Wine mistake

[Dro]

Hi,

I started a homemade strawberry wine following a recipe from the forum and I didn't have enough sugar. However i noticed that my daughter had some icing sugar. I have since read that its no good due to caking agents. The fermenter has mostly ordinary sugar in it and the icing sugar makes up maybe less than a quarter of the stated sugar in the recipe.

The fermentation got off to a good start yesterday, after about 1 hour the airlock was bubbling but has since stopped, although I can here it fizzing away inside.

Is the icing sugar likely to affect the finished taste and when i put a Camden tablet into the strawberries at the start, I put the lid on it, left it 48hrs to kill off wild yeast which didn't allow the gasses to escape, is that likely to have caused a problem when the champagne yeast was added? Thanks for any advice. Andy.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

If this is in a fermenter and not a DJ don't worry about not seeing bubbles as many are not airtight as for off flavours i guess its going to be a case of wait and see i cannot remember anyone discussing using icing sugar before.

 

[Dro]

Thanks Chippy. You're right, it is fermenting. I noticed tonight that the airlock was a lose fitting one so I put a tighter one in and away it went, bubble bubble.

As for the sugar, it was only a small percentage of the total was icing sugar. Every day is a school day and it seems a shame to dump it as it is ok apart from that. Thanks for replying. Great help.

 

[dwhite60]

I think confectioners sugar has some corn starch in it which prevents it "clumping". It is mostly sugar though.

The corn starch might make it a bit cloudy but it may settle out in time. Don't dump it until it has been in the bottle at least three months. It is probably going to be fine.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Thanks Chippy. You're right, it is fermenting. I noticed tonight that the airlock was a lose fitting one so I put a tighter one in and away it went, bubble bubble.

As for the sugar, it was only a small percentage of the total was icing sugar. Every day is a school day and it seems a shame to dump it as it is ok apart from that. Thanks for replying. Great help.

Keep us posted.

 

[Dro]

I think confectioners sugar has some corn starch in it which prevents it "clumping". It is mostly sugar though.

The corn starch might make it a bit cloudy but it may settle out in time. Don't dump it until it has been in the bottle at least three months. It is probably going to be fine.

Thanks for the advice. Will certainly keep it going. 5.7kg of garden strawberries would seem a waste.

 

[Scottyburto]

I think the reason icing sugar isn't used or mentioned much is more to do with the fact it's 3-4 x more expensive than granular sugar. I think ull be fine!

 

[Dro]

I think the reason icing sugar isn't used or mentioned much is more to do with the fact it's 3-4 x more expensive than granular sugar. I think ull be fine!

Thanks. It wasn't too much so hopefully it won't end up with a haze.

 

[dwhite60]

Thanks for the advice. Will certainly keep it going. 5.7kg of garden strawberries would seem a waste.

YES. That would be a shame. Lot of berries.

If it is hazy there are all kinds of ways to clear it. Just be patient.

Digging further, confectioners sugar contains 2 to 5 percent of an anti-caking agent, corn starch, potato starch, or tri-calcium phosphate. You should be good.

 

[Dro]

YES. That would be a shame. Lot of berries.

If it is hazy there are all kinds of ways to clear it. Just be patient.

Digging further, confectioners sugar contains 2 to 5 percent of an anti-caking agent, corn starch, potato starch, or tri-calcium phosphate. You should be good.

Will know not to use it again!