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Mumazilla

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So, I started my persimmon wine, just a gallon, 9-30. I lost my paper with all my notes and recipe (go figure), but I did have video/pictures to put it sorta back together in a more permanent notebook. My last note 10-12, SG.995, I added pinch Pot. meta to the jug, only cuz it smelled off. I tasted it 10-24. Wasn't sweet. Now, here is the noobie part here, and I hate learning something new, only because of the little - oh no! - here and there. So, yes, I didn't take another SG reading nor add anything (my brain forgot about that step) and added sugar to back sweeten and fill the neck, only it didn't go in my notes, sigh, I know. So today, I look at it. It's clear-ish, so I wanted to rack again and sweeten for taste if needed. Noob again, I seen the little bubbles and even though half my brain tells me to take a SG reading BEFORE I add pot meta/sorbite to the jug, lazed out and didn't do it. I added the measured amounts, let is sit half the day, and then go to rack it and take a reading and it is up at 1.042! (it's sitting a cool 67 room)
You can lecture me and then add a bit of helpful advice. Thanks in advance!
 
So looks like you added at least 1 lb of sugar per gallon (if the SG of 1.042 is due to one go around of back sweetening) , but your post is a little confusing so I have no idea if you were able to stabilize the wine before you added any more sugar or you simply added K-meta without K-sorbate and added whatever before you knew that there would be virtually no active yeast cells remaining in the carboy.
Bottom line - if the wine was not properly stabilized then your ABV will rise another 5% . If you stabilized the wine before you added the sugar then you will have a very sweet wine. The sweetness can be reduced by blending the sweet wine with another batch of the same fruit/wine that is fermented dry - the greater the ratio of the dry wine to this sweet wine the less sweet the blend will taste... Another gallon will result in a final gravity of 1.020; another two gallons will result in a final gravity of about 1.014...
 
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Ah, I see what you are saying! See, noob again! I forgot all about the calculating abv, see another nah moment. It started out at 1.096, went to .996, sweetened it and was at 1.042. So, that would have been about 13.3%. I forgot that sweetening it up will bring the hydrometer back up, but that it doesn't mean I have fermentation going on, unless it starts to re-ferment, and then tested again, the reading goes back down, right? And, it didn't ferment again, to my knowledge. I looked back at my videos, and I added 1 cup of 1:1 ratio water/sugar.

I guess I could try to figure out the abv...challenge some brain cells. But with that comes another question. If I wanted to sweeten it with a little bit of honey, will it still change things more? Outside of making it sweeter, which is what I'd like. I have enough space, since today's racking, for a little more sweetener. Or, (so many options) fill the space with marbles and taste it again in 3 months?
 
If your wine is stable at 1.042 that is so sweet that it might remove tooth enamel. :: . You like it even sweeter? Okay, to each their own.

A starting gravity of 1.096 will give you potentially about 12 - 13 % ABV. Not sure how accurate a reading is or how accurate the calculations are that convert the nominal sugar content to potential ABV so I never really use the tenths of a percentage. But you know the ABV - You know what the starting gravity was and you know what the finishing gravity was (.996) It won't go much lower, so unless the added sugar begins to ferment then .096 * 131 (I use 131 as my conversion factor) = nominally, 12.5 - so between 12 and 13%
 

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