National Homebrew Club Ireland

Brewing Discussions => Cider, Perry, Wine & Mead => Topic started by: DEMPSEY on September 12, 2022, 01:13:46 AM

Title: Sugar in a fruit wine
Post by: DEMPSEY on September 12, 2022, 01:13:46 AM
Every recipe I have ever seen about taking fruit like say,blackberry's or Elderberries or such, the recipe always calls for a household sugar addition ???. Household sugar is 100% fermentable so it will be fully fermented out thus as well as adding the alcohol it will thin out the wine and leave it without body. Has anybody here made a fruit wine without the addition of sugar.
Title: Re: Sugar in a fruit wine
Post by: DEMPSEY on July 14, 2023, 02:30:54 PM
bumping this one now as its early July and so the fruit seasoning for picking is coming up. Anybody got opinions on this.
Title: Re: Sugar in a fruit wine
Post by: Matt DBrewer on July 15, 2023, 11:22:26 AM
I think it comes down to the fact a lot of fruit, especially berries have quite low sugar content... grapes have about 18% which is why they are most commonly used and don't need added sugar... apples contain about 13% so you can get away with it in cider, though you don't get near the same abv ... not sure about elderberries but strawberries only have about 6% sugar, so you wouldn't really get a wine type drink after it... the reason elderberries are so popular for fruit wine is they have significant tannins which add body and help balance the strong alcohol content