Help- additive help

[Inkdrop]

I don't know much about wine making as I usually just buy the kits from my LHBS and follow the instructions. I mostly make beer anyway, but my buddy decided to make a wine, and his wife ordered some cheap kit off of ebay or something and he send me a message on FB asking for help. He said the kit came with no instructions so like a complete brainiac (or opposite of) he just dumped everything in the primary and mixed it all up and stuck an airlock on it, and now it has been several days with no activity and he want to know if there is anyway to fix it. He said it came with a recipe list, but no instructions. I can not help him because I do not know what any of this stuff is, or what it does. Here is the last message he sent me.

"no instructions just a recipe booklet. diammonium phosphate,pectic enzyme,campden tablets,acid blend,and wine tannin.all of witch went in wine with yeast.still nothing.on a good note my beer smells awsome.we should have a phone on soon but for now this is the only way to communicate.let me know what i can do to maybe figure out what went wrong with those ingrediants."

I am sure the DAP and acid blend was supposed to go in, but I have never used wine tannin or campden tablets, and from what I looked up on the internet it appears to be maybe more of a clarifier.

Can someone please tell me what these additives are and what they do. Is there anything he can do or mix to fix it, or does he need to just toss it out.

 

[Yooper]

Those are all fine to add right away, but typically the campden is added along with the other items, and then the yeast added 24 hours later. Wine yeast is amazingly tolerant of sulfites, so that shouldn't be the issue.

Tell him to stir it well, then take an SG reading. That will tell you where he's at.