Newbie with another Welch's question

[Mixer]

Ok so first off hello to the group. I am a newbie to the wine making and as most probably do, I have started out with the Welch's grape wine first. I had found a recipe online and followed it before I really knew anything. And after it fermented and I read a bunch on this forum I found a couple of things I "technically" have done "wrong" ... So I started out with two cans of concentrate and added the water they would normally get per the can instructions, then added 3 cups of sugar per the recipe that I was following.

So I have a hydrometer and tested it at this point for a starting gravity and had 1.100, which turns out to be a bit high, and ended up after 1 week at .990 which of course gives me a 16.4% ABV. And let me tell you WOW!!!! Rocket fuel is achieved.

So now the question, could I add some regular juice back to this to bring the alcohol content down? Would this taste funny? Should I just give it to my alcoholic friend and start over?

I know I can sweeten with sugar, but would adding juice help and basically do the same thing?

 

[Waldo]

Welcome to the forum Mixer. Loks like you have already learned your first lesson well and that is to not always just follow a recipe insofar as to the amount of sugar to use without taking an sg reading first. Now on to your question about adding additional juice. I think you could add additional juice to increase volume and thereby decrease the alcohol content. I would start with say about 3 cups &check the sg again then a cup at a time until you reach your target sg

 

[Tom]

Ok so first off hello to the group. I am a newbie to the wine making and as most probably do, I have started out with the Welch's grape wine first. I had found a recipe online and followed it before I really knew anything. And after it fermented and I read a bunch on this forum I found a couple of things I "technically" have done "wrong" ... So I started out with two cans of concentrate and added the water they would normally get per the can instructions, then added 3 cups of sugar per the recipe that I was following.

So I have a hydrometer and tested it at this point for a starting gravity and had 1.100, which turns out to be a bit high, and ended up after 1 week at .990 which of course gives me a 16.4% ABV. And let me tell you WOW!!!! Rocket fuel is achieved.

So now the question, could I add some regular juice back to this to bring the alcohol content down? Would this taste funny? Should I just give it to my alcoholic friend and start over?

I know I can sweeten with sugar, but would adding juice help and basically do the same thing?

Two cans is low. I would have started with 3 and add enough water to one gallon. Is this still in primary? If so add another thawed can of juice. What have you done so far?
Adding sugar for sweetness is called Back Sweetening. This is made by adding simple syrup to your wine that has Meta and Sorbate added already.

 

[Runningwolf]

Mixer welcome to the forum! I agree with everything Tepe and Waldo said earlier.

 

[Wade E]

I also agree with all of the above and that the 2 cans per gallon recipe is low.

 

[Mixer]

Thanks "guys" for the help. I will try and add some juice to bring down the ABV as well as sweeten it. You don't think it will make it taste like grape juice with a kick instead of wine do you?

Oh well I will try anyway. We made two batches, my daughter made a white and I made the red, hers turned out at about 15% and mine was 16.4, both a bit high

I really think we were trying to make a much sweeter wine, more like 10% or 11% ABV, but didn't really know what we were doing yet.

So I have made copius notes and will try again with a much lower SG.

 

[Mixer]

P.S. I just noticed that I am probably posting this is the wrong area, I will move my discussions to the "Wine Making Specific Topics" Forum.

Thanks
Mixer

 

[Bert]

Mixer; just be sure to add the K-meta and sorbate before adding any juice or fermentation may start again.....Good Luck...