A wine question?

Question

i have made several batches of wine using juice concentrate, just made first batch of wine with fresh fruit ( strawberry ) anyway just racked to secondary, didnt use enough sugar it is already too dry for my taste , when i rack again can i add some more sugar? it is a 1 gal. batch,only used 1 lb. sugar, should have used 2 or 3 ( used 4 lbs strawberries ) & 1 can white grape juice concentrate. if this will help make it a little sweeter,should i add the sugar to a few cups of boiling water & let cool & add it when i rack again?or should i make another batch of extra sweet wine & mix the two together when its time to bottle? being a beer brewer,making wine from just juice is boring for me, plus i have a constant supply of fresh fruit. thanks!

Answer 1

Yes you can add more sugar.

Combine the sugar with a minimal amount of water, and heated to boiling to create a sterile sugar syrup. Allow to cool and add to the wine, stirring well to blend.

How much sugar should you add? That depends on the acid level in the wine, and even more, on your personal taste. Draw samples of the wine and put in several glasses. Leave one sample unsweetened and add increasing amounts of sugar to the other samples. Then taste from the driest to the sweetest sample and decide which is most to your liking. Measure the s.g. of that sample and sweeten the wine to that level. Keep in mind that it’s better to lean somewhat to the dry side as acids can soften a bit with time