Hello from Washington

[bryano]

Hello everyone I've been making wine for about 1 year now. I've done two symphony wine kits, one blackberry from the friut, 1 half peach half pear from the fruit, and just started a batch of strawberry which is from the canned wine base. All has went well exept the peach pear which is going down the drain tomorrow, I think it was screwed from the start. The blacberry was exceptional, so everyone says. I've even saved 2 bottles for entry in next years fair. I like the site and look forward to all of the useful info here.

 

[Sacalait]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[mmadmikes1]

Welcome from Washington, getting to be alot of on site

 

[Runningwolf]

welcome aboard

 

[Wade E]

Before you go dumping that batch please tell us about it and give it more time to come around. Not every batch will be god right out of the carboy and there were a few wines that I almost dumped but didnt and 8 months later finally took a swig and wowo did it ever come around! Welcome to this site and hope you stay around.

 

[outdoorsmadness]

welcome to the site . alot of great people here with alot of good advice.

 

[bryano]

Before you go dumping that batch please tell us about it and give it more time to come around. Not every batch will be god right out of the carboy and there were a few wines that I almost dumped but didnt and 8 months later finally took a swig and wowo did it ever come around! Welcome to this site and hope you stay around.

I'll try to get all this as accurate as I can... I'm bad about documenting my steps so bare with me. This is what I started with....
about 15# each of peaches and pears
5 gallons Good quality water
10 Lbs corn sugar
10 Teaspoons Acid Blend
5 Teaspoons Yeast Nutrient
2 ½ Teaspoon Pectic Enzym
1/4 teaspoon sulfite
1pkg Red Star Premier Cuvee wine yeast

When I put it all together minus the yeast it was only 1.040. So I added sugar, way too much sugar. Well over 1.100 now. I added more water to bring it down to 1.085, I prefer 070 for fruit wine. Considering the increased volume of sugar and water ( 8 gal total ) I used 2 pkgs of yeast and increased the nutrient and enzym by half the original amount. I also had the acid tested and added 5 tsp to bring it up. Fermented the first 5 days in a bucket w/loose lid than transfered to 6 gallon carboy. Took 8 more days to reach .990. Added 1/4 tsp sulfite and 2.5 tsp sorbate and degassed. Racked twice over the next 3 weeks. Tasted... was fizzy like it was still fermenting. But it was at 990 so I figured fermentation was impossible. Thinking there might be some sort of bacteria causing it I added another 1/4 tsp sulfite hoping to sanitize and kill off any bacteria. 3 weeks later the fizz is gone, but it's not clearing. I racked a week ago and there's no sediment on the bottom at all. And the taste ishorrible, extremely high in alcohol, almost no fruit flavor. I know there is additives to make it clear but when the taste is so bad I'm considering just starting over. The original recipe has been so distorted I'm almost scared to drink it.