Putting down first batch - high SG

Hey,

Last night I started my first batch of home brew wine. Its a vintners reserve Merlot juice. When I took a sample the SG was at 1.130 which seems high. The instructions indicate that it should be around 1.085-1.095 for a red. I threw away the yeast packet but I think its expertwine??

So what will happen from here?
If I follow the instructions and get the SG to 0.998 will this mean that it will be very alcoholic or will I be unable to get it this low (due to the yeast becoming ineffective) and the wine will be left too sweet.

Should I add some water or is it too late for that. its been about 14 hrs since I added the yeast. It is bubbling away quite well (like 1 air bubble per second going through the airlock)

Also today is quite hot here (australia) and I decided to place the fermenter in a small fridge for the middle part of the day to keep the temp down. It was approaching 25-26C while the recommended is 18-24. I was thinking of keeping it in there until it hit around 20C. It should take quite a while to get down that low because I turned the fridge right down so im hoping its a slow enough process to not have negative effects on the yeast. Is this ok practice?

Thanks so much for any help and I'm already hooked on this whole process

Jamie

You were probably suppose to dilute the juice to 1.090. I'd get some water in there ASAP. Do you still have the directions? Any chance your hydrometer reading was in error?

I did dilute it with water to 23L as suggested. may have been a bad reading. Will retest now and add water if its still really high. cheers

OK just retested and sealed again.

SG is at 1.072 - I'm assuming the first one was a bad reading? Should I keep testing it daily or every second day? the instructions say to test it next at 5-7

thanks for the help pkeeler