Wine Testing And Making

By Justin Hofmann

It's a fact that the sugar and acid degrees are two factors to making a great batch of wine, so changes to the process are based on those tests. As you probably already know the sugar level is critical since the yeast feeds off of it in order to produce the alcohol. The volume of sugar you use will ultimately determine the level of alcohol that shows up in the final batch but to run these tests you'll have to own a hydrometer.

The hydrometer lets you accurately tests 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 can also measure how much additional sugar you may need to add to 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 think that you need to adjust the sugar level in order to increase the alcohol level, you probably want to know what sort of sugar is the best. It is important to remember that different types of sugar will exhibit very different characteristics. [Corn sugar and cane sugar are usually the cheapest] and the most available, though, there's nothing to stop you from experimenting with other sugar options if you have them available.

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 way you can test acidity is through a titration kit, that will help you determine how the wine will actually taste. For example, if there is too much acid in the wine then it will taste bitter or sour, however, if it doesn't have enough acid then it will have a flat taste. Based on those readings,you'll definitely know whether or not you need to adjust the acidity level of your wine. Should you discover that you do need to make adjustments you can accomplish it 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. - 32201

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