Is my OG too high?

[tenorbrew]

Hi Folks,

Just brewed my first ever batch of wine, Elderberry and blackberry.
The starting gravity is startlingly high: 1.111.
Should I be worried?
Should I water it down now?
I checked several times and I checked the calibration on the hydrometer, which was fine.


Elderberry and Blackberry wine
250g Blackberries
1150g Elder berries
2.8L water
1tsp Pectinase
(Mashed berries, added water, 1 crushed campden tablet and Pectinase)
1.5kg sugar and 1.3L water for syrup
500g sultanas (minced and boiled with sugar syrup)
1tsp yeast nutrient
1 tsp youngs super wine yeast
1 tsp citric acid

Start volume: 6L
Start OG: 1.111
Pitch Date: 20.09.13

Thanks for any advice,

Tenorbrew

 

[Brewtrog]

It is a fairly sugar laden recipe, CJJB recipe by any chance? If you use high strength yeast (something like young's super) it should be fine I reckon.

 

[graysalchemy]

I would have used less sugar 1kg max. I personally would have increased the fruit doubling the blackberries and possibly increasing the elders. However increasing elders does lead to a longer maturation period but does lead to a heavier bodied wine. Increasing sugar however has the opposite effect making it a bit 'thinner'.

:thumb:

 

[tenorbrew]

It was a recipe from a book called "Drink your own garden".
I used youngs super wine yeast.