Wine making at home?
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I have finished a high alcohol content merlot but have received an undesirable side affect. They wine is now watery. How do I fix this?
I think what you mean by watery is that you cannot taste a sweetness to the wine. because of the alcohol content going above 12% you will start to lose allot of body and taste to the wine. the alcohol gives almost a numbing effect to the tongue.
Now you can do 2 things here. Go ahead and bottle the wine and store for 2 to 3 years for aging off the harshness of the wine or if you cannot wait that long,like most of us then put what is called a WINE CONDTIONER in. Its a heavy sweetner and has potasium sorbate in it which stops the yeast action. Glycerin is good to use to which helps the body of the wine. I understand you wanting a high alcohol wine but when it gets to high you lose all character of the wine. I have a MEAD that is ready to bottle and it taste like pure vodka and is undrinkable right now. I will put it away for atleast a year to settle and come back to life. so that is the downfall of high alcohol wines. You can try to fix them now or wait until they mellow on there own. good luck and happy wine making.
2 Responses to “Wine making at home?”
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October 20th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
Watery wine is caused by: either you did not ferment it on the skins long enough to obtain color and flavors from the skins or you had watery grapes to begin with and the flavors just weren’t there, either way you really can’t fix it. Enjoy what you have because if you add more distilled water to lower the alcohol you will have made the wine more watery. To fix this next time, ferment it longer on the skins and use grapes that are NOT watery to begin with. Good luck in the 2007 harvest.
References :
October 20th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
I think what you mean by watery is that you cannot taste a sweetness to the wine. because of the alcohol content going above 12% you will start to lose allot of body and taste to the wine. the alcohol gives almost a numbing effect to the tongue.
Now you can do 2 things here. Go ahead and bottle the wine and store for 2 to 3 years for aging off the harshness of the wine or if you cannot wait that long,like most of us then put what is called a WINE CONDTIONER in. Its a heavy sweetner and has potasium sorbate in it which stops the yeast action. Glycerin is good to use to which helps the body of the wine. I understand you wanting a high alcohol wine but when it gets to high you lose all character of the wine. I have a MEAD that is ready to bottle and it taste like pure vodka and is undrinkable right now. I will put it away for atleast a year to settle and come back to life. so that is the downfall of high alcohol wines. You can try to fix them now or wait until they mellow on there own. good luck and happy wine making.
References :
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