Non-Grape Fruit Wines and OG.

[ArdentBrewer]

I've made many fruit wines in the past and got out of winemaking all together to brew beer. It has been a few years, and I've learned a lot about the science of fermented beverages, and I'm ready to give winemaking a go again.

One of the issues I originally developed with making non-grape fruit wines is how much sucrose I needed to add to get the PA, or O.G. to where I'd like it to be for the finished product to be "wine-strength". I did some experimentation on how to reduce the amount of table sugar or honey that I was using by using fruit with a higher sugar content. I even grew and selected for sweeter fruit from my garden that was to be used specifically for wine-making.

It is true that no fruit is going to have a higher per-volume, sugar amount than grapes. Which is one of the many reasons most wine is made from grapes. However, I would like to hear if anyone else is using any method of reducing the amount of added sugar or using a specific combination of sugars in their batches.

I would really like to not feel like I'm making simply a flavored sucrose-wine, or mead when using other ingredients.

 

[htc]

No particular method here. But if it makes you feel better, yeast use the enzyme invertase to break sucrose down into fructose and glucose, which are both commonly found in fruit.

On the other hand, I did some quick googling and came up with this page. As I scrolled down I noticed a large jump in sugar content mid-page... have you ever considered using dried fruit?

But on the other hand... there is something to be said for wines that have too much fruit in them (my first batches were like this), in the end I think sugar additions are kind of a necessary evil when it comes to non-grape wines unless you can settle with lower ABV. Call it session wine.

 

[ArdentBrewer]

No particular method here. But if it makes you feel better, yeast use the enzyme invertase to break sucrose down into fructose and glucose, which are both commonly found in fruit.

On the other hand, I did some quick googling and came up with this page. As I scrolled down I noticed a large jump in sugar content mid-page... have you ever considered using dried fruit?

But on the other hand... there is something to be said for wines that have too much fruit in them (my first batches were like this), in the end I think sugar additions are kind of a necessary evil when it comes to non-grape wines unless you can settle with lower ABV. Call it session wine.

Yes, I've used raisins before when making wine and liked the result. They are just dried grapes after all.

Have you ever made wine using invert sugar? If so, how much? I suppose it would be equivalent to using honey...

 

[Arpolis]

I normally make meads now but my always consistent wine that I like to make to today is a white grape peach. I use frozen fruit concentrate to bump up the OG and I do not use any sugar. So you may try 3-5lb per gallon fruit and just get some frozen concentrate to bump up the OG rather than your table sugar.

 

[htc]

Yes, I've used raisins before when making wine and liked the result. They are just dried grapes after all.

Have you ever made wine using invert sugar? If so, how much? I suppose it would be equivalent to using honey...

I've made invert sugar to use for back-sweetening (fructose has the sweetest taste among sugars) so I would need less sugar. Inverting sugar before fermentation seems kind of redundant and is more work for me, the yeasts will do it anyway.

I use frozen fruit concentrate to bump up the OG and I do not use any sugar.

I forgot about frozen concentrate! Good Call.

 

[T_Baggins]

I've used as much as 3 lbs/gallon for 16-18%ABV apple wine without inverting it. The only real advantage I can see to inversion is you could possibly get a more accurate, but definitely faster OG reading cuz all the sugar is in solution with the must. Sure, "sugar is sugar" is probably not an accurate statement, but the alcohol that it produces is the same either way..I'm sure of that.