Wow back sweetening

[Barticus]

I have been following Moleys excellent WOW guide but find myself a bit confused about how to sweeten as I come towards the end.

I think Im at the stage to rack off into a new demijohn with a campden tablet and some pottasium sorbate in it. Then leave it a few days.

Then do I add sugar to sweeten or add grape juice????

 

[ScottM]

Top it up with grape juice to taste a day or 2 after the potassium sorbate has been added :)

 

[Barticus]

Top it up with grape juice to taste a day or 2 after the potassium sorbate has been added :)

cheers scott

 

[Moley]

It really depends upon how much you want to sweeten it versus how much you mind diluting it.

You need to add approx. 15g of sugar to the litre to get a 5 point gravity increase, say from dry 0.990 back to medium dry 0.995

You can dissolve that weight of sugar in a splash of boiling water and add it to your wine, or you can top up with grape juice.

If you've got 4.5 litres at 13% alcohol and add half a litre of grape juice your alcohol level drops to 11.7%.

It's your call.

 

[Barticus]

It really depends upon how much you want to sweeten it versus how much you mind diluting it.

You need to add approx. 15g of sugar to the litre to get a 5 point gravity increase, say from dry 0.990 back to medium dry 0.995

You can dissolve that weight of sugar in a splash of boiling water and add it to your wine, or you can top up with grape juice.

If you've got 4.5 litres at 13% alcohol and add half a litre of grape juice your alcohol level drops to 11.7%.

It's your call.

Cheers Moley,

We are not a big family of wine drinkers so I'm not sure quite what my taste will be. ( the fun of experimentation).

I know the sample I tasted this morning was a little harsh so I would just like to sweeten it a touch without making it sickly sweet.

It fermented right out so will sugar or grape juice give the better taste?

I'm more bothered about taste that a few percentage alcohol drop.

Must say I was very impressed with the initial taste, particularly given ingredients and time!

A big Wow fan :)

 

[ScottM]

It really depends upon how much you want to sweeten it versus how much you mind diluting it.

You need to add approx. 15g of sugar to the litre to get a 5 point gravity increase, say from dry 0.990 back to medium dry 0.995

You can dissolve that weight of sugar in a splash of boiling water and add it to your wine, or you can top up with grape juice.

If you've got 4.5 litres at 13% alcohol and add half a litre of grape juice your alcohol level drops to 11.7%.

It's your call.

Cheers Moley,

We are not a big family of wine drinkers so I'm not sure quite what my taste will be. ( the fun of experimentation).

I know the sample I tasted this morning was a little harsh so I would just like to sweeten it a touch without making it sickly sweet.

It fermented right out so will sugar or grape juice give the better taste?

I'm more bothered about taste that a few percentage alcohol drop.

Must say I was very impressed with the initial taste, particularly given ingredients and time!

A big Wow fan :)

It's going to be rather difficult to judge unfortunately as you really need to give it time to mature to find what it will taste like. The taste just now won't be the same as the end product, the harshness should dissipate and the flavour should start to become more pronounced as the wine ages.

Personally I would recommend medium dry (0.995) for the WOW given the initial tasting, that's what I've gone for so hope I've made the right call.

With regards to adding grape juice there is 172g per Litre in the Asda brand so you wouldn't need to add quite as much to get the correct mix. Personally I would go with a bit of both, perhaps 100ml of grape juice with 50g of sugar dissolved into it. That way the %age of the wine will hardly be changed, you will get the nice flavour of grape rather than water and you are getting the sugar increase for a medium/dry wine.

 

[Moley]

It fermented right out so will sugar or grape juice give the better taste?

I'm more bothered about taste that a few percentage alcohol drop.

After racking there will be some headspace left in the jar which should really be topped up, and then leave it for a few weeks before bottling. If you're not bothered about losing a few percentage points, grape juice will improve the body of the wine, whereas sugar won't.

 

[Barticus]

Cheers fellas.

 

[mackaavfc]

Hi all, just racked a wow after 2 weeks and it's bone dry. Id say i have just over 4ltrs in a 4.5ltr demijon. ive added one camden and half a teaspoon of potasium sorb. How much grape juice should i add and when? many thanks.

 

[ScottM]

Hi all, just racked a wow after 2 weeks and it's bone dry. Id say i have just over 4ltrs in a 4.5ltr demijon. ive added one camden and half a teaspoon of potasium sorb. How much grape juice should i add and when? many thanks.

It depends what you are after. Add it 100ml at a time and see what you think of the flavour after each addition.

 

[drewlincs]

wont adding grape juice just male for further fermentation?

 

[RobWalker]

I think I use 0.2oz and it tastes good...I forget though...burrrpp

 

[stevie1556]

I use sugar to backsweeten, 180 grams for a medium sweet wine.

Although if grape juice improves the body of the wine I may try that next time!

 

[Kinleycat]

My wow (23L) has gone from 1100 to 990 in a little under three weeks.
That means about 14.75% or in other words too bloody strong.
I've racked into a second bucket and plan to add campden and pot sorb (1 each per 5L?) tomoz.
I really fancy the grape juice to dilute and back sweeten.
How much for 23L?

 

[ScottM]

wont adding grape juice just male for further fermentation?

Not after campden and potassium sorbate :)

 

[Kinleycat]

Forgot to ask; do I add the campden and pot sorb in solution or au naturale? :

 

[ScottM]

Forgot to ask; do I add the campden and pot sorb in solution or au naturale? :

Crush the campden tablet and add it to a sterilised DJ, add the potassium sorbate in too and then rack on top of it. That'll ensure a good mix. Potassium sorbate dissolves VERY easily, the campden can be a bit of a pest so crush it as fine as you can :)

 

[Kinleycat]

Cheers Scott :thumb:

 

[uproar13]

Hi i have just racked my WOW off.

As this is my first time I haven't managed to get as much out as I would have liked. There is quite a bit of space above the liquid in the second DJ.

Is this likely to be a problem? How much should I fill it up?

I plan to backsweeten in a few days as suggested here with a mix of grape juice and sugar...

Thanks

 

[Chippy_Tea]

If you don't want fizzy wine degas it then top it up to the base of the neck with grape juice which will sweeten it.