Half length wine kit

[soupdragon]

Hi all

I bought a carafe 21 "full red" on a whim a while ago as it was only about £12 for the 30 bottle kit.
Now after giving it some thought I'm considering only making it up to 10 litres and cutting the sugar addition down to 2kg in an effort to boost it as it'll only produce a very light red at best with not much body if made to full length.
Can anyone see any possible issues with doing that?

Cheers. Tom

 

[simon12]

Only issue I can see is if it has anything artificial in terms of flavours which I thinks unlikely or if it comes out to acidic or something. Hopefully someone with more knowledge can clarify.

 

[soupdragon]

There was no flavour pack in the box. I was surprised at how little juice was supplied though, 1 litre

Cheers. Tom

 

[Frogbrew]

I would make as instructed and just add a few litres of red grape juice from a supermarket to replace some of the water. Whichever way you choose it will be ok.
Most cheaper end kits only have 1ltr of juice but it is concentrated don't forget.

 

[soupdragon]

More concentrated than the £30 ish kits?

Cheers . Tom

 

[LED_ZEP]

I tried this with a Wilko kit, it still had no body and it was very acidic.

 

[soupdragon]

Hmmmm, thinking on, if I compare it to a beer kit it might not be the best idea. You can get away with brewing a beer kit short but you'll end up with an overly bitter beer if you take it too short. They're ballanced and designed to be brewed as per the instructions, I would imagine the same goes for wine kits. I never gave acidity a second thought. I've made other wine kits short but only down to 20 litres so will probably do the same with this one and just deal with it till its all been supped.

Cheers. Tom

 

[LED_ZEP]

Try adding a kilo or two of frozen red berries (Tesco do imperfect berries for about £3/Kg). I've done that with cheap red wine kits and ended up with a nice, fruity, summer drink.

 

[soupdragon]

It's worth considering. May see what's on offer or I might still just brew slightly short and leave it for a while before drinking. My first kit after restarting making wine was a wilko cabernet Sauvignon that was a bit "eeek" to start with but after a while settled down to a drinkable (just) red

Cheers . Tom