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Sweet Red from a Carton

First time

In season January to December · makes 4.5 L · target OG 1.075

The stabilise-then-sweeten rule again, on the easiest possible red base.

Before you start. Never add sugar back to a wine with live yeast and no stabiliser — stabilise (sorbate + campden) first, or it can referment and burst bottles.

You will need

  • Pure red grape juice (no preservative)4 L
  • Sugar (optional, for strength)up to 300 g
  • Red wine yeast1 sachet
  • Potassium sorbate + campden (if sweetening)per dose
  • Sugar syrup (to sweeten)to taste

Method

  1. 1

    Sanitise. Ferment a dry red from the carton juice — pitch yeast, ferment until two readings match, low and dry, then clear.

  2. 2

    The lesson is a safe sweet finish, the most-asked beginner question. A finished dry wine is stable; adding sugar back to LIVE yeast is what bursts bottles.

  3. 3

    So stabilise first: stir in potassium sorbate and a campden tablet, wait a day.

  4. 4

    Then taste and sweeten to where you like it with a little sugar syrup at a time.

  5. 5

    If you prefer it dry, skip the sorbate-and-sweeten step and just bottle.

  6. 6

    A soft, sweet, everyday red for the price of a carton.

What this one teaches you

  • · Sweetening your wine safely

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An original MakeWine recipe.