Newbie mistake

[scorpio]

I'm making a 1 gallon batch using white grape/peach concentrate.


I put in too much sugar by not paying attention. SG reading is 1.140. Is it ruined or can it be saved?


Other ingredients
1tsp yeast nutrient
1tsp acid blend
1tasp bentonite
1 cans of concentrate white grape/peach
yeats Premiere Cuvee

 

[Dean]

Add more water, or ferment as is for jet fuel. I would probably add more water and then 1 more can of concentrate to keep the body up.

 

[jsmahoney]

WOW! I'm sure that will bring tears to your eyes!

 

[rshosted]

Yeah, I would probably double my batch. Or it might be a good exuse to turn it into a port.

 

[Wade E]

I would turn it into 2 gallon batch and add more of everything except yeast.

 

[OGrav]

If you plan on keeping the batch to a gallon or 4 liter Iwould probably just water it down a cup or two after verifying what a fermentable range is for that yeast. This shouldn't be too much, one chart I have lists this yeast up to 18%, though it may take awhile for this one to mellow out. If you add concentrate and water I'm afraid you're going to end up right where you started with the added sugar from the concentrate. A cup extra will come out perfect when it's time to rack into glass. I'm interested in how this turns out as I was thinking exactly the same thing for my next batch. Just don't worry.

 

[Wade E]

Im just afraid if he waters it down he'll lose alot of flavor!

 

[Badhibit]

Scoripo, I did the same thing with my first batch. You will be okay as long as it doesn`t get fermation stuck. It will just make a SWEET wine. You can add anything that isn`t sweetened.Wine yeast will only go about 21%. If it gets stuck.Put a packet of lalvin EC-1118 yeast in a1/2 cup of warm water and mix. Then put that in a pintof unsweetened orange juice in a qt. jar. Let it set over night to get working good.. Then start adding your fruit juice until you have it ALL working again.. I feel like wade. I wouldn`t water it down. Badhabit

 

[Wade E]

Just bso you know, Premium cuvee is one of the strongest and most
reliable yeasts there are. equivalent to lalvin 1118 so you should be
in good shape but this wine will be hot and take a long time time to
cool down. From my experienc ewith concentrates wines they are usually
a little weak and this high alc. will over power the flavor. I would
definetly up the batch. I have learned to dble the cans of concentrate
and use less sugar to get more flavor. At first it tastes good but
after ferm it can be pretty week.

Edited by: wade

 

[scorpio]

Scoripo, I did the same thing with my first batch. You will be okay as long as it doesn`t get fermation stuck. It will just make a SWEET wine. You can add anything that isn`t sweetened.Wine yeast will only go about 21%. If it gets stuck.Put a packet of lalvin EC-1118 yeast in a1/2 cup of warm water and mix. Then put that in a pintof unsweetened orange juice in a qt. jar. Let it set over night to get working good.. Then start adding your fruit juice until you have it ALL working again.. I feel like wade. I wouldn`t water it down. Badhabit

Thanks for the help. I've added about 10 oz of water - so I'll ride it out and see what happens. The yeast that I added this morning hasn't kicked in yet - room temp was 66 so I go the temp up to 72 - hope it starts up


With such a high starting sg (1.140) what will the lower level sg get down to

 

[Badhibit]

Scorpio, As I said; I had the same problem as you my first batch in 2000. I had never made wine before. I had a pick-up truck of grapes. And you can only eat so much jelly. BUT, U can hold a lot more wine.

I looked at my notes. I didn`t belong to a forum at that time.. I didn`t use the EC-1118 to restart the wine. It is what I use regular. It locked up. I had to use 71B-1122 to get it going again. It works better in high sugar wine. I went by what my Grandmother used 50 years ago to start. Grapes & 5# sugar. Was all I remembered? It was syrup. But I got it to working, as I said before. With orange juice. With all that sugar. You cannot go by the SG reading. With all that sugar. You can`t get it low enough to get a true reading. Just keep enough camphen in it to keep it from going bad until you get the Alc content high enough for it to keep. Around 9*. The wine was good. For a desert wine. But with a high Alc. content. To much Water wouldn`t hurt. It will just dulute your taste of juice. Like I said; I use as less water as posible with grapes.. Causes less taste and color. The only time I use much water is with fruit like elderberry. If you don`t add water, Its so fruity u can`t drink it. I`m a newbie also. I havn`t tried any of the kits which u need water. But thats the way I did it. Badhabit

 

[scorpio]

Scorpio, As I said; I had the same problem as you my first batch in 2000. I had never made wine before. I had a pick-up truck of grapes. And you can only eat so much jelly. BUT, U can hold a lot more wine.

