to high of an SG?

[kk1224kelley]

This is my first attempt at creating a batch of wine. I went with 3 gallons of grape concentrate. In my studies of how to, I read that a starting SG of 1.160 will result in a very sweet wine. So, thats exactly what i did, being that i wanted a very sweet wine.(my starting SG was 1.160)
My batch has been fermenting for 5 days now and i was wondering a few things.
Will it just end up dry and very strong(high alcohol)?
Should I stop fermentation at the desired sweetness or allow it to finish then sweeten?
(a big concern of mine)Is SG of 1.160 too extreme of a starting point?

And when i need to top off, instead of water can i just use more grape concentrate to keep from diluting the grape flavor?

Thanks for any helpful comments.

 

[ibglowin]

Sounds a little on the high side for a wine from grape concentrate. It will end up being rocket fuel more than likely. A starting SG of about 1.085 is better for something like this. Let it ferment to dry then back sweeten is much easier usually.

Not sure what to do at his point. Perhaps someone with more experience with making wine from concentrate will pop in here shortly!

 

[Deezil]

Whats the SG now? Is it still dropping?

If its still dropping, add 3 more gallons of water, remeasure your SG and adjust accordingly (up to 1.070-1.090, 10-12% alcohol - including the alcohol already made, found easily by looking at your hydrometer for the difference in starting SG & current SG). Use some more grape concentrate to make up for flavor loss and fine tune with cane sugar. Add some more yeast nutrient and yeast energizer if you have them, to keep the yeast healthy.

Then let it ferment dry (.990-1.000), rack off the lees/yeast slurry, and stabilize with potassium metabisulfite & potassium sorbate (yeast inhibitor), give it a week to sit and backsweeten with grape concentrates to your desired sweetness. Check SG 3 days thereafter for refermentation, if none, clear and bottle (or bulk age).

... Just what i would do, hope to help..

 

[kk1224kelley]

well in after 5 days the sg is now 1.36
would this be an acceptable rate?

 

[closetwine]

Keep in mind when the acl level gets so high it will kill the yeast... you might have rocket fuel by then though.
Options:
1.Go with Deezil's suggestions and make this a bigger batch.
2. Let it ride out...
Surely it's not 1.36?!? Thats way up from the beginning....

 

[Luc]

well in after 5 days the sg is now 1.36
would this be an acceptable rate?

An SG of 1160 is awfull high. It meausures up to a potential alcohol percentage of 22%. But yeast will die off at about 15%.
So the wine will end up as high alcohol, and very sweet.
Don't know if that will be a good combination with a concentrate wine.

Like said above: dilluting is an option.

Luc

 

[kk1224kelley]

it was definately 1.136. either that or my hydrometer is lying

 

[kk1224kelley]

**** i just realized i put 1.36 the first time i ment 1.136

 

[closetwine]

it was definately 1.136. either that or my hydrometer is lying

Ok you had 1.36 up there... so it has came down a whole lot... and that was in 5 days so yeah you're still ok there.

You're very liable to end up with a super sweet high alc wine on this one.
Another thing you can do is start another batch mutch lower in SG, run it dry.

Stabilize them both, then blend them.... And in case the other wasn't answered, most of us top of with a like wine instead of water. Search the forum for Topping up and you'll get lots of great ideas though!
Hope that helps!