Increasing wine volume and sugar

[barracudamagoo]

It is a problem to have. I was originally making 3 gallons of strawberry wine, and through human error added too much water, bringing the volume to 4 gallons. My plan is to bite-the-bullet make 5 gallons worth (oh the horror); however, I am not wise in the ways of determining how much sugar to add. Since I only have a volume of 1 gallon to play with, I don't want to engage in trial and error. How do I go about calculating the amount of sugar to add hit my desired O.G.?

Receipe:
-9lbs strawberry
-3-11oz cans of Welch's grape juice
-4 lbs light brown sugar
-5 tsp citric acid
-3tsp yeast nutrient
-3 campden tablets
-pectic enzyme
-1 pack Cote des Blancs wine yeast (not added yet)
-O.G. at 4 gallons is 1.070 (The receipe is for three gallons, but I accidently made four).

I am trying to make this medium-sweet and was shooting for a O.G. of ~1.115-1.120. I believe I need about another pound of sugar; however, I am kinda shooting in the dark on this one. Any help would be appreciated!

 

[summersolstice]

Don't simply add sugar or you'll have a thinner beverage with a hot alcohol taste. Why not try adding about 3 more cans of Welch's?

 

[barracudamagoo]

Oops! I should have been more specific. I plan on adding adding more stawberries, grape juice, etc. that I would need to make a 5 gallon batch. Not just add more sugar and water!

 

[summersolstice]

How about starting with 2 pounds of sugar in addition to your other added ingredients?

 

[barracudamagoo]

I added an additional 2 lbs of sugar, and three more cans of grape juice concentrate; diluted in 1/2 gallon of water. This evening I went ahead and pitched the yeast (Cote de Blanc). It got me an O.G. of 1.086, which is less than I was shooting for; but, I'll wait to find out what this gives me. The estimated ABV is 10.2%, and on the balling scale, it is ~22% sugar (6 lbs into ~4 1/2 gallons). Any thoughts on what this is going to produce? I'm am shooting for something that is medium/semi-sweet.

 

[Yooper]

Actually, that's a better OG for strawberry wine anyway. Strawberry wine is a delicate wine, and doesn't taste good at all over about 12-13% ABV. With your OG, that will will finish dry. It'll give you about 12.6% ABV. Once it's fermented, you can stabilize it and add sweetening to taste if you find that you don't like it dry. You can add a simple sugar syrup to it, and sweeten it to taste. I like to take several samples of the finished wine, and try different amounts of sweetening. When I find one that is perfect, I take the SG. I then sweeten the whole batch to that SG- with a small difference. After bottling, the wine seems to get a bit sweeter with a little age. So, I sweeten to just under the perfect sample. If I like it at 1.010, then I sweeten it to 1.008. This is easy with wine software (winecalc is free) that helps you calculate how much sugar that would mean added to a 5 gallon batch.

Almost all wines under 1.100 finish around .990 when using wine yeast. That gives you a decent ABV to preserve the wine, but anything over 1.095 is pretty "hot" until it ages out. Strawberry wine is best started at 1.080-1.085, in my opinion, and then sweetened a little when done.

 

[Yooper]

When I re-read the readings you posted, those don't make sense to me. 10.2% Potential alcohol, SG of 1.086, and Balling of 22? Those don't convert to each other. SG of 1.086 is a PA of 12.6% and a Balling of 20.3.

 

[barracudamagoo]

Yooper,

If all went well, I planned on stopping fermentation around 1.008, to keep it on the sweeter side (without having to backsweeten--I was wanting to experiment to see what would happen); therefore giving me around 10.2% (1.086-1.008)*131. You are correct, that if I let it go to 0.990, then my ABV will be around 12.6% (I should have mentioned that in the earlier post).
The Balling thing I don't know, I am probably reading the hydrometer wrong. When I look at the scale it is broken into increments of 5 (0,5,10,20,25, etc). When measuring, it is between 20 and 25, at the second hash mark which I presume is 22%. How did/do you calculate it, do you have a chart or a calculation that you plug and chug into?

