I think i screwed up.....

[Capnken]

I had sucsessfully done 7 5 gal batches of beer so I decided to make some wine. The directions of the kit said add the large bag , top it up with good water and pitch the yeast, but I had 2 bags, not one. So in my infinite wisdom i put both bags in. Then on the back page of the instructions I see a list of quick reference points that says mix the second bag in at 13-20 days. No mention of that in the step by step instructions. Also the SG was supposed to be between 1.045-1.055 but it was 1.074. Im assuing that fermintation will still occur but not sure if im making wine or something completely undrinkable.

 

[johnnytaco]

If what you added was an f-pack that was supposed to be added right before bottling, it may not ferment correctly. They usually have potassium sorbate in them to inhibit the fermentation of the extra sugars used to back sweeten the wine. If it's just to add sugar after most of the fermentation has completed, you should be ok. I work at a home brew shop, so if you tell me what kind of kit it was, I can figure it out for you .

 

[Capnken]

it was a Cornucopia Blackberry Mure/ Red Zinfandel

 

[Capnken]

I'll just assume that the yeast will consume the blackberry and If it ever does ferment it will need back sweetining. ???

 

[Capnken]

Ok, feel free to comment. This is whats going on.
After one week of no fermentation except for a few little white circles that look like fish scales on the surface i took an SG and it was the same. The batch did smell kind of funky though. I pitched 1/2 a packet of 71B and hooked up a blow off tube. That kicked it off and its been working now for 3-4 days.
My question is since the OG was so high (1.070) and the additional sugar that was in the blackberry, wont this stuff be very high ABV?

 

[DoctorCAD]

1.070 is fairly low for wine, most likely the sorbates in the f pack stalled the fermentation and the addition of the other yeast got it going again. You won't end up with what you bought, but it will still be wine.

 

[Capnken]

Thanks Doc. I know the target OG was 1.045-1.055 so i thought that 1.070 was way high. I will relax and follow the rest of the directions and see what happens.

 

[DoctorCAD]

You will probably want to stabilize and backsweeten when its done fermenting.

 

[Capnken]

So it's been in the primary and activly ferminting now for 20 days with little or no slowing of activity in the blow off tube.
I opened the lid covinced I would find and infected batch with a rank smell but that was not the case, the wine had a few tiny bubbles on the surface but they looked to be very normal or showed no signs of infection. There is no odor coming from it either so I quickly replaced the lid and I guess will wait until the fermintation stops. 2 -3 min. later the activity resumed.
Any suggestions are welcomed.

 

[DoctorCAD]

If you are still in a bucket, rack it to a carboy. There isn't enough CO2 being produced to keep oxygen away from the must.

What is the SG now?

 

[Capnken]

SG is 1.004

 

[Capnken]

so I should rack to secondary even though it's still fermenting?

 

[DoctorCAD]

Yes, it may drop as low as .990, but isnt producing enough CO2 to protect the wine. Airlock it.