Help!!!

All, I'm really new to this wine making. We bought 5gallon bucket juice (made in Italy) four days ago from warehouse and was told to start the process ASAP. My grandpa passed away on the same day so we couldn't do anything but left them in the basement (67#F). Tonight, we finally put 1/2 pack of yeast into each gallon. Then we tested the specific gravity (sg). Both buckets are 1.050, lower than 1.100 (the standard starting level). Could that be the fact that we left them for too long and they fermented already? What should we do now? Please help!!!! I'm so worried now that I ruined all the juice.

How did it smell when you pitched the yeast? If no noticeable odor then you are probably fine. Most juices out there are around 1.05 anyways. What kind of juice was this again?

Chardonnay and Nero D'Avol. Chardonnay has some odor, not so much the other one. So should I add some sugar now or just wait until it dropped to 1.000? Thank you sooo much for your reply!

It does not sound like you had spontaneous fermentation or spoilage so you should be good.

It makes it harder to estimate ABV on a whine adding sugar after yeast pitch but I plugged some numbers into the calculator over at gotmead.com and here is what I got. Starting out at 1.05 if you add 2 lb of sugar then that will get you to a suggested starting OG of 1.068 so around 9.5% ABV when dry. Add 4 lb of sugar to get you to a suggested OG of 1.086 so around 11.7% ABV. If either of those options sound good for how you want your final product then feel free to add the sugar now. Will not hurt anything at this point.

*edit* lol a "whine"? lol Wine* I am not taking any cheap pun like shots at your brew. Carry on.....

Thank you thank you! I'll add some sugar!

make sure you boil the sugar in water to turn it into a syrup before adding it, it makes it easier for the yeast to digest

Thanks Honda!

Actually with grapes you do not need to make an invert syrup...which is water, sugar and citric acid. Grapes naturally have invertase, the enzyme that helps convert the sugar. You can dissolve sugar in just enough water so that it is clear so it mixes into the must easier.
If making non-grape wines it is recommended you make an invert syrup. If you do not do so, the ferment will still occur but with a bit more stress.

i would still recommend making invert syrup, be kind to your yeast man...