"What if" question on grape packs

[Rocky]

Say that you had a wine kit that did not come with a grape pack and you also had a grape pack. If you added your grape pack to the kit, I would expect that the SG would increase due to the sugar in the pack. The question is how much water would you add to make up for the grape kit? I suppose one could take the SG before the grape kit, add the grape kit and mix it well, wait about an hour and take the SG again. I assume it would increase (certainly should not decrease). You could then add enough water to drop the SG down to the original level. Am I thinking right here or am I off base?

 

[ibglowin]

I have done this little experiment several times and it will raise the SG aprox 0.013. I would not add any additional water.

You will have a slightly higher ABV but only by ~ 1-1.5%.

 

[robie]

Add water to get to the proper level as though you had no grape pack. THEN, add the grape pack, which will raise the level of the must an inch or so. The additional sugars in the grape pack will only slightly affect the ABV; not enough to try to compensate for it.

 

[Rocky]

Thanks, Fellows. Good to know this.

 

[Wade E]

Well put Dancer!!!!!!

 

[Flem]

Add water to get to the proper level as though you had no grape pack. THEN, add the grape pack, which will raise the level of the must an inch or so. The additional sugars in the grape pack will only slightly affect the ABV; not enough to try to compensate for it.

That's how the RJS kits with grape skins specify doing it.