MAKING HIGH ALCOHOL WINES

One of the advantages of making your own wines at home is that you get

to make it the way YOU want it. And controlling the alcohol level is no

exception.

While we have many customers who like their wines at about 8 to 10

percent alcohol, we have just as many, if not more, who prefer their wines

with higher alcohol levels, 13% and higher. Here is some information to

help put your fermentations into high gear for achieving maximum alcohol.


-Being Realistic

First of all, when making a high alcohol wine, you have to resign yourself

to the fact that you are fighting an uphill battle. This is because wine

yeast has been bred for decades to produce wines that are 10 to 13

percent alcohol, just like the wines you'll find at the store. So when you

attempt to make wines that are beyond 13%, you must understand that it

is necessary to nurture the fermentation along.

You must also have a realistic view of how much alcohol you can expect

to make. There have been times on rare occasions when 19 or 20 per-

cent has been obtained, but in reality 15 or 16 percent is closer to the norm

and 17 or 18 percent is usually considered a godsend. Also, be prepared

for fermentations that just can't do much beyond 13 or 14 percent.

Different fruits, mix of nutrients and overall fermentation environment

contribute to the unpredictability of a fermentation.


- Increasing The Flavor

The flavor intensity of the wine, whether it comes from grapes, water-

melons, blackberries or whatever, needs to be boosted in wines that are

intended to have high alcohol. This is to help keep the wine's character

in balance.

Higher alcohol levels numb the taste buds more so than normal when

these wines are consumed, making a normally flavored wine taste watery

through no fault of its own. When making these types of wines use more

of the fruit when possible. For example, instead of using 3 or 4 pounds

of blackberries for each gallon of wine, try using 5 or 6 pounds instead.


- How Do I Track The Alcohol Being Made?

Using a hydrometer is key to controlling the fermentation and tracking the

alcohol that is being made. Trying to make high alcohol wine without a

hydrometer is like driving at night without headlights, you will be left in

the blind.

While there are usually two or three different scales on a hydrometer, the

one we are concerned with - as a high alcohol winemaker - is the

"Potential Alcohol" scale found on any wine making hydrometer.

The Potential Alcohol scale is simply a listing of numbers, usually, from 0

to 20. By tracking how much your readings move across the scale

throughout the fermentation you can determine how much alcohol has

been made.

For example, if you take a reading of 12% on the scale before the wine's

fermentation starts and then take another reading at the end of ferment-

ation of 0%, then your wine has 12% alcohol because it moved 12 point

across the scale. It's that simple.

For more information on our Sugar Scale Hydrometer which has the

Potential Alcohol Scale among others go to:

Sugar Scale Hydrometer


- Adding Sugar For High Alcohol

Many recipes will find for producing high alcohol wines will call for 2 or 3

pounds of sugar per each gallon. And, this is in addition to the sugars

that are already being naturally provided by the fruit involved. Adding all

this sugar at the beginning of fermentation can result in a big problem.

Sugar is what the yeast turns into alcohol. So it stands to reason that you

need a lot of sugar to make a lot of alcohol. But, when all the sugar is

added at the beginning of fermentation, the concentration levels can be

so high that the sugar can actually inhibit the fermentation. The sugar

literally start acting as a preservative.

One easy way around this problem is to feed the sugar throughout the

duration of the fermentation. For example, add enough sugar in the

beginning to get the fermentation going. Then as the fermentation slows

down, feed more sugar to it every few days until all the sugar called for in

the recipe has been added. Optionally, you can keep adding sugar to the

fermentation until the yeast has reached its limits.

When feeding sugar to a fermentation, the hydrometer can be a big help.

When the Potential Alcohol reading gets close to zero, that is your cue to

feed more sugar to the fermentation. In turn, the sugar will raise the

reading again and the fermentation will again try to ferment towards zero

on the scale.

This process can go on for several rounds before the yeast simply quits.

But without the hydrometer, feeding sugar can be risky. You may be add-

ing sugar to a wine that already has too much and is just slowing down

because the yeast has reached it's limits instead of running out of sugar.

The result can be a wine that is sweeter than you like.


- Example Run-Through

1. Lets say you have a starting Potential Alcohol reading of 10%. Eight

days later you have a reading of 1%. This means you now have made 9%

alcohol, because the fermentation moved nine points across the Potential

Alcohol scale.

2. You then add more sugar bringing the hydrometer reading back up to

5%. Two weeks later it reads 1%. Now you have made another 4% on top

of the 9% for a total of 13, because the fermentation moved four more

points across the scale.

3. Again, you add sugar to the fermentation bring the reading back up to

3%, and the fermentation struggles on for another 3 weeks, but finally

gets down to zero bringing your total alcohol level to 16%, which is

calculated as follows: 9%+4%+3%.

The whole point here is to maintain lower sugar levels during the ferment-

ation so that the yeast can work more freely without the force of the sugar

acting as a preservative. Also, feeding the sugar in this way helps you to

be sure that you are not ending up with a wine that is too sweet for your

taste. Wines that are considered extremely sweet are still only reading

around 3% on the hydrometer's Potential Alcohol scale. A normal sweet

wine will be around 1% while dry wines will read around -1%.


- Other Little Secrets

Here are some other tips for producing wines with high alcohol levels.

1. Pre-Start The Yeast. Make a wine yeast starter 1 to 2 days before you

start the wine. This allows the yeast to hit the wine with its feet running -

so to speak.

A yeast starter is simply a mixture of sugars with a boosted level of

nutrients, usually about 1 pint in size for every 5 gallons of wine to be

made. Just mix it up, add the yeast, and allow it to do a mini-fermentation.

Once the starter's fermentation starts to slow down, it is then ready to

be added to the prepared wine batch, usually around 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 days.

We offer a product called Winemaker's Quick Starter which is a mixture

of yeast foods and nutrients designed just for making such a starter. We

highly recommend using it in situations where high alcohol is desired.

For more information about our Winemaker's Quick Starter go to:

Winemaker's Quick Starter

2. Maintain Warmer Fermentation Temperatures. Normally, we recom-

mend 72 degrees Fahrenheit as the optimum temperature for a ferment-

ation. However, in the case of producing higher alcohol wines it would be

best to shoot for a range between 74 and 78 degrees Fahrenheit. This

slightly warmer temperature range will help to keep the yeast invigorated,

particularly when it reaches the end of its ability.

Fermentation temperatures that are cooler will cause the fermentation to

be slower and may even stop all together. Fermentation temperatures

that are higher can result in off-flavors in the wine, and in extreme cases

hinder the fermentation as well.

3. Provide Plenty Of Air. During the primary fermentation, keep the ferment-

ation vessel open to air. Just cover it with a light towel or something similar.

This air exposure will help the yeast to multiply more successfully and give

it more energy to do the task ahead. Once you rack the wine to a

secondary fermenter it is then okay to attach an air-lock.