 

[Yooper]

Yooper,

If all went well, I planned on stopping fermentation around 1.008, to keep it on the sweeter side (without having to backsweeten--I was wanting to experiment to see what would happen); therefore giving me around 10.2% (1.086-1.008)*131. You are correct, that if I let it go to 0.990, then my ABV will be around 12.6% (I should have mentioned that in the earlier post).
The Balling thing I don't know, I am probably reading the hydrometer wrong. When I look at the scale it is broken into increments of 5 (0,5,10,20,25, etc). When measuring, it is between 20 and 25, at the second hash mark which I presume is 22%. How did/do you calculate it, do you have a chart or a calculation that you plug and chug into?

I use a conversion chart in Beersmith for the Brix/Balling scale to convert in SG, and my eyes for the PA scale on the hydrometer. I have the calculations written down, but I really dislike doing math unnecessarily!

Are you experienced with stopping fermentation in active fermentations? I ask that because even the most experienced winemakers can't easily and dependably stop an active fermentation at a desired SG. It's like stopping a freight train. You can rack, crash cool, use sorbate and sulfites, rerack, etc, and still have some geyser bottles when fermentation starts back up again once the temperature gets above 55 degrees. If you've done this before, and been successful, I apologize. I've never been successful at it, but I gave up trying after getting a geranium type smell with a wine that also underwent MLF as I tried to stop it.

It's really easier (and more often recommended by winemakers) to allow it to finish up, stabilize with the sorbate and campden, and then sweeten. That gives you the correct ABV, with almost no risk of bottle bombs.

 

[barracudamagoo]

I use a conversion chart in Beersmith for the Brix/Balling scale to convert in SG, and my eyes for the PA scale on the hydrometer. I have the calculations written down, but I really dislike doing math unnecessarily!

I will check that out, and see where I am going wrong.

Are you experienced with stopping fermentation in active fermentations? I ask that because even the most experienced winemakers can't easily and dependably stop an active fermentation at a desired SG. It's like stopping a freight train. You can rack, crash cool, use sorbate and sulfites, rerack, etc, and still have some geyser bottles when fermentation starts back up again once the temperature gets above 55 degrees. If you've done this before, and been successful, I apologize. I've never been successful at it, but I gave up trying after getting a geranium type smell with a wine that also underwent MLF as I tried to stop it.

It's really easier (and more often recommended by winemakers) to allow it to finish up, stabilize with the sorbate and campden, and then sweeten. That gives you the correct ABV, with almost no risk of bottle bombs.

.....or I could let it finish up and backsweeten. I had read somewhere else to try that, as the author didn't make it sound too terribly difficult. However, if it is that difficult to perform, I will take the easier (and recommended) route

 

[barracudamagoo]

Well, it's bubbling away like nobodies business. Stirred it up today, and took a sample for the heck of it. I'll let it set in the primary for 7 days, stirring once each day, and then rack into a secondary for about 8-12 weeks. We'll see what happens.

 

[barracudamagoo]

SG hit 1.016 today, and the fermentation (and smell) has noticably slowed. I will probably rack to the secondary tomorrow or Monday evening (I'm down with a cold right now, so I don't want to mess with it).

 

[barracudamagoo]

Racked again yesterday and had a little taste. Flavor wasn't too bad, but the alcohol was a little on the hot side. Didn't take a gravity reading because I drank it all :rockin:

 

[barracudamagoo]

Coming along quite nicely! Tasted a bottle I set aside (had leftover wine), and it is really starting to taste quite good. There is still a little burn from the alcohol (as well as an alcohol-ly aroma), but the sweetness is just right for me. I'll have to sweeten it up some more for everyone else (shoot for about 1.040-1.050), and give it a while for the alcohol to settle down some more. It really cleared up too, I mean that darn thing just sparkles when you hold the glass up to the light. SG is about 1.024 (came outta the frige, so it is probably a little off), but I'm happy with it.

 

[barracudamagoo]

Racked again today; the SG is ~0.992 (OG was 1.086) giving me a ABV of 12.3%. The flavor is good; however, there is still an alcohol bite as well as a slight alcohol aroma (although it is faint, it is there). Any suggestions on the alcohol flavor, and ideas for mellowing it out? I will be sweetening it up (~1.020 for me, and ~1.030-1.040 for the wifey) which will dilute it a bit, and take some of the edge off; but, I don't know if it will do enough.