Julie,
Understandable. I've found that most recipes are general guidelines,
and the fruit (among other things)you use can affect your outcome. A couple
of things you could do. After you rack, you could pour all the pulp into a
container, cover tightly, and refrigerate - if there is any good wine it
should float to the top and the lees will fall to the bottom, so you might
get a bit more to top up with. You can top up with water or a wine which is
similar to the wine you're making. Or you could buy some marbles and put
them in the secondary to raise the level of the wine to protect it.
You're right, adding water will dilute your wine a bit, but the
difference in your SG isn't (from my viewpoint) going to make that big of a
deal. I usually just round up or round down when figuring a % alcohol.
Or you could follow the recipe this time, see what happens, and then
modify the recipe yourself the next time. Maybe someone who's made this
recipe can help more.
Darlene

"Julie" > wrote in message
om...
> Hello all.
>
> I'm a wee bit frustrated on accuracy or lack thereof in the blueberry
> dessert recipe from the Winemaker Magazine. Things were fine until
> last night, when I was meant to be removing the pulp from the primary.
> This I did. I also took an S.G. reading (1.025). Then, the
> directions indicated I must top up the one gallon with water. Well,
> in order to top up a one gallon, that means I added 1.75 LITRES to my
> new wine. sg of 1.020.
>
> How on EARTH will that ever be accurate?????? That's almost half a
> gallon of water added to it. Even if it tastes fine, how on earth do
> I know what the heck I made, and how much alcohol volume there is????
>
> Thanks,
>
> Julie