Ax
The second recipe on Jack's site is a kind of "old fashioned"
recipe for a sweet wine. Trying to design such a recipe "by
the numbers" can get very complicated indeed. Most folks
can't handle it or just don't want to be bothered. In the old
days this was done by trial and error rather than "by the
numbers".
The easy way is to use the "modern" method. Make the first
recipe there. The dry one. Original pH ~3.6. If no Tartaric
acid is used, the pH will drop during the ferment. If Tartaric
is used, set original pH at <3.5. OG ~1.090-1.100. You
need this little bit of extra alcohol because adding post
ferment sugar will dilute the wine and you don't want the
end alcohol to drop below 10%ABV. Use a strong yeast
such as P. Cuvee to insure it goes bone dry. Ferment and
clear. Add sorbate and sweeten to taste. Take an end SG
reading so you know what your perference in sweetness is
for future reference.
There are lots of kinds of plums and not all of them are
created equal. For older recipes you can usually "assume"
they are talking about the prune plum. If you have some
other kind, you will have to guesstimate the quantity needed
for the flavor intensity you want. Start with the recipe as
given and see how it turns out. HTH
Frederick
PS - FWIW. An old sweetness scale that I used to use
went something like this:
0.990 to 1.000 was the dry to off dry range.
1.000 to 1.008 was the medium dry to medium sweet range.
1.008 and over was the sweet range. Late harvest type
wines generally run in the low teens. Port style wines in the
mid 20's. Ice wines in the low 50's. And some kosher wines
well up into the 60's.
But, bottom line, it's still like asking "...how sweet is sweet..."
HTH
"AxisOfBeagles" > wrote in message
...
> Appreciate the responses - but maybe I was unclear. I was looking for
> any metrics for a sweet (dessert) plum wine that others may have; what
> ideal sugar levels should be; what acidity should be; etc. I can
> measure these things, but neither the recipe, nor my past grapes
> winemaking experience give me any insight as to what the target
> numbers should be a sweet plum wine.
> Thanks for any suggestions.
>
> --
> I'm using an evaluation license of nemo since 45 days.
> You should really try it!
> http://www.malcom-mac.com/nemo
>