20 replies to this topic

[Mark J]

How much sugar = a lb of honey
or
vice versa ?

[bushrinker]

I thought you were talking about two girlfriends I once had. I'd pay big to see them go at it one more time. " />" />

[saramc]

I have come across different answers in my reading....use 3/4 cup honey to each cup of sugar vs use 7/8 cup honey to each cup of sugar. But a lot of wine recipes are also weight based measures, a cup of granulated sugar weighs 8 ounces (1/2 lb or 1.1 kg). A cup of honey weighs 12 ounces (3/4 lb or 340 grams). Don't forget that using honey will increase your acid levels. Anyone??

[bushrinker]

according to Wades sugar notes, as far as sweetness goes he's got 4# sugar = 5#s honey, That's the bad thing about having so many notes..It takes forever to find what your looking for..

[deb_rn]

You aren't going to add honey based on amount... but by the SG you want to hit. You can't just blindly add sugar OR honey, it must be measured.
If you ever run short on honey for a recipe... just add sugar to make up the difference. I've got some recipes that call for some of each and you can definitely taste the honey notes in it.

Debbie

[Scot McPherson]

Honey has different densities it can weight as little as 11 lbs per gallon or as much as 18 lbs per gallon with 12 lbs/gallon being the usual going rate...If you get dense desert honey, it's going to be in solid cakes of honey and weight 18 lbs a gallon. Your run of the mill clover honey as light as 11 lbs, especially if the beekeeper pulls it off the hive prematurely.

Do like deb says and use your hydrometer instead

[Mark J]

Here's the recipe.
I want to replace the sugar with honey.
I would like it to be between semi sweet to sweet.
How much honey do I use & what other changes do I need to make ?




Jam or Jelly Wine (Strawberry, Peach, Blackberry, Plum, Raspberry) WineThief
1 gallon 3-lbs Jelly or Jam any flavor 1-lb Sugar 6-7 Pints of water 2-tsp Acid Blend 1/8-tsp Tannin 1-tsp Nutrient 1-tsp Pectic Enzyme 1- Premier Cuvee Wine Yeast Scoop Jelly or Jam into your primary fermentor. Dissolve sugar in 2 pints of boiling water, remove from heat and add 3 pints of cool water to sugar water to cool, then add to primary. (Do not pour the boiling water directly into the jam, be sure to mix with cool water first) Stir in enough Cool Water to make one US Gallon in primary - make sure all lumps are dissolved. Stir in Acid Blend, Tannin, Nutrient and Pectic Enzyme. Check that the temperature is near 70 degrees, if not allow to cool. Test to confirm Starting SG of 1.095 - 1.100 Adjust if necessary. Add yeast. Ferment for 3-5 days. When SG reaches 1.030 transfer/siphon into glass carboy (secondary), attach bung and airlock. Leave for approx. 3 weeks, SG should be at or below 1.000, transfer again. Leave for approx. 2 months, transfer again this time adding 1 campden tablet. Transfer again in 2 months and again in 2 months if necessary. Bottle when clear. Can be sweetened at bottling by adding 1/2 tsp stabilizer and 1/4 lb dissolved Sugar per gallon.

[bushrinker]

With this recipe you definitely need to use your hydrometer. You already have a ton of sugar in it. There is no way going at a recipe with jam or jelly without saying you gave it an uneducated guess with your starting SG.. As far as the semi sweet goes your best way to do that is to start with a SG somewhere in the 1.075 to 1.095 range, let it go below the .096 mark. Do your campden-sorbate thing and sweeten back up with more honey if you would like. Then let it sit for 3-4 months, use a fining agent like superkleer and bottle a month later. Every brand of jelly or jam will be different. I'm sure the author of that recipe just quoted what they did. But the next time they make it, it might need a completely different amount of sugar. You really need to use a hydrometer or again it's just a guess and your guess is as good as mine. " />" />

[Scot McPherson]

Well I have a different perspective of how to produce sweet wines. Winemakers historically didn't have sorbates to kill yeast reproduction, so how did they make wine sweet? As well they didn't really have an indication of sugar or alcohol content using refractometers, spectrometers or even hydrometers. They used their taste buds.

Now we have tools and we should use them, but I don't like adding stuff to my wine. Least not chemicals...

To make a sweet wine I go ahead and start with a SG of 1.100, and as it begins to dry out I keep feeding it sugar as one does slowly to boost alcohol, until finally the yeast gives in. Then I sweeten to whatever sweetness I desire. Wines typically dry out to 15% depending on yeast strain obviously, and it makes for a very sharp young wine. But with age there is zero chance of sorbate vegginess, and the wine is capable of reaching fine old ages not possible with sorbets. And despite the high alcohol, the age provides a mellowness with still the hint of drinking wine rather than drinking something from a dusty old bottle.

