On Mar 25, 9:45*pm, Marshall Jose > wrote:
> Bertie Doe wrote:
> > In the past I've made wine from kit-concentrates and also country wines
> > from fruit. Last August the local (uk) s/market were doing deals on
> > breakfast juices, so I bought a gallon of white grape juice (not a
> > concentrate, but pasteurised).
>
> > The sg was 1066, bubble trap finished on day 7, cleared day 10, bottled
> > day 14. Nice and clear, goodish quality table wine, slight
> > effervescence, but boy was it dry!!
>
> > Next attempt was with a gallon of white and also red. The red has not
> > been pasteurised, but has a good deep colour, so must have been left
> > some time on the skins, before extraction -
> >http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...erallotmentcol...
>
> > To overcome the extreme dryness, I added 1.5lbs sugar per gallon. Only
> > problem, instead of taking a week to stop, it's taken 6 weeks, it's only
> > marginally drier and still has an effervescence.
>
> > Any ideas on how to stop the wine earlier and thus leave some sugar in
> > solution, but avoid a secondary?
> > I didn't have this problem with kits, but the DIY method seems a lot
> > tastier and is a hell of a lot cheaper. TIA.
>
> > Bertie
>
> Jack Keller has some useful information about this topic:
>
> http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/finishin.aspunder the topic "Stopping
> Fermentation"
>
> In order to end up with a wine which is "not dry", you have to either
> force fermentation to stop (through a combination of sulfite and
> sorbate), or pitch a yeast with a low alcohol toxicity such that it dies
> before all the sugar is metabolized. The latter method is maddening
> because yeast population dwindles slowly at the toxicity level.
>
> Marshall

Everyone I hear these days tend towards fermenting the wine dry - at
whatever strength they desire, then adding sorbate and sugar to taste
(or just an artificial sweetener without sulphite and sorbate).

Jim