tea bag wine sg, advice please

[the big lebowski]

hi all after trying a my 1st tea bag wine and really enjoying it i made 25 liters which is now tucked away to enjoy this summer,i have started another gallon and this time i thought i`d get all professional and check my sg and fg i added slightly more sugar this time (500g) and a teaspoon of tronozymol yeast nutrient and energy salts and had an sg of 1.075 any ideas what sort of percentage of alcohol it will have ? its been fermenting now for 4 days and doesnt look like slowing down for a while,any advice welcome,cheers

[Two_Sheds]

had an sg of 1.075 any ideas what sort of percentage of alcohol it will have ?

Doesn't your hydrometer tell you? Mine does, I'll go have a look...

... 10%, which is the bare minimum needed to keep wine. Ideally, you want to start with an SG of 1.090


Did you follow the exact quantity of sugar as per the recipe?

[the big lebowski]

hi ,its shirll`s tea bag wine and I thought 500g`s would be more than enough I have only filled the demijohn up 2/3rds of the way should I add more sugar ? its still fermenting nicely so the yeast is still alive ,cheers

[Two_Sheds]

its shirll`s tea bag wine ... I thought 500g`s would be more than enough .... should I add more sugar ?

She says add "Sugar to sg 1.080 or 1.090"

Later post says she added 3kg for 5 gallons, or 600g per gallon

As to adding more sugar: don't just dump it in, it won't dissolve. Make up a sugar syrup with your sugar dissolved in boiled water, then add it when it's cool.

What I tend to do now though, is just add fruit juice, usually white grape or apple (not the UHT kind though)

[Two_Sheds]

I have only filled the demijohn up 2/3rds of the way

Has your primary fermentation (the mad bubble) finished? Then it should be filled up to the neck, to keep air out.
If you added just water, it would further dilute the wine.
Ideally, you would work out the amount of sugar you need by doing some maths (it's too early for me though, I can't do it for you).

[the big lebowski]

hi two sheds,thanks for the advice,where i`m at with it at the mo is i put 500g`s(thats 1kg in total) more sugar in and it is just coming to the end of its main fermentation i`m going to check the fg in a couple of hours then put in a campden tablit and then rack of in a couple of days into another demijohn,cheers

[ohbeary]

1kg in 1 gallon/4.5lt = OSG 1.085 ish and if fermented to dry should yield 11% alcohol, what tea bags did you use?.
I like to use 20 "Very Berry" fruit t'bags from Lidl, steeped in 1lt boiled water, 1kg sugar dissolved in 2lt hot water with 1tsp tartaric acid and 1lt white grape juice + 1tsp yeast nutrient, 1tsp pectolase all topped up to just below the neck with water after the initial vigorous fermentation, this gives an OSG of 1.090 fermenting to a final SG of .990, (a drop of 100 points divided by 7.36 = 13.5% alcohol) this is a little strong for the body provided by the grape juice so after stabilising with 1/2tsp potassium Sorbate and 1 Campden tablet when cleared, I top up with white or red grape juice to a) sweeten a little and b) reduce/dilute the alcohol.