Need help. Man I screwed up

I bought a Island Myst kit. I added the juice and the note said if theres two bags to put it in. Well the second bag was called the f-bag and I didnt see it AND IT WASNT SUPOST TO BE ADDED UNTIL LATER. Is there anything I can do or is it junk? sorry for the caps

I dont know much about wine, I really dont think it is ruined though. Maybe Yooper will chime in or you could pm her, She knows quite a bit about wine.

Anyone here ever used this kit?

I think it will be ok! The F pack is the back sweetening sugar to be used after it's stabilized. My guess is that your wine will ferment down to being very dry with higher alcohol than it's suppose to have.

Having done one Island Mist kit, I can't help but think that having a dryer wine might not be so bad. I like a little sweeter wine but the Z pack makes it really sweet. You can always back sweeten with sugar if it's too dry.

Thanks
Should I still follow the directions for the amount of days or stop the ferm. sooner?

I'm thinking it may take longer in the primary. Ferment it down to the gravity it should be at if you didn't add the F pack. Don't worry about stopping the fermenation (impossible anyway), just let it do its thing. Once it's down to the stated gravity (probably .995ish), rack, stabilize, and degas. Let it clear and at that point I would taste it and see if you want to back sweeten.

Please keep in mind that these suggestions are just a guess.

The F pack has sorbate in it, to inhibit refermentation during the sweetening.

It still might work out for you, but you may not get it to ferment at all.

Take an SG today, and one tomorrow. Stir the wine several times a day, pretty vigorously. If the SG is the same, I'm afraid that it won't ferment. If the SG is dropping, even slightly, that means it's working.

Sorbate is a preservative that you often find in commercial juices. It's a strong preservative, and inhibits fermentation. That's a good thing when you're buying juice you are planning on drinking over a few days, but not a good thing to try to ferment.

It might be worth it to spend $2 and buy two packages of champagne yeast (Lalvin's EC1118 would be a good one). Make a starter with some apple juice and yeast, and when it's super foamy, add a TINY bit of your must, diluted in some water. If it's still going, add a tiny bit more of your must, diluted a bit less. You can keep doing that, as long as fermentation keeps going. Once you're adding more must and almost no water, and it's still going, you can try putting it in your fermenter with the must. It might go for you.

I'd say the odds are less than 50% that you can get it going, though. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

Are you sure the F-pack has sorbate in it?

I've heard of people purposely adding the F-pack to the must from the start to obtain a dryer result. I know Wine Expert kits have the sorbate separate from the F-pack. Not sure about Island Mist.

PAC762 said:

Are you sure the F-pack has sorbate in it?

I've heard of people purposely adding the F-pack to the must from the start to obtain a dryer result. I know Wine Expert kits have the sorbate separate from the F-pack. Not sure about Island Mist.

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Ahhhh, good point! IF the sorbate is separate, and wasn't added, then that would make a big different. I was under the impression that the sorbate was in there, but maybe not! That would be great in this case?

What other packets do you have? Any of them marked "potassium sorbate"?

My Island Mist kit came with separate metabisulphite and sorbate packets. I just assumed that the f pack was just sugar syrup but I don't know that for sure.

zoeconner, make sure to let us know how this turns out. Your "mistake" may be something I want to try on a kit. I wasn't completely happy with my Island Mist kit and actually think this could be an improvement.

PAC762 said:

Are you sure the F-pack has sorbate in it?

I've heard of people purposely adding the F-pack to the must from the start to obtain a dryer result. I know Wine Expert kits have the sorbate separate from the F-pack. Not sure about Island Mist.

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I just bottled a Strawberry White Merlot Island Mist kit...the sorbate was in a separate envelope from the F-pack juice..I think the F-pack was the strawberry component.

If that's the case, and the sorbate is separate, then you have nothing to worry about! It'll turn out just fine. I revoke my long rambling post from above.

Yea its separate. I thought I should stop the fermit early. Do you think it will still teste like peaches? I forgot the name of it but a store gave me a additive for my aphelwine to stop the fermit so I can add suger to it to sweeten it.

zoeconner said:

Yea its separate. I thought I should stop the fermit early. Do you think it will still teste like peaches? I forgot the name of it but a store gave me a additive for my aphelwine to stop the fermit so I can add suger to it to sweeten it.

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If it were me, I'd just let it ferment and drink as is. I like dry wine, though. The peach flavor will not disappear, but will be less obvious without all the residual sugar.

If you have your heart set on a sweet, peachy wine, then you could follow the kit instructions and add some sugar when the instructions call for adding the F-pack. I'm not sure how much to add, though.

I do not think you'll see any benefit from stopping the fermentation now (k-meta is what you probably used before with the apfelwein). You can't remove the F-pack you already added. I'd suggest just letting the yeast do it's business. If you really want a sweet peachy wine, then backsweaten with sugar after you add the k-meta per the kit's instructions. You could use dextrose, cane sugar, or maybe even the juice from a can of peaches.

