Is my wine dead?

[nelgin]

Hi all,

I got one of those internet wine kits. I got one before and it came out perfect. This one seems a little different.

Day 1 I added the yeast per directions. After about 3 days it started to bubble nicely...and then I forgot about it. It's been a few weeks since it stopped bubbling.

I took the lid off the fermenter and it wiffed a bit. Testing the specific gravity the hydrometer plunged to the bottom. I have yet to test it with water to check for 1.0 but I took a sample and it was awfully sour. From what I have read, it seems that all the sugar may have fermented.

Anyway, I still put it in the carboy and thought I'd post here to see if it's likely this wine is no longer wine, or if there's some chance of reviving it?

This was supposed to be a Christmas present for my parents so I still have time to fix it...or start again I guess.

Thanks.

 

[BernardSmith]

Hiya nelgin - and welcome.
What kind of wine is this and who manufactured the kit? The problem may simply be that the wine is bone dry and you prefer a sweeter wine. Do the instructions that came with the kit suggest how you might back sweeten it? I cannot think of any other catastrophic problem that might have occurred if you followed instructions closely... A few weeks in the primary bucket is hardly any time at all for issues like oxidation or vinegar to be detectable and a wine that is a few weeks old is so green that it may not be really drinkable. How many weeks did the instructions suggest that you need to age this wine?

 

[nelgin]

This is a "Wine Lovers Wine Making Kit" that I got from Amazon.

The instructions say the specific gravity should be under 1.020 at this point.

I checked the fine print and it says to adjust the sweetness just before bottling the wine so I guess I'll keep it going and see what happens.

The hydrometer tested fine with cold water. This is a 28 days wine in total but I didn't transfer to the carboy until day 27.

 

[cpfan]

After a "few weeks", the sg will be below 1.000 (which happens to be below 1.020) possibly .995 or .992 which is consistent with "the hydrometer plunged to the bottom".

The sour taste could be a lot of things. It's likely a dry wine and you prefer sweeter (as BernardSmith suggested). Which of the 5 different "Wine Lovers Wine Making Kits" did you buy?
Steve

 

[nelgin]

I got the Merlot. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DUUC5ZO/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I'll carry on and see how it turns out. I need to let it sit again for a while before the next state so we'll see.