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11/14/2012 -- I have three carboys of peach wine in secondary fermentation, I wish to sweeten it. I purchased a bottle of your Wine Conditioner but the label does not tell me how much to use per gallon of wine. please advise
Response From Homebrew Heaven: I wish I could give you a specific amount, but the degree of wine sweetness is very much a personal thing. Some like just a little, some can't get enough.
To overcome this there are (at least) 3 solutions:
1) Wait until you are ready to bottle (after secondary fermentation and clearing) then siphon into another vessel. You can sweeten up your wine bit by bit (tasting in between) until you get the sweetness desired. When you get it, bottle it up!
2) Draw off a small amount (say a wine bottle's worth) and do a little taste test, keeping track of how much you added. Then it's just a matter of math. A "standard" five gallon carboy has about 25 bottles of wine in it.
3) A very general guideline would be perhaps 1/2 bottle of Wine Conditioner for a slightly sweet wine, and a whole bottle for a very sweet wine. This general guidline is for 5 gallons of wine.
Personally, I like option #1. Less fuss, and probably more accurate than scaling up from a lesser amount.
Be sure to also add a small amount of sulfite (campden) to your wine at bottling time. This will help stabilize your wine and help to prevent refermenation in the bottles.
Enjoy!
8/22/2011 -- I'm working on a hard cider. It's been in the primary for about a week now and I took a hydrometer reading/gave it a taste and it's a bit tart. Is there anything I can do to sweeten it up? The OG was a 1.058, it's currentlly at a 1.004. I added 2 lbs Light DME while making it. Any suggestions?
Thank you!
Response From Homebrew Heaven: Adding sweetness to a cider is always a bit of a trick.
If you are kegging your cider, it's easy. Simply sweeten it up to taste using Wine Conditioner, carbonate, refrigerate and enjoy.
It's when you are bottling your cider, you want some sparkle, AND some sweetness that is tricky. Of course adding more sugar to the cider causes it to just ferment out and produce (more) alcohol. No sweetness. The best solution to this problem I have found is to use an unfermentable or artificial sweetener like Stevia or Equal to offset that tartness. Do this to taste, then add the normal amount of priming sugar and bottle away.
7/4/2010 -- I live in SC and have been experimenting with scuppernong & muscadine grapes, and blending these with other fruits. I've always been told to use Montrachet yeast, but since I want sweet wines, it seems like Cote des Blancs might be better. I can't find any references to scuppernong wine on your site, so do you have any experience of how this might turn out? I tried Champagne yeast twice and it must have a higher tolerance for alcohol because those batches were pretty strong.
Response From Homebrew Heaven: Cote de Blancs would be a good choice for leaving some residual sweetness. There has to BE some sugar in the juice in the first place, however, and muscadine-like grapes are quite sour. I would add sufficient sugar to get a potential alcohol level of about 16% before fermentation. The Cote de Blanc should turn off before that. If not, try adding some sulfite and wine conditioner AFTER fermentation is complete.
5/17/2010 -- what is your phone number?
Response From Homebrew Heaven: We can be reached at (425) 355-8865
Our toll free order is (800) 850-2739
1/26/2008 -- I live about an hour (if traffic is good) from the address on your website. Do you have an actual store or is everything here based solely online?
Response From Homebrew Heaven: Yes, we have an actual brick-and-mortar store in Everett, WA. People actually walk in and buy stuff!
Our address is:
Homebrew Heaven
9109 Evergreen Way
Everett, WA 98204
Here is a video of our shop:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1a5fKvv8XI
Heck, you can actually call us on the phone, too! It's 425-355-8865. A person will actually answer as long as it's business hours!
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