I just finished a kit with an F bag. It was mighty dry before adding the F bag, that stuff is potent!
My guess is that it will need to be backsweetened, but should still taste fine.

All mist kits I have done end up in the 7% to 8% ABV range. If you still wanted the sweetness, you should be able to take daily hydrometer readings (hopefully you have your starting SG), then when you reach a determined target gravity, add your packets (#2 Metabisulphite, and #3 Sorbate) to stabilize (read - stop the fermentation). I'd be sure to sanitize your wine thief and hydrometer very well as checking everyday increases your infection risk. This would get you close to the desired alcohol content, and leave enough residual sugar to keep it sweet. If you let it go, alcohol content will be determined my the yeast, which could probably eat sugar up to a 12% ABV or higher.

I usually add 2lbs. of cane sugar prior to pitching the yeast so it gives it a slightly higher ABV.

My starting SG was 1.07. I would like to have aroung 10% ABV. What do I need to get my SG at? How do you figure that out?

zoeconner said:

My starting SG was 1.07. I would like to have aroung 10% ABV. What do I need to get my SG at? How do you figure that out?

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If you started with 1.070, then you should have about 10% when you're done.

The easiest way to figure ABV is by this formula:

(OG-FG) x 131= ABV (approximately)

So, (1.070-.996 [probable finish, more or less])x 131= 9.7% ABV. Maybe closer to 10% if it finishes lower.

Thanks. Ill check in a week and see where it is.

I have done several Mist Kits and I have added as much as 5lbs of sugar in the primary before pitching the yeast. My final product was quite nice with the exception of my last (Black Raspberry Merlot). This kit finished sweet but is nice for my SWMBO's friends who like the sweet wines.

Many people have added 1/2 the F-pack into the primary to lower the perceived sweetness of the final wine. As others have noted, you may like the final product without having to sweeten the wine when finished fermenting, but that is a personal decision. As for the sorbate concerns, you will be okay as the kit has a seperate envelope of sorbate to be added later.

The other concern is that with the increased S.G. of the juice prior to pitching the yeast, the yeast supplied may have difficulty starting as Yooper has indicated. Also, the yeast supplied may not be able to ferment completely if the ABV is to high at which point you would need to introduce a yeast capable of handling the higher alcohol levels. I personally do not think this will occur if you have not added additional sugar.

Just my $0.02 worth. Good Luck.

Salute!

No I didnt add any. What I dont under stand is I thought the yeast will eat all of the sugar. So is every wine dry and you have to add sugar to sweeten it?

zoeconner said:

No I didnt add any. What I dont under stand is I thought the yeast will eat all of the sugar. So is every wine dry and you have to add sugar to sweeten it?

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Generally, yes. Some wine yeast are more alcohol tolerant than others- some go to 18% ABV or so, while some peter out at 14%. Still, you can plan on it going dry.

Mist kits are by design a semi-sweet to sweet wine kit. I think your final product should me nice albeit less sweet than intended, but it should still be something you will enjoy very much.

Taste is a personal thing and everyone is different, so go with your own desires on sweetening or not.

Good Luck.

Salute!

well it stoped bubbling and the taste was pretty good. It had a little zip or tang to it. Almost like sparkling wine. The sg was only 1.02. I would like a higher alcohol content. If I add 2 more cups of sugar how much do you think it would go up.

zoeconner said:

well it stoped bubbling and the taste was pretty good. It had a little zip or tang to it. Almost like sparkling wine. The sg was only 1.02. I would like a higher alcohol content. If I add 2 more cups of sugar how much do you think it would go up.

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I wouldn't add a thing right now. you'll boost the ABV, but the sugar will ferment out and you'll have no idea what you did. Leave it alone for at least 5 more days, and check the SG again. It'll probably go down a bit more.

Bubbling is NOT a sign of fermentation. It is probably still fermenting.

I just recently made a Strawberry Riesling that was a mist wine kit. The SG was supposed to be something like 1.055! After some researching online I found people that added dextrose to the must to boost the alcohol content. I added a little over 7 pounds, until I had a SG of 1.102. The yeast that came with the kit was Lalvin 1118. I have used it with making mead, and that yeast does just fine with high gravity.

As far as all wine fermenting dry, the yeast will convert most of the sugar to alcohol, but alcohol also creates a hostile environment for yeast to live in. You can either back-sweeten the wine, or have enough sugar in the must that the yeast all die of alcohol poisoning before all the sugar is converted to alcohol. Back-sweetening is easier. I'd personally just add some sugar in place of the F packet when you add the rest of the stuff to clarify and stabilize the wine. Let us know how it turns out.