first wine is fermenting

Last night i started my very first attempt at brewing anything. I decided to start simple, and made 1 gallon of "jug wine". I combined the recipe lorenae gave me on another post with a recipe from a friend who had made similar wines a few times, and this is what i came up with:
2 cans of welches frozen white grape juice
1 can of welches frozen harvest blend juice (apple, white grape and pear combo)
1 cup of sugar dissolved in hot water
1 tsp pectic enzyme, 1 tsp yeast nutrient, 1tsp acid blend
Lavin K1-V1116 wine yeast
I chose the K1-V1116 because it ferments fast and tollerates a wide temperature range, which is important as my appartment is not air conditioned. My wine making friend uses this yeast a lot for one gallon batches and in his experiance fermentation is usually done within a week.
Let me know what you guys think of my recipe and i'll let you know how it is!

the recipe looks great- except there isn't much sugar. Were you able to take a s.g. reading? The juice might have enough natural sugars, but I would have thought that 3 cups would be about right. Unless your juice isn't 100% juice- it could be juice with added sugars. If you used juice with high fructose corn syrup, it'd be fine with only 1 cup of sugar.

Remember, sugar isn't put in there for sweetness- it's for the yeast to make alcohol.

I'm going to do the Welch's red grape with 2 cans of grape juice, and I'm going to use 1 1/4 pounds of sugar (about 3 cups).

Otherwise, those flavor combinations look awesome.

Lorena

hmn...
looking at your recipe, Lorane, and some others that i found on the web, i was assuming that 3 cans of juice and 1 cup of sugar would be enough. Would you recommend trying to add a bit more, or at this point should i just wait and see what happens? I suppose the worst thing would just be a low alcohol wine?

I assume you don't have a hydrometer? That would be the best way to check.

What ingredients are listed on the cans of juice? If it's not 100% juice, then it's got added sugar.

You're right- no problem except low alcohol. It'll be a very dry very low alcohol wine. It won't keep long at all because of the low alcohol. That yeast will tear through that sugar super fast. That yeast has an alcohol tolerance of 18%, so it's best for dry, higher alcohol wines.

You can add more sugar if you want. Otherwise, don't worry about it. It'll still be drinkable. I'd recommend getting a hydrometer. They're cheap and very handy for winemaking.

Lorena

How important are the acids and enzymes, if i leave them out would that be a huge problem ?

from what i understand, the acid blend evens out the flavor a little bit, and the pectic enzyme is clears out the wine so it isn't cloudy when it's done. A friend of mine made something similar without the enzyme, adic, or the yeast nutrient, and it turned out pretty good. I figured that i'd spend a couple bucks a bottle for the chemicals if they improve the brew, and i'll probably end up using them in the future as well. But i assume this would work without them. Someone with a little more experiance want to give their two cents?

You're right- pectic enzyme "breaks up" the pectin to allow it to settle in the bottle for a clearer wine without sediment "grit". The acid blend is tartaric, citric and malic acid (I think) and is used to add some depth and flavor to the wine. Neither are essential and you'll get a good wine without it. It's very cheap, though, and a little goes a long way, so I always use it. It makes a difference between "ok" wine and a very good wine.

Lorena

i would add the pectin after rapid fermantation

alright thank you.