doubt it was ever frozen cause wouldnt that have killed the wild yeasts? It was refrigerated when I bought it.

Nope frozen would not have killed the yeast, though if it was made from concentrate then that would have killed any yeast before reconstitution. It sounds like you got fresh juice and it is fermenting from the wild yeasts off of the grapes. If it was already down to 1.020 then most of the sugar was already fermented. Good Syrah juice should require little if any sugar to adjust the OG. I do not think you need to add any more. Given that you don't know much about the juice its hard to predict what the results will be in terms of alcohol, quality of wine or even if the yeast will finish the rest of the sugar you added.

I would not by something from that shop again unless they can tell you more about the product.

Craig

 

[Tusch]

Did you think to ask the lady if she knew the specific gravity of the juice you bought? They very well may be able to tell you what the SG was, and given you added 4 cups, we can figure out your actual SG.