Did we screw up?

[uwhinesomommywines]

Okay, so everything that came with our wine making kit, as well as some online research we did all said to top up with water *as needed*... Soooo, we racked our plum from primary to secondary and fell short, so we topped up with water. Well NOW I'm reading all over this forum to NEVER top up with water, or else it may water down the wine. Of course, this makes perfect sense...now! Argh! Obviously watering down the wine is not what we want to do... So, now that we've learned to never do that again *wink, wink*, I guess I'm wondering, if we do an f-pack, will that help increase the wine's flavor if it seems watered down? Don't worry - I am quickly learning and repeatedly telling myself, "Learn from winemaking forum, learn from winemaking forum!!" so as to not make silly mistakes like this again!

 

[gwm72513]

It will definitely water it down depending how much water you put into it but unless you are a wine connoisseur I don't think you will notice too much. I topped my first batch up with water and so far it is tasting fine. An f-pack would likely help if you so wished.

 

[Rocky]

Do you know and can you share how much water you added? When transferring from the primary to the secondary, it is not strictly necessry to top off the wine. If you have a huge amount of airspace in the secondary, I would get a smaller secondary container. Topping off is critical when fermentation is complete and gas is no longer escaping from the vessel.

Was this made from a plum concentrate or some type of plum wine kit? Wine suppliers sell a plum puree which would give you some additional body. You could add some of it after stabilization (after bench testing for the amount to add and freeze the rest) or make an f-pack from ripe fruit.

I seriously doubt that you are in any major trouble. Keep the forum up to date on what is happening and what you are doing and all will be fine.

 

[Dugger]

With fruit wines like you are making, the addition of water will certainly water it down but whether this is detrimental is another question. Fruit wine recipes can be a little subjective and you can play around with them; if your SG was a little high to start with, for instance, the extra water may be a good thing.
If you were making a kit wine, many are designed to allow for a topup of water to about 800 ml or so without upsetting the wine balance. I certainly prefer to top up with a like wine but if you don't have any topup wine, some water addition will still give you the wine the kit intends.
I know the mantra is "never top up with water" but you must also remember the saying, "never say never".

 

[CowboyPhil]

Well you have to decide which is worse, topping off or leaving headspace, though adding water make dilute the wine leaving too much headspace can leave you with vinegar. All of that being said, I would say that if it is a small amount of water (a cup) then go ahead and top it off. I defeat this by making a little too much must at the start.
That being said there are other ways of topping off without leaving too much headspace, I make 3 gallons in a 6 gallon carboy and used dry ice chips to top off and create a blanket of C02 so as to deter the bacteria, worked great, others use Argon.

 

[winemaker_3352]

I would suggest making an f-pac - to counterset the water addition. This help bring back in some flavor and aroma.

 

[uwhinesomommywines]

Thank you all for your replies and I apologize for the lack of info I gave!

We made 5 gallons of plum must from fresh, ripe wild plums - using a recipe supplied by our wine accessory supply store. Actually, after we did the recipe, it ended up being about 6 gallons. However, after the initial settling of the lees (there was A TON of sediment in the bottom of our primary), we had "almost" 5 gallons to transfer to our 5 gallon carboy. I believe we added a about a quart of water to the carboy.

The recipe we used is as follows: 5 gallons recipe-

• 15 lbs. ripe plums
• 10 lbs. sugar
• 7 1/2 tsp. Acid Blend
• 5 tsp. Yeast Nutrient
• 1 1/4 tsp. Grape Tannin
• 3 tsp. Pectic Enzyme
• 4 gal. of water
• 5 Campden Tabs.
• 2 pkgs. wine yeast (Lalvin 71B-1122)

Our initial SG was 1.090 and our SG before racking (6 days later) to secondary was .996 - Temp was constant daily at 72 F.

 

[jtstar]

Well you have to decide which is worse, topping off or leaving head space, though adding water make dilute the wine leaving too much head space can leave you with vinegar. All of that being said, I would say that if it is a small amount of water (a cup) then go ahead and top it off. I defeat this by making a little too much must at the start.
That being said there are other ways of topping off without leaving too much head space, I make 3 gallons in a 6 gallon carboy and used dry ice chips to top off and create a blanket of C02 so as to deter the bacteria, worked great, others use Argon.

I think an F pak will benefit you on this wine. As far as the statement above about dry ice any time you add dry ice to any liquid and cap it off you are making a dry ice bomb so this is not recommended and is not safe

 

[CowboyPhil]

I think an F pak will benefit you on this wine. As far as the statement above about dry ice any time you add dry ice to any liquid and cap it off you are making a dry ice bomb so this is not recommended and is not safe

No not cap it off, I add a few shavings and then use a fermentation lock after the dry ice has stopped bubbling but there is still a thick layer of fog.