Aug 26 2009
Wine Testing And Making
Sugar and acid levels are 2 important parts to making a great batch of wine, so adjustments to the process are based on those tests. As you are already aware, the sugar level is critical as the yeast must feed on it to make the alcohol. The amount of sugar that you start your batch with will ultimately determine the level of alcohol that will be in the final batch but in order to run these tests you’ll have to own a hydrometer.
The hydrometer gives you the ability to accurately test as well as measure the sugar that is contained in the juice and the amount of alcohol that can come from the sugar. Because of that you will also be able to measure how much additional sugar you may need to put into the juice.
A gravimeter is comprised of a glass tube with a weight on one end that can remain afloat. Sugar levels are tested by reading how low or high it ultimately floats with almost all hydrometers having and it’s scale gives us an estimate of the alcohol content. The scale is readable when the process starts to tell you whether or not you need to use more sugar depending on how much alcohol that you want to be present in the final wine.
If you decide that you should alter the sugar level to increase the amout on alcohol you probably want to know what sort of sugar you should use. You need to keep in mind that every type of sugar will exhibit very different characteristics. [Corn sugar and cane sugar are usually the cheapest] and the most widely available, however, there is certainly nothing stopping you from trying other sugar if you can.
You’ll need to try and possibly adjust the acid level. Bear in mind that a proper acid level will provide your wine with balance and character and help with the fermentation because it’s important that your remember that acidity varies from one fruit to another.
The best method of testing acidity is through the use of a titration kit, which will help you to figure out who much acid will be present in the wine. For example, if there is too much acid the end result will be bitter whereas, if it does not have enough acid then it will have a flat taste. By utilizing what you’ve just read,it’ll be easy for you to tell whether or not you need to adjust the acid levels in your wine. If you find that you do need that you adjust anything you can do so using one of three different fruit acids: citric, tartaric and malic fruit acids.
A few ways you can adjust the flavor the wine during bottling involve combining it with other fruit based wines, incorporating spices, or oak chips, flavor enhancements. You can even fortify your wine with something as simple as grain alcohol. The most critical guideline to follow while making final adjustments is to ensure that you adjust in small amounts, so pretty much, always experiment with small amounts and never the full batch.
