First time winemakers need a little advice

[countgen]

Good morning!

The wife and I have started our first couple of wines last night. We both understand that these are test subjects and probably won't turn out very well and that's part of the learning process.

We basically made a gallon batch of white and red last night. We used the Global Vintners liter "Red Grape Concentrate" and "White Grape Concentrate".
We couldn't find a good recipe specifically for them so we used one that seemed close.
2 cups of sugar (actually the red got 3 cups as a mistake)
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1/2 tsp pectin enzyme
1 tsp acid blend (50% malic, 40% citrus, 10% tartaric)
Although we haven't added the yeast yet, we're using RC212 for the red and D47 for the white.

If you great people wouldn't mind, I need a few questions answered...
First, my gravities are really high. The red started off high before even adding the sugar. In my ignorance, I thought it would go down after adding the sugar but is now at 1.125. The white is about the same.
So my question is, is there anything I can do about that at this point and for future reference, what did I do wrong to get them started out so high?

My second question is about adding the yeast. I've got the yeasts started and I used two cups of water and three tsp of sugar dissolved in to get them going and they look like they are plenty active. So how much of the two cups of watered yeast should I add to a gallon batch? Two cups seems excessive to me.

Thank you for any advice you can give me. Cheer!

 

[djrockinsteve]

For starters welcome.
Second there are several tutorials on the home page that can answer your questions and educate you. Your wines can be good but you are really high with the gravity. Perhaps adding a little water to bring it down. You may need to add another concentrate to keep flavor.

You need to ferment 1 1/2 gallons to end up with 1 gallon. You will lose some thru sediment and at clearing.

What area are you. Perhaps a local supply shop can help as well. Those are great yeasts to use.

 

[WellingtonToad]

By my thinking you are heading towards 17% alcohol. That could be a bit strong.
Further, it will give you serious problems getting your yeast to start once you pitch it.
I think you will need to dilute either with juice or water to get the SG down a bit.

The second question worries me. How much yeast did you put in the two cups of water and three tsp of sugar?

 

[countgen]

Didn't know about the one and half gallons to make one gallon. That seems simple enough. So at this point, I should just dilute until I get to around 1.08-1.09? Great! Thanks!

Wellington Toad, I put one of the normal square packets to the two cups of water/sugar mix. Was that wrong? And how much of that concoction am I supposed to put in a gallon worth of wine?

 

[bkisel]

Welcome to WMT!

 

[WellingtonToad]

No that's good!!! Thought you may have put a few packets in. lol

As luck would have it, by adding another 3 cups of water with the two in the yeast starter you will be in the right area for alcohol. The only concern then is taste.

You may prefer to substitute the 3 cups with water with juice, but then you would need to recalculate the quantity based on the SG of the juice being added.

The decision comes back to you, but I wouldn't pitch the yeast until you get the SG right. It will save a lot of stress through things just not working right.

 

[countgen]

Thanks for the advice!!! Feeling much better about this!!!

And thanks for the welcomes!!!!

 

[Julie]

Countgen,

Welcome to WineMakingTalk. For your next batch only add enough sugar to bring your starting gravity to 1.08. Do not add the exact amount of sugar a recipe calls for. The concentrate/fruit will always have a different level of sugar, this depends on a lot of conditions you have no control over, such as, weather and when they were picked to name a couple.

 

[Duster]

I can't find it right now (still learning how to navigate through the phone app) but somewhere on this forum there's a link to sugar calculator. I keep it bookmarked in the computer and use it all the time. You just enter your current SG and the SG your trying to get to and it will tell you how much sugar or water you need to add

 

[BernardSmith]

I can't find it right now (still learning how to navigate through the phone app) but somewhere on this forum there's a link to sugar calculator. I keep it bookmarked in the computer and use it all the time. You just enter your current SG and the SG your trying to get to and it will tell you how much sugar or water you need to add

Don't know about a sugar calculator but my rule of thumb is that 2 oz of table sugar dissolved in a gallon of liquid will raise the specific gravity of that liquid by about .005. That means that 1 lb of the same sugar will raise the gravity of 1 gallon of liquid by .040.

 

[sour_grapes]

Welcome to WMT!!

 

[olusteebus]

Welcome to a great forum. Lots of help and ideas here that I could not do without.

The calculator you need is "winecalc". When you enter data, you do not use decimals in regards to SG. It is very helpful

http://www.sweeting.org/jack/winecalc.php

I bet your wines will turn out great.