Glycerin in white wine

[tonyhibbett]

Glycerin (glycerine, glycerol) is naturally produced by grape juice during fermentation and contributes to smoothness. The slower the ferment, the higher the glycerin, up to 0.7 %, so, by inference, a fast wine kit would be somewhat deficient. I added 1 teaspoon to a bottle of red wine with no appreciable effect but I did the same with a bottle of Young's Sauvignon Blanc and the effect was amazingly good, and may well have a similar effect on other fast-fermenting white wine kits.
Not all chemists stock it, but it can be ordered and it's cheaper than homebrew shops at £2.80 per 200 ml. bottle, more than enough for a 5 gallon brew. It's very thick so needs to be mixed with some of the wine first, otherwise it sinks to the bottom. In this form, it's usually derived from slaughtered cows, thus unsuitable for vegetatians, and also has a long list of possible side effects, but in the doses I've used, (1:150) the greater hazard would be in alcohol abuse because it tastes so much better.
It's sweet but not as sweet as sugar, and takes the edge off a harsh, very dry wine. At the other end of the scale, botryus affected wines such as the naturally sweet dessert wines such as Sauternes and the rather rare Beerenausleesen, have more than double the amount of natural glycerin.

 

[Sean_Mc]

I use it in most fruit Juice wines Tony :thumb:

Think its about £1.25 for a small bottle in Sainsbury's baking section

 

[Moley]

I also use it in most fruit juice wines at the rate of one 5ml teaspoonful to the gallon / 5 litres.

I think I'm right in saying that those little bottles in the supermarket are 38ml (so good for 7-8 gallons) and cost around 70p, but the last I bought from Boot's was around £1.70 for 200ml.

 

[Ken L]

Yep, i'm currently using it at a slightly lower concentration than recomended by Moley and with a slightly increased acid level in the wine. I find that this gives me a wine that is crisp and dry but not harsh. My current favorite is half jokingly known as 7654321:
7 lemons - juice of
6L white grape juice
5 bags of sugar
4L orange juice
3L apple juice
2 heaped teaspoons of tanin
1 desert spoon of glycerine.
Top up to 6 gallons and pitch with a GP yeast.

Give it a go and you will resent paying for kits to make white wine. Using suar on offer and Tesco value juices, this works out at £2 per gallon. You have no idea how much that anoys my non-brewing friends that have tried it.

Edit: At higher concentrations, I personally tend to find glycerine quite cloying.