When to add sugar to homemade grape wine: rules and table of proportions

The question of when and how much sugar to add to homemade grape wine is decided before preparing the drink. The characteristics of the finished product depend on this - the less and earlier it is added, the more sour it will turn out. To achieve a harmonious taste, care must be taken to maintain a balance between the characteristics of raw materials - the acidity and sweetness of the grapes.

What influences sugar when making wine

There are many recipes for homemade grape wine. They have recommendations on how much and when to put sugar. Everyone's taste is different, so this issue should be approached carefully - a drink prepared according to a third-party recipe may not meet expectations.

When making homemade wines, it is important to follow the rules of production. Particular attention should be paid to the fermentation process. It stops when the fortress reaches 12-13 volume fractions of ethyl alcohol. To continue fermentation, increase the amount of sugar added, but not above a certain norm, otherwise it will stop before the allotted time.

Yeast concentration must also be optimal, otherwise its excess will spoil the taste and make the wine hazy. It can be too sweet and cloying for several reasons:

took very sweet grape varieties;
used a lot of water when diluting the juice;

When preparing homemade grape wine, first determine the strength and type of drink (dry, semi-dry, sweet, semi-sweet, dessert). Then - make calculations, and only after that - start winemaking.

How to calculate the amount of sugar for grape wine at home

Homemade alcoholic beverages are divided into several types based on the concentration of sucrose:

dry - up to 0.3%;
semi-dry - 0.5-3%;
semi-sweet - 3-8%;
fortified - 8-35%.
sweet - 14-20%.

In order for the fermentation to proceed as it should, there must be a certain amount of sucrose and fructose in the wort. This indicator is measured by a special device - a sugar meter.

During the preparation of dry grape wine, nothing is added if the concentration of natural sucrose and fructose in the juice is 12-14%. For the production of a drink of a different kind, calculations will be required.They are based on the fact that it takes 1.7 kg of sucrose to prepare 1 liter of ethyl alcohol, that is, to obtain 1% alcohol in juice, it should be 20 g.

To facilitate calculations, you can use the table of the ratio of the strength of grape wines and the amount of sucrose in the must:

Sucrose per 1 l/g.Fortress in 8 9 10 2001734011 220 240 13260 14280

Fortress in		Sucrose per 1 l/g.
160	15	300
180	16	320

18	360		12

In order to calculate the amount of sugar, it is necessary to subtract the data obtained by the sugar meter from the table value.

For example, 1 liter of Muscat black grape juice contains 21% natural sucrose and fructose, or 210 g/liter. The volume of raw materials is 10 l, from which you need to make homemade wine, strength 14 ^.

Based on the table values, for this it is necessary that the content of sucrose in 1 liter of wort be equal to 280 gr./liter. Of these, 210 gr./liter is already present in grape juice.

Therefore, we consider:

280-210=70 (for each liter of raw materials add 70 gr.)

There are 10 liters of juice in total, so:

7010=700

In our case, while making wine with a strength of 14 ^{, you need to add 700 gr. sugar.}

If there are 20 liters of juice, then multiply 70 by 20, we get 1400 gr.

Important! At home, using fermentation, you cannot get a drink with an alcohol content above 15-16 .

When making fruit wines, you should be aware that if they are made only from natural juice, the taste will be too sour. Therefore, to maintain the proportions, water and sugar are added to the wort.

When and how often should it be added

After the calculations are done, you need to decide when to add sugar to the raw material. In the production of light drinks, it is added for 1 serving, medium strength - for 2, strong - for 3-4 times.

For example, when preparing strong wine, sugar is added 4 times: 2/3 is added when preparing the must, the remaining part is divided into 3 equal portions and added on the 4th, 9th and 14th day of fermentation.

Adding Rules

High concentration of sucrose in the must can inhibit fermentation, so it is poured not all at once, but in small portions, with an interval of 5-7 days. This delays the process, but it creates ideal conditions for the yeast.

Technology: select 1-2 liters of wort, add a portion of sugar to it, mix so that it dissolves without residue. The resulting syrup is poured back into the fermentation tank.

Getting homemade grape wine is not an easy task that requires careful preparation and calculations.

But, even keeping the proportions, there is no complete certainty that the finished product will be exactly the way it was intended. Taste is influenced by many factors, including the temperature regime and the concentration of natural yeast in the wort.