Newbie mistake

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Rawzero

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I made that all too familiar Newbie Mistake and added the F-pack at the start of the kit. It is a Winexpert Mezza Luna kit. Is it pretty much screwed or will I come out okay?
 
Just wanted to add that the F-pack is labeled just Luna Bianca grape juice. It shows no other additives on the bag. It raised the SG from 1.097 to 1.100.
 
You'll be fine. The ABV percentage will be a little higher. Let it will finish dry. If you want to have some residual sweetness in the finished wine you'll have to add some sort of sugar solution (sugar, grape juice, honey etc) after you stabilize the wine (degass/add Kmeta and Sorbate). You can use a free program called FermCalc to figure out how much sweetener to add after stabilizing (just do a search on the internet).
 
Take a look at the discussion Sour Grapes and I had in this thread: http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=50909

Along with you, we are also making the Luna Bianca wine kit. Paul states in this thread that many vintners on this forum prefer to add the flavor pack to the primary as it increases the final alcohol level of the wine and makes for a dryer, but tasty wine.

You'll be fine with what you did. As Craig said, you can always add sugar later if you want a sweeter wine.

Ron
 
Thanks Ron! Just glad I didn't ruin the kit. I will have to figure how much sugar to add after stabilization. I would like to get back as close to the kit instructions of 1.007 as possible. Haven't quite got the hang of the FermCalc program.
 
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The sugar is added after the stabilization and degassing processes are completed. You can refer to your kit instructions for guidance on stabilization. If you add sugar before stabilizing the wine, you'll start fermentation going again.

The nice thing about adding sugar is that you can do it a little at a time and test the result. I don't know the proper amount to add; but let's say that your goal is to get back to the specific gravity of 1.007. Then what you can do is add one half cup of sugar at a time; stir it well until it is fully dissolved, then take a specific gravity reading. You'll find that the SG moves up a few thousandths per half cup so you'll just have to work your way up to what you want.

Ron
 
I made that all too familiar Newbie Mistake and added the F-pack at the start of the kit. It is a Winexpert Mezza Luna kit. Is it pretty much screwed or will I come out okay?

A couple years later, I'm wondering how the wine came out, and whether or not you back-sweetened. If so, did you keep notes on what you used? Thanks!
 

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