Wine terribly acidic!!

[Dave49]

I recently made my first wine for over 20 years, and am very disappointed with the result, so far!
I followed a recipe for Lidl red grape juice (not from concentrate) and let it do its stuff.
I racked the wine into another DJ yesterday, as the ferment had slowed to about one bubble every 45 seconds. Obviously, I had to have a taste, didn't I?
And it was so horribly acidic, it nearly took my breath away!!

The recipe I followed was:-
4ltrs Lidl red grape juice
23oz sugar (I was aiming for a dessert wine)
2tsp citric acid
1tsp pectolase
1tsp nutrient
Gervins universal wine yeast
1/2 mug of strong tea (2 bags)
Heater set at 21 deg
OG was 1114, and had gone down to 094 when i racked it yesterday.
Can anyone see what I've done wrong, or why it has turned out so acidic?
Or, more to the point, how I can save it from being a gallon of toilet cleanser?:-?
Thanks, Dave

 

[Dutto]

I think you will find that it's not so much "acidic" as "dry".

The sharpness will get less with age or alternatively you may:

o add a drop of Cassis (blackcurrant juice) to the glass before adding the wine, or

o add a non-fermenting artificial sweetener (Splenda recommended) to the wine before bottling, or

o add a stabiliser (to kill off the yeast and prevent further fermentation) before adding sugar and then bottling.

Personally, I always go the "add Cassis" route and pretend that I wanted it to be a Kir! :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I can only add to Duttos post that most of us only use two litres of juice per DJ and a few of us have tried using just grape juice with varying results, I didn't like it at all, try making it with an equal amount of red grape juice and apple juice with a full mug of tea and leave out the acid.

 

[chewie]

I tend to go with about 1/2 a teaspoon of citric acid per gallon and 2 litres of the lidl red grape juice, never had any issues with it. Have you fined the wine?

 

[Dave49]

I tend to go with about 1/2 a teaspoon of citric acid per gallon and 2 litres of the lidl red grape juice, never had any issues with it. Have you fined the wine?

No, havn't used finings yet.

How about if I split the wine into two DJs, added some juice, sugar etc, to make it up to 2 gallons, and restart the fermentation Wouldn't that effectively halve the acid content? If so, what juice would anyone recommend? And how much sugar, bearing in mind I want a desert wine?:hmm:

 

[BeerCat]

I have brewed the red grape twice and i have to agree its super dry. I cant really drink it unless i dilute it with Mead.

 

[Dave49]

Well, the recipe I followed suggested 1 pound of sugar for a sweet wine, and I used 23ounces!!! That should've made a very sweet/dessert wine, which is what I was aiming for, but going by the OG and the SG at racking, I have about a 16% ABV dry red instead . Maybe the yeast was too robust?

 

[Chippy_Tea]

My take on this (feel free to correct me if i have it wrong) is the sugar you add at the begging will not effect how sweet it is at the end unless you put loads in and the yeast is killed before they finish it, all it will do is up the ABV, if you let if ferment to .990 it will be dry whatever you started with.

 

[Dave49]

Sounds reasonable to me. I'm such a beginner, tho, so I'm open to anything!....:thumb:

 

[chewie]

To make your sweet wine you need to add the sweetening juice/sugar/artificial sweetener after fermentation has been halted by stabilisers or get enough experience working with a set recipe so you know the exact gravity point at which to stop a fermentation early, for me anything above .998 is to sweet so i tend to either let some wines go to .990 or stop them at or around .994 - .996.

Pouring more and more sugar in will, when fermentation is occuring only make your wine stronger and stronger until it reaches the point where your yeast can no longer tolerate the alcohol levels, you also need to be extremely careful you don't end up making bottle bombs.

If you do decide to split the wine to rescue it then i would use the chance to experiment a bit, make 1/2 with a 1litre apple juice and the other half leave as is and just backsweeten.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

You can stop your wine early to taste but you will lose some ABV.

I found the figures below on Home Brew Talk.

.990 - 1.000 - dry - semi sweet

1.000 - 1.010 - semi sweet - sweet

1.010 - 1.020+ sweet - good lord that's sweet

 

[Tau]

Acidity will improve over time as malo-lactic fermention takes place. Although the extra citric wont improve, you could use an acidity reduction solution or calcium carbonate (chalk) quite cheap in homebrew shops. The latter wont spoil taste if finings are then used.

http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/acatalog/Precipitated_Chalk_50g_Calcium_Carbonate.html