sweetening wine

[Sam Touley]

As I prefer my white wines on the sweeter side I am wondering what is the best source of non fermentable sugar/sweetner that others use. Which ones leave a taste? How dependable is pot sorbate if I use ordinary sugar as I am a bit wary of adding normal sugar to finished wine.I have used sweetner bought from wine supplies but the amounts that I use it is getting a bit pricy and I am convinced it leaves an after taste? Any advice would be appreciated.

[Cellar_Rat]

Have a read through the forum, there are lots of threads already discussing sweeteners, back sweetening and sugar but in short...
Do not use normal sugar unless you are completely sure it will not re-ferment. Canderel powder is good and cheap. Xylitol is good but more expensive.

[Emeraldclaire]

If you rack the wine when it's to your taste, add Pot Sorbate and a Campden tablet, you won't need to back-sweeten. I don't like using sweeteners, but I sometimes use the proprietary wine sweetener if I have to, I find Sweetening tabs give it a taste I don't like.

[NorthernWiner]

If you rack the wine when it's to your taste, add Pot Sorbate and a Campden tablet, you won't need to back-sweeten.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean. If you are implying that sorbate will halt an active fermentation, that isn't true. Sorbate will prevent yeast from propogating but it won't kill any that are active. The only method that's reliable for stopping fermentation is cold crashing it, followed by sterile filtration to 0.45 microns. And most of us don't have a reliable means of doing that.

By the way, there is no reason at all to shy away from fermentable sugar when sweetening. Simply add 200-220 mg/L potassium sorbate and 40-60 mg/L metabisulphite before adding your sweetener and you will be fine. The only thing I would add is to make certain that the sorbate is fresh. It only has a usable shelf life of 6-12 months before needing to be replaced.

[fatbloke]

Some of the mead people, especially those who use a more beer like technique like to try and stop/kill an active ferment i.e. they start with what I consider very high gravity to try and achieve specific strength meads (poor technique IMO) so they'll run their ferment to, say 1.020 then cold crash the mead in the fridge for a week or two which seems to halt the ferment quite well, then once most of the yeast has dropped, while cold,rack the mead onto the appropriate doses of sulphite and sorbate.

Anecdotally with susuccess.

I wouldn't recommend this method but it does appear that the 3 pronged attack works.

Not sure if it would be better to use sodium benzoate instead....

Personally I prefer the more regular methods.

[Cellar_Rat]

By the way, there is no reason at all to shy away from fermentable sugar when sweetening. Simply add 200-220 mg/L potassium sorbate and 40-60 mg/L metabisulphite before adding your sweetener and you will be fine. The only thing I would add is to make certain that the sorbate is fresh. It only has a usable shelf life of 6-12 months before needing to be replaced.

Agreed. But prevention is better than cure - non fermentable is mush easier that's all.

I find Sweetening tabs give it a taste I don't like.

I agree - many are still saccharin based. Canderel isn't - but over time it will drop a very fine sediment. Xylitol is completely different and no sediment (yet).

I did see an advert somewhere for another no ferm sugar that was a bit cheaper than Xylitol too.

[NorthernWiner]

Agreed. But prevention is better than cure - non fermentable is mush easier that's all.

Brian, for me it's a matter of consuming less chemicals. As I've gotten older, I've found my body rebels whenever I put something into it that it doesn't like. So I try to eat more natural foods, and avoid anything artificial or heavily processed. It's one of the reasons I make my own wine. On top of that, most competitions will disqualify entries with artificial flavors, colors, or sweeteners. So it's just something I'd rather avoid.

Actually, the best sweetener of all is the juice itself. If you have the time or inclination, you can freeze some of your must to use for sweetening later.

[rjb222]

Brian, for me it's a matter of consuming less chemicals. As I've gotten older, I've found my body rebels whenever I put something into it that it doesn't like. So I try to eat more natural foods, and avoid anything artificial or heavily processed. It's one of the reasons I make my own wine. On top of that, most competitions will disqualify entries with artificial flavors, colors, or sweeteners. So it's just something I'd rather avoid.

Actually, the best sweetener of all is the juice itself. If you have the time or inclination, you can freeze some of your must to use for sweetening later.

I agree with Steve using more juice will not only give a natrual flavor to the sweeting but it also adds the proper style of body to the wine a win win.

[Cellar_Rat]

Brian, for me it's a matter of consuming less chemicals. As I've gotten older, I've found my body rebels whenever I put something into it that it doesn't like. So I try to eat more natural foods, and avoid anything artificial or heavily processed. It's one of the reasons I make my own wine. On top of that, most competitions will disqualify entries with artificial flavors, colors, or sweeteners. So it's just something I'd rather avoid.

Agreed. and my apologies I should have made the point that my preference is xylitol, the natural choice.

Actually, the best sweetener of all is the juice itself. If you have the time or inclination, you can freeze some of your must to use for sweetening later.

Absolutely.

[NorthernWiner]

Agreed. and my apologies I should have made the point that my preference is xylitol, the natural choice.

No apology needed, my friend! All opinions have merit here.

I'm not familiar with xylitol. I'll have to do some research.

[Cellar_Rat]

Here is the wikipedia blurb about it (so it must be true)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xylitol