oversweet red wine.

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bazhtg

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purchased 23ltr wilko cabinet sav kit. allowed to ferment for 3 days over instructions.
located in kitchen so not to cold. it stopped and i carried on with instructions.
bottled and left for 2 weeks,sampled a bottle and very sweet, anything i can do to
reduce the sweetness?.
please help i have 24bottles.

regards
 
Sorry, but you're stuck with it, a re-start isn't going to work if you've added the stabiliser.

Your only option is to make another, ferment out to dryness and blend the two.

Next time around, ignore kit instructions regarding time scales completely, and use a hydrometer.
 
These are awful kits, containing very little grape concentrate and even when fully fermented, the wine still tastes sweet, due to the presence of non fermentable sugars. I suggest to ask for a refund and use the money towards a better kit.
 
If its undrinkable then you could add a yeast sachet to a bottle and try and make a starter, if it takes off then empty the rest back into a FV and allow it to finish fermentation. it may take time to start.worth a try if its that or sending it to drain.
 
Another trick worth trying: bread yeast is quite resistant to sorbate. I successfully recovered a batch by making a starter culture of it with sugar and water, then adding the wine, doubling the volume every hour and keeping it warm. The bread yeast eventually knocks out the sorbate. You can then introduce a proper wine yeast which then takes over the job. Unfortunately you will still end up with **** wine, but at least it will be less sweet!
 
Probably way too late but in case it ever happens again. If you like mulled wine you can add the spices and orange juice - cinammon, ginger, nutmeg, clove and cracked black pepper - tho I cannot remember in what quantities. I did this with some elderberry that finished up at 1.020 last year.

I also had a gallon of sweet mixed berry wine that I oaked significantly and added brandy. It made a port-style wine that has been delicious! (drank most of it already and wished I had more!)
 
scott78 said:
If its undrinkable then you could add a yeast sachet to a bottle and try and make a starter

Moley has already said this will not work because of the stabiliser.
 
I did a wilko red w/elderberry kit. Fermented it out for several weeks, down to 0.995 and it still tasted sweet.

Really light and lacking in body too, I was half tempted to chill it and pretend it was a rose.
 

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