I looked at my notes. I didn`t belong to a forum at that time.. I didn`t use the EC-1118 to restart the wine. It is what I use regular. It locked up. I had to use 71B-1122 to get it going again. It works better in high sugar wine. I went by what my Grandmother used 50 years ago to start. Grapes & 5# sugar. Was all I remembered? It was syrup. But I got it to working, as I said before. With orange juice. With all that sugar. You cannot go by the SG reading. With all that sugar. You can`t get it low enough to get a true reading. Just keep enough camphen in it to keep it from going bad until you get the Alc content high enough for it to keep. Around 9*. The wine was good. For a desert wine. But with a high Alc. content. To much Water wouldn`t hurt. It will just dulute your taste of juice. Like I said; I use as less water as posible with grapes.. Causes less taste and color. The only time I use much water is with fruit like elderberry. If you don`t add water, Its so fruity u can`t drink it. I`m a newbie also. I havn`t tried any of the kits which u need water. But thats the way I did it. Badhabit

My original recipe I used did not call for addition of campden. How much should I add and when? At what SG level would I rack to a secondary with such a high starting SG?


Thanks for all the help

 

[Badhibit]

If you get it to working. Let it run its course until it quits. You can tell by the fall in SG. of how much Alcohol it has. Use the fall in SG as usual for a close as conversion as you will get. BUT, with all that sugar, it will not fall to a SG .990. Maybe SG 1.030. Its good u added some water. I would have addedmore of thejuice I started with. Because each # of sugar adds 10ozs to your must. I think you need a bigger container to get the juice up to a galllon of juice. TO MAKE A LONG STORY. LOL. You don`t have that much juice in a gal. with that much sugar. WHEE I hope this help.

Badhabit

 

[Badhibit]

I have used campden all the time. 1 tablet per gal. at the first racking. And 1 tablet per gal, at bottling. Camphen is the same as potassium Metabisulfite. As I have been told here. If you have used it. Or know how to use it to sterilize, either will do. and YOU HAVE TO USE EITHER TO STERILIZE? Crush tablets in a little water before adding to wine. I also add the same to must at start too. I don`t rake until the yeast works its course. You may have a gas problem later. But thats something to worry aboutlater. I didn`t degas when I was supposed to. Before stabilizer. I had added it, so I didn`t want to stir it up again. SOOO, I have just aged it to let the gas work its self off. Its been sitting for 7 months. Its about ready to bottle. And its the best wine I have made.

 

[OGrav]

scorpio, I hope I didn't steer you wrong. I was thinking that you added a can of concentrate to juice, but more careful reading today and I realize you didn't specify that in your recipe and hope you didn't make up theone can with just water. If that is the case, then you did add aLOT of sugar. If you started with a gallon of juice, and addeda can of concentrate, you are ahead of the game with taste already, 1 cup more of water isn't going to make much difference. I'd be more interested in getting your yeast started. Unless it's working already, I'd get a strong yeast starter working in the wings. As far as campden, pkcook would know, I havent scrutinized the peach concentrate to see whats added. Probably can't go wrong with one tablet in the must, another after fermentation. 1.020-30 or close enough is good to rack to secondary. My last batch I ended up checking at 1.040, gave it two more days to burn down to 1.006. Itry tolet the foam tell me when to rack, when it starts to recede, it's close if not there.

 

[scorpio]

UpDATE on NEWBIE Mistake


Day 3 or the fermenting which is going strong now. Started at 1.142 - today 1.082; temp 74%


How low will the SG go at this rate?

 

[Wade E]

I would say about 4 or 5 more days at that temp. 1 gallon batches go very quick and then they go very quick!