Sugar Formula

Adding Sugar to Must

A. How to Measure

• Brix (balling scale on hydrometer)
• Relationship of brix to alcohol (brix X 0.59 = % alcohol)
• 22 brix X .59 = 11.98% alcohol
• Make sure all sugars are dissolved before checking

B. Formulas for Adding

• Small changes; ¼ cup added to a gallon = 1 ¼ brix
• Brix changes:  (when adding water to juice)  2 ¼ lb.(4 ½ cups) to one gallon of water is about 22 brix
• Especially important not to exceed 18 brix when starting juice for champagne.

C. Later Checks on Sugar

• After fermentation:  if done, hydrometer will read a negative brix
• Dextrose/Clinitest for residual sugar.  (0-1% dry, 1-3% semi-dry, 3-6% sweet, and over 6% is dessert)

D. Miscellaneous Notes

• Be careful hydrometer doesn’t touch sides or bottom of test container
• Be sure all sugar is dissolved before checking
• Be sure no bubbles stick to hydrometer (causes hydrometer to float higher than it should giving a false reading).

It is the sugar the produces alcohol when fermenting and so by knowing the actual amounts that you start with, you can control how much alcohol you may want in the wine.  Also, too much sugar can give you a very extremely sweet drink that may not be pleasant to the taste.

The basic range for alcohol is 9 – 13% in a balanced wine.  Below 9% usually gives you a flat taste.  Above 13% will give a hot taste.

Formula for Adding Sugar to the Must

Target is 22 Brix in the must for starting a wine. 

22 brix minus brix of must = ____  divided by 1.25 =  _____  times  .25 = amount of sugar in cups needed for one gallon of must.

EXAMPLE FOR MAKING 5 GALLONS:

22 – 15 = 7 divided by1.25 = 5.6 x .25 = 1.4 cups of sugar per gallon.

1.4 x 3 gallons must = 4.2 cups

2 gallons of water = 9.0 cups (4 ½ c. sugar per gallon of water added to must).

13.2 cups of sugar total