so I screwed up...

[snoopthulhu]

I made a mistake, right from the outset. I have a winexpert gewurtz kit, and I made the mistake of not checking how much juice was in the kit. I had preloaded water into my fermenter so it could get to room temperature. Too much water, as it turns out.

So I now have about 7 gallons of mix with yeast in the fermenter bucket, and another 2 quarts in the fridge that I couldn't talk myself into putting in the fermenter also (would have left no room whatsoever in the bucket).

This is my second batch ever. What are my watchouts? Should I just give up now, or can it be saved?

 

[BernardSmith]

Never actually tried this because never had this problem.. but what if you froze the must (or some of it ) and simply held onto the first "runnings" of the thawing must.. Those "first runnings" would be concentrated juice - My sense is that you would lose some of the juice but the juice you would hold onto would be pretty close to the juice that you want. What I would do is measure the gravity of the thawed juice and when it was close to the gravity of what you expected to start with stop thawing and see how much must you have.. Basically, what you are doing is removing water by freezing and then removing the ice (water will freeze first and will thaw last leaving liquid the concentrated sugars. This is what I have in fact done to concentrate apple juice to increase its gravity before pitching yeast

 

[Johnd]

Ouch!!! Maybe split into two 3.5 gallon batches, add some white grape concentrate to each, getting your SG into the proper range for the kit and go from there.

 

[DoctorCAD]

What was your SG at the start? That will tell you if this batch is fixable.

 

[NorCal]

Wine is 85% water, 13% alcohol and 2% flavoring. Get the must right by adding concentrate and/or sugar

 

[TonyR]

Sounds like you are going to have a VERY watered down wine. I see 3 choices 1, learn to enjoy water down wine. 2, look on the web for a wine concentrate to add so it has flavor and corrects your screw up, this is what I would do. 3, dump it out and start over and mark it up as a good life learning experience.

 

[David219]

Do you know how much water you added, exactly? If you got another kit and a large enough food grade primary fermenter, you could make a double kit. I've never made 12 gallons of kit wine together before, but I can't think of a reason why it isn't possible.

Assuming you didn't add over double the amount of water at the start. And you would need the carboys available to handle the simultaneous load. And you would have to REALLY love Gewurtztraminer, like 60 bottles worth. And have the funds available to purchase another kit immediately.

Yeah, maybe this isn't such a good idea. But it is AN idea...

 

[joeswine]

in the mix

First things first, do you know what your ABV.is?second buy a small container of white juice concentrate, and dried elderberry flowers, everything is available either at your brew Store or on line. That was white wine concentrate .in a clean bucket add 6 gallons of what you have made ,8ozs. Of the concentrate, reserve the balance if any, ADD the elderberry flowers about 1/2 cup and let it sit.this is all depends on the ABV.you have at present and if haven't added all your chems. That came with the kit.if you haven't added all the chems.we should be able to adjust that also,thinking outside the box is the key and patients. Do you have patients?

 

[heatherd]

I made a mistake, right from the outset. I have a winexpert gewurtz kit, and I made the mistake of not checking how much juice was in the kit. I had preloaded water into my fermenter so it could get to room temperature. Too much water, as it turns out.

So I now have about 7 gallons of mix with yeast in the fermenter bucket, and another 2 quarts in the fridge that I couldn't talk myself into putting in the fermenter also (would have left no room whatsoever in the bucket).

This is my second batch ever. What are my watchouts? Should I just give up now, or can it be saved?

I agree with buying another kit and making a double batch, adding no water to the second batch. Put half of batch one plus half of batch two in one primary and the same in a second primary. Pitch yeast on both and follow the instructions.

 

[snoopthulhu]

Thanks all for the tips. I think the easiest, sanest course suggested is to try a second batch with less water, then blend together. If I start today I can get them mixed for the secondary fermentation stage.

For the record, my reading of the batch was 1.079 at 70 F.

