On Mar 24, 12:30 pm, "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/dd220/BertieDoe/Beaverallotmentcol...
> 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

I have had great luck with warming my wines to 165 to 170 degrees.
Medium heat as not to scorch anything.
Used an open 2-3 gallon pot, no lid, I guess one could put a lid on
until near the higher temps. Only held temps there for 2-5 minutes and
then put lid on, until cool enough to bottle. Back sweeten while wine
is hot. Helps dissolve sugars and kill off any other critters in
sugar. I have also done this with one gallon glass bottles.
When done heating I just added sugar, put cap back on bottle. wearing
oven mittens shook bottle to mix sugar.
Let cool on table.
Hope it gives ideas. Wine came out smooth and no headaches next day
after consumption. Had party to attend.
5 gallons got consumed..

Dave Whitney