Common noob mistake- I hope!

[mrfixitwhite]

Hi all :)
I pretty new to wine making but have been brewing beers from kits for a few years. i.e add sugar water wait and drink :)
I decided to go the hop to wine as I had various fermentable objects growing in the garden!
My first rhubarb - not to great -more like squash
So my error came on my first ever batch of Plum wine...
when I substituted lb's for kilos! in the sugar area ! whoops
Common sense should have prevailed when the demijohn was half full of sugar but alas I continued ! 2/3rds of the jar and approx.1.8kg of sugar later and you can see my problem.
well that was 10months ago and I just decided to bottle it.
its smelling like sherry! and is still like syrup ,is there anything I can do to save it?
It CANNOT go down the drain!! lol
I look forward to your wise responces
Graham

 

[cornyandy]

There isn't a lot you can do, assuming the yeast has worked in such a high sugar must (lets assume it has, that you did see signs of ferment and that it has fermented out) Once you hit an ABV of 13 to 15% depending on your yeast tolerance then no amount of extras will make it ferment. Alcohol levels much above this will kill off the yeast. Your only real option is to make a dry wine and blend the two. Sorry not to be of any more help.

A

 

[simon12]

Just taste it and go from there. If it tastes full of sugar (and you don't want it to) pour half into another demijohn and top both up with white grape juice add more yeast and see what that comes out like. Or you could just try and mix it in a glass to make it drinkable maybe tonic water may do it.

 

[mrfixitwhite]

Many thanks :) would any of the high strength 20% yeasts work but I have no experience with them at all? I'd not be adverse to making it a strong drink and adding some lemonade!
Otherwise a blend would be ideal- twice the amount! lol
Simon12 -not sure if I could drink it as it is- bit like drinking golden syrup at the minute even if I added some tonic water!

 

[Gorty]

If this is not too late, if all of the sugar was fermented out it would give an alcohol content in the area of 22-23%, which is too high for most yeasts, as far as I understand it the 'Turbo Yeasts' produce just alcohol and destroy any fruit flavour in it. (I'm sure some you guys will put me right if I'm wrong.)

If you use a combination of both Andy's and Simon's suggestions, you have 1.8kg or 4lbs of sugar in your wine, if you split it between 2 DJs and add some WGJ to each, you will have to check on the carton for the sugar content, but I would suggest something like 100g sugar content to begin with, and fill to the bottom of the shoulder with cold water, give room for activity, add a very high alcohol tolerance yeast, something like Youngs 'Restart' and a good yeast nutrient like 'Tronozymol' you should be in with a chance, top up when any vigorous fermentation subsides and ferment out.

It should give an alcohol content about 12-13%. Good luck and keep us informed please.

 

[mrfixitwhite]

Not to late at all!
Its bottled sitting in the cupboard at the minute:)
Took me some searching to find out what WGJ was lol- DOH! was thinking like WKD
Ordered the yeast and nutrient now :) i'll get it done as soon as they come and keep you posted!
Many thanks everyone

 

[tonyhibbett]

If it smells like sherry, it's either oxidised or maderised. To some extent this can be corrected by adding a neutral dry white wine and sulphite.