On Sun, 6 Aug 2006, Mike Lyle wrote:

I'd never boil, though: for my taste, it spoils the flavour. I've never
bothered with measuring OG, either: I just work on the principle that
every quarter-pound of sugar in a gallon, if fermented right out,
raises the alcohol by 1%. So for most fruits, three pounds or so, added
in two or three stages, plus some grape juice or concentrate, is about
right.

Quarter of a pound of sugar will produce 1.5% alcohol in every gallon
(source: Peter Duncan and Brian Acton - forgotten the name of the book
as I don't have it here in Normandy).

And adding three pounds of sugar all in one go is likely to inhibit the
yeast and the fermentation will possibly have difficulty in starting.

I suppose that three pounds of sugar will produce a wine heavy in
alcohol but is that the primary aim of making a pleasant wine? For
myself, when I make blackberry wine (members of my family are allergic
to red wine and so I have to make a fruit wine for them) I put in no
more than two and a quarter pounds of sugar. That makes a wine pleasant
enough for drinking and cooking (boeuf bourgignonne, for instance).

I'm not even sure that three pounds of sugar will ferment right out to
produce a dry wine. That would be around 18% alcohol and even a yeast
with a high alcohol toleration would never achieve more than around 16%.
Most ordinary wine yeasts will stop fermenting at around 13% - 14%.

My white grapes usually achieve a gravity of 1.075 which is about two
pounds of sugar in every gallon. That produces a wine of 12% alcohol
which is around the level found in commercial wines, and pleasant enough
for me!

And you're right - never, NEVER, boil the fruit for wine-making,
especially if it contains pectin. If you do the haze will never clear.

David (in Normandy!)

--
David Rance http://www.mesnil.demon.co.uk
Fido Address: 2:252/110 writing from Le Mesnil Villement, Calvados, France