Sugar

[Chippy_Tea]

I have been using 1100g total sugar for my WOW variants and they always finish around 13% ABV, how much would i have to reduce this to get 11% or 9% ABV, the wife is finding them a little on the strong side and goes to sleep after a couple of large glasses, now some here would say that is not a bad thing but my problem is it can take days to watch one nights The Voice which is a bad thing. :lol:

 

[Zedilly]

Ha ha my wife is exactly the same. Just last night she had 2 decent glasses of my wow and she was bouncing of the walls in the hall on her way to the kitchen :lol:

 

[Chippy_Tea]

As no one has answered i assume there is no tried and tested method so i will ask the question in a different way.

I measured a DJ today, to just above the shoulder it was 4.5 litres, it took another .4 of a litre to take it to the base of the neck so my DJ's hold 4.9 litres, if the ABV was going to be 13% how much lower would it be if i topped up with .4 litre of cooled water?

 

[danb]

in 4.9l with 1100g total sugar and fermenting down to 0.990 that's 12.6%.
950g total in 4.9l down to 0.990 will give you 11.3%
750g total in 4.9l down to 0.990 will give you 9%

 

[Cussword]

I use just 800 grams of sugar, it just depends if I leave it to completely finish dry I can get 13%. Or you can stop it earlier to get it lower :thumb:

 

[danb]

I usually just put 1kg of sugar plus juices to 5l and let ferment until dry, but I know what you mean about strong a couple of bottles has me crawling up to bed.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I usually just put 1kg of sugar plus juices to 5l and let ferment until dry, but I know what you mean about strong a couple of bottles has me crawling up to bed.

Jesus im not surprised last time i took note the juice came to 385g total, at 1385g of sugar you would be able to run your car on it. :lol:

 

[Chippy_Tea]

in 4.9l with 1100g total sugar and fermenting down to 0.990 that's 12.6%.
950g total in 4.9l down to 0.990 will give you 11.3%
750g total in 4.9l down to 0.990 will give you 9%

Thanks for that, i will try 950g total sugar next time and top up to the neck. :thumb:

 

[fbsf]

I think the last two WOWs I did only had 500g added sugar. With orange juice coming in at 91g/L and the grape juice coming in at 156g/L, that would give me around 750g of sugar in total. I fermented right down to 0.990, so that would give me a wine of around 9%, which corresponds with the taste.

They became drinkable a lot quicker than my higher abv wines, and are really nice for a chilled evening drink.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I am sure i read somewhere that if you intend to age your wine the ABV has to be above 10% or it will spoil, have i read this wrong?

 

[Vossy1]

Moved this here from the beer brew day forum :thumb:

 

[oldbloke]

20g per litre = 1%, near enough for jazz

 

[m0zzwigan]

20g per litre = 1%, near enough for jazz

so 40g per litre thats including including the content of the juice = 2%?

 

[Moley]

I am sure i read somewhere that if you intend to age your wine the ABV has to be above 10% or it will spoil, have i read this wrong?

The higher your ABV, the longer it will keep, or the longer it needs to be kept before it's ready.

A 10% wine will probably be at its best by 6 months but need drinking within the year.

 

[oldbloke]

20g per litre = 1%, near enough for jazz

so 40g per litre thats including including the content of the juice = 2%?

Yeh, but I've never seen a juice less than 100g/l, so that's 5% before you start messing with it

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I am sure i read somewhere that if you intend to age your wine the ABV has to be above 10% or it will spoil, have i read this wrong?

The higher your ABV, the longer it will keep, or the longer it needs to be kept before it's ready.

A 10% wine will probably be at its best by 6 months but need drinking within the year.

Thanks, i am aiming for 11% so 6 months is fine.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

in 4.9l with 1100g total sugar and fermenting down to 0.990 that's 12.6%.
950g total in 4.9l down to 0.990 will give you 11.3%
750g total in 4.9l down to 0.990 will give you 9%

I have just made two Pomegranate and WGJ WOW's and have filled doth DJ's to approximately one inch from the base of the neck. (they don't off like the lava lamp orange version and i wanted to get an accurate reading)

The sugar content of the 3 cartons came to 380g total, as i am aiming for around 950g total i decided to add 600g to make it 980g total.

I took a reading and it came to 1075 in both DJ,s i was expecting it to be a little higher as i haven't filled to 4.9 litres and i used slightly more sugar, does 1075 look right to you?