 

[DontTreadOnMe]

I just joined today! Not sure what happened to your support but a starting gravity of 1.079 is low but, not an issue!
It will likely finish dry, so if you want it sweeter, you can stabilize after your fermentation is for sure finished, and then back sweeten a bit. BUT 1.079... NO WORRIES! let it be wine!

Of course since I only just joined the thread it may be too late!

 

[Julie]

Welcome to winemakingtak DontTreadOnMe and nothing has happen to his support. He got the answers he needed, the problem is not the sg, the problem is he added to much water to a kit.

 

[DontTreadOnMe]

Welcome to winemakingtak DontTreadOnMe and nothing has happen to his support. He got the answers he needed, the problem is not the sg, the problem is he added to much water to a kit.

Wouldn't the determination of too much water (not enough sugar) be verified by measurement of his SG? And if so wouldn't an SG of 1.079 be fine for a dry wine? However I suppose, not enough juice flavor (guess I was thinking that could be corrected in secondary or by back sweetening)?
I'm sorry I added my two cents here as I know nothing about "kits" or much of anything else...sorry again!
I suppose I am misunderstanding his situation (and the process in general) and... I thank you for the welcome, and will let the more experienced vintners give advice and just learn from here on out.

 

[Julie]

Kits have everything pre measured to make a certain amount of wine, the poster ended up adding too much water which in turn weaken the flavor and made a thin wine.

 

[Tnuscan]

Thanks all for the tips. I think the easiest, sanest course suggested is to try a second batch with less water, then blend together. If I start today I can get them mixed for the secondary fermentation stage.

For the record, my reading of the batch was 1.079 at 70 F.

So what did you end up doing and where are you at now?

 

[sour_grapes]

Again, welcome to WMT, Donttreadonme. Don't be afraid to post questions or answers based on this first one!

 

[Johnd]

I suppose I am misunderstanding his situation (and the process in general) and... I thank you for the welcome, and will let the more experienced vintners give advice and just learn from here on out.

DontTreadOnMe,

First, welcome to the forum, glad you're eager to jump right in, don't be sorry for that!

Second, please don't sit idly by and watch the winemaking go by, participate in the discourse, learn from others questions as well as your own. Learn from others answers and experiences as well as sharing your own thoughts and experiences! That's what brings value and validity to the discussions.

 

[DontTreadOnMe]

Paul and John, thank you!

 

[snoopthulhu]

Thanks for the continued interest and support! I thought I'd post what's been happening with this to date.

Two days after the initial screw-up, I started a second batch. There was virtually no water added to the batch, and threw in the leftover from the 1st mix. Starting temp was 70 F and a SG of 1.121.

On 3/6/16, I took measurements of both buckets. Temp for both was 72 F. SG of the initial over-watered batch was 1.008, and the 2nd under-watered batch was 1.033. I decided to rack them and mix as equally as possible to homogenize it. I racked the mix into two glass carboys, mixing them as equally as possible. I filled to the top "line" on the glass carboys, which left me about a total of 1 and 2/3 gallons in another container. After racing and mixing, I took new readings. Carboy 1 (C1) was 1.011, Carboy 2 (C2) was 1.02, and the extra was 1.018. Not as evenly mixed as desired, but I decided to run with it.

Two weeks later, I'm waiting on a good SG reading to proceed to fining and clearing. The house has been cold, we let the woodstove go out for a while, so temps were probably consistently in the mid to upper 60s during this two weeks. But we had the stove kicked back on yesterday and at least the next few days, so hoping for some continued yeast action. On Wed. 3/16 I got C1 at 1.005, C2 at 1.004, and the extra at 1.005.

With a temp of 72 F, today, I got C1 at 1.004, C2 at 1.002, and the extra at 1.002.


I anticipate doing another thorough mixing together prior to starting the next stage, to homogenize it again as much as possible for the end. In my extremely limited experience, these readings don't seem to bad.

 

[cintipam]

I'd say you handled that like a pro. Since white wines are usually better when fermented colder and slower that cold snap probably improved the wine. The SG won't go a whole lot lower but give it time to try.

Good job!

Pam in cinti