How to bump up that ABV (Dried fruit wine kit)

[Babs]

Hi, I just started my 2nd attempt to make red wine (Using a BelVino 23 litre kit with dried fruit - Australian Style Red).

I took an OG reading and that came out at 1.064.

I've estimated a final reading of around .980 and an online ABV calculator tells me this will result in an 11% wine, which is a little under-performing in my opinion!

Is there anything I can do at this stage (day 1 and just added yeast and bentonite) that can increase the eventual strength of my wine.

Thanks people!



Babs.

 

[Nicks90]

20gm sugar per litre = 1% alcohol
So work out what you want to boost by and your volume and voila.
Dump some sugar in and let it get on.

 

[Babs]

Thanks Nicks90, just dumped every atom of sugar I could find in the house into the brew.

It was about 7.5 kilos. (only joking it was 600g!)

Don't suppose there's much point in taking another hydrometer reading now the yeast is in, is there?

Thanks for your advice.


Babs.

 

[Nicks90]

If it hasn't already taken off like a rocket, then yes why not take a reading.

 

[Babs]

It's day 6 and the fermentation has dramatically slowed down.

Burbling now once every 7 minutes or so.

Ready to bottle?

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Babs you cannot rely on the airlock to tell you if fermentation has finished unless you are 100% sure the FV is airtight and most are not, get yourself a hydrometer they are chap and you will use it often its the only way to know for sure its finished, if you intend to always make your kits in a FV you don't need a trial jar. https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/wilko-floating-hydrometer-for-wine-beer/p/0022575

A rough guide to reading -

The closer it gets to .990 it gets the drier it will be.

 

[Babs]

Hi Chippy Tea!

Just did a hydrometer reading (bit of a job with all the sludgy fruit hanging about at the surface!) but I reckon it was about 0.995. That sounds pretty much done to me, but using the formula to calculate ABV (OG was 1.064), I made it come out at about 9% which is ****-poor IMHO. Is there anything we can do? More sugar? More time? Is it worth giving it a taste?

Thanks for all your input!


Babs.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

If its .995 you can move on to the next stage, I wouldn't try and make it stronger you won't be able to tell the difference taste wise and i am sure the loss of 3%ABV will not make you feel you have wasted your time.

 

[Babs]

Thanks Chippy. I think we'll be bottling this tomorrow (unfortunate all this brewing malarkey is clashing with a heatwave AND the World Cup!)

Incidentally, the original demijohn from Wilko is STILL going every 4 seconds after 26 days (it advised 5 lol!). Have high hopes for that one!

Thanks for all your advice, this really feels like a community on here!

Babs.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Keep us posted.

When you have made a few wines and are comfortable with the sanitising and method do give the supermarket juice wines a try, it may seem a little daunting as you are doing it all from scratch but it is really easy and better still cheap and of course if you have any questions there are plenty of members who will happily help - https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/...ne-recipes-and-wurzels-orange-wine-wow.49462/

 

[Babs]

THANK YOU to whoever assigned me my super avatar!

Update! Will be taking a reading and having a taste of the Dried Fruit Kit wine today. Watch this space!

 

[Babs]

Reading taken (on day 6!) of 0.992. No fermentation activity. Tasted it.....

Not bad AT ALL! Really quite dry and resembling a low end supermarket red. Going to strain and rack into another FV right now and then add the stabiliser.

Hopes are high!

 

[Chippy_Tea]

There have been a few threads about Red wine kits in the forums and as with most things price can make a huge difference when it comes to quality if you haven't already seen it check out the wine kit review A - Z thread - https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/wine-and-cider-kit