Need some advice. About a year ago I started to make some white wine from juice. About 52 liters. After the initial fermentation I racked it into secondary and left it in my cellar. Had some things come up in life and totally forgot about the wine. The end result is a super dry wine with a rather high alcohol percentage. Not even close to what I like to drink. Any ideas of what I can do with it to make it drinkable? A friend suggested cutting it with a fruit juice and making wine coolers.
What to do?
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Pasteurize and backsweeten to taste?
pumpkinman2012
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I wouldn't pasteurize it, heating it would probably ruin the wine. Stabilize it with Potassium Metabisulfite (Meta) and Potassium Sorbate, and back sweeten to your personal preference.
pumpkinman2012
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It is very easy, there are several ways to do it, but we must make sure that you first stabilize your wine with meta and sorbate, the sorbate will prevent any new fermentations that adding any sugar will create.
I use a simple syrup, it is easier to incorporate into the wine.
Simple syrup is made by boiling 2 cups sugar in one cup water. Slowly stir cooled simple syrup mixture into you wine and take a hydrometer reading. Add a little at a time and test or taste.
For 52 liters, you may need to make a double batch of the simple syrup depending on how sweet you like your wine, I'd start by sweetening to 1.005 and letting it sit for a day or so and tasting it again, 1.010 is usually a where I stop unless I was making a fruit wine that was really acidic.
Keep us posted.
I use a simple syrup, it is easier to incorporate into the wine.
Simple syrup is made by boiling 2 cups sugar in one cup water. Slowly stir cooled simple syrup mixture into you wine and take a hydrometer reading. Add a little at a time and test or taste.
For 52 liters, you may need to make a double batch of the simple syrup depending on how sweet you like your wine, I'd start by sweetening to 1.005 and letting it sit for a day or so and tasting it again, 1.010 is usually a where I stop unless I was making a fruit wine that was really acidic.
Keep us posted.