[rpage53]

Historically, winemakers used whatever yeast was naturally in the must. Some yeasts aren't tolerant of high alcohol and the wine might turn out sweet but the winemaker didn't know that was what he was going to get. They also drank the wine within a year because it rarely lasted longer. Only dry wines could be considered for aging and sweet wine was drunk young.

So yes, to replace sugar with honey you must use a hydrometer.

Rick.

[graperman]

Some yeasts can go higher than 15%, though. I am guessing you are not using those yeasts in your production. What are your "goto" yeasts?

I very much dislike adding anything to my wines, too. I am not sure I have done what you did here, though. I don't think I have ever made a sweeter wine, sugar fed it to kill yeast, and then put it away without sorbate. The closest I ever came was with the CRP kit. That required sugar dosing. Do you use potassium metabisulfate then? I would be much appreciative if you could elaborate on your process. I would like to try an experiment out with the process.

Well I have a different perspective of how to produce sweet wines. Winemakers historically didn't have sorbates to kill yeast reproduction, so how did they make wine sweet? As well they didn't really have an indication of sugar or alcohol content using refractometers, spectrometers or even hydrometers. They used their taste buds.

Now we have tools and we should use them, but I don't like adding stuff to my wine. Least not chemicals...

To make a sweet wine I go ahead and start with a SG of 1.100, and as it begins to dry out I keep feeding it sugar as one does slowly to boost alcohol, until finally the yeast gives in. Then I sweeten to whatever sweetness I desire. Wines typically dry out to 15% depending on yeast strain obviously, and it makes for a very sharp young wine. But with age there is zero chance of sorbate vegginess, and the wine is capable of reaching fine old ages not possible with sorbets. And despite the high alcohol, the age provides a mellowness with still the hint of drinking wine rather than drinking something from a dusty old bottle.

[Scot McPherson]

I do sometimes use sulfites, but avoid it when I can. I sulfite to 25ppm if I do use it, and I wash my equipment with it without rinsing...just let it drip out leaving behind whatever it does. You run risks, I have had to flush an unfinished wine down the drain once or twice, but that's not so often if you practice good equipment and fruit hygiene.

I generally use champagne yeast because it will subdue other yeasts and some bacterias, and thus helps with being more sulfate free. It also drops cleanly out of the wine, so there is much less chance of a yeast restarting in the bottle...which honestly is really rare anyway if the alcohol is higher than 12.3% anyway. Yes it _can_ happen, but the yeast generally don't want to even bother trying to multiply in a finished wine. Sorbate doesn't Eliminate this possibility either, it only reduces the chances so why do it? Just boost you alcohol until the yeast give...doesn't matter which you use so long as the yeast doesn't give up below 12.3%. Most of my wine hover around 15% alcohol by feeding the way I do, then can sweeten to taste.

[Medsen Fey]

Adding more sugar until the yeast poop out (otherwise known as step feeding) can produce some harsh results. You can make a sweet wine by staring with a gravity high enough for the yeast to finish with some residual sugar - it is helpful to use yeast with a lower ABV tolerance (there are several that will end at 13-14% in most cases, and you can use ale yeast that will finish anywhere from 8-12%). With a little care in your management you can produce a sweet wine without sorbate that isn't as harsh as you get from step feeding. I would still recommend sulfites as a sweet mead with modest alcohol is an open invitation to spoilage organisms otherwise.

You taste buds are woefully inadequate to determine gravity. Depending on tannins and acids present, your perception of sweetness will be all over the map. Even in the days of yore, folks found a way to measure gravity, such as increasing the sugar content until a fresh egg would float. That is much more reproducible that going by taste.

And definitely watch out for those chemical in your mead!
That That C2H5OH is terribly toxic, especially to liver, brain and heart cells.
Also, the C6H12O6 is really bad for you. It will even cause your teeth to rot.
And that H2O stuff can kill you if it gets in your lungs.

So beware of those pesky chemicals.

[Russll]

And definitely watch out for those chemical in your mead!
That That C2H5OH is terribly toxic, especially to liver, brain and heart cells.
Also, the C6H12O6 is really bad for you. It will even cause your teeth to rot.
And that H2O stuff can kill you if it gets in your lungs.

So beware of those pesky chemicals.

You had me going with the watch out for those pesky chemicals for a minute until i read back over them and realized what they were....Nice

[saramc]

Good one Steve......I do remember a lot of my chemistry after 2+ decades!

I will say, having made several jam wines, there have been many batches that didn't even need additional sugar added...the jam was so sugar laden. Outcome, really good wines so far, and I imagine they will only get better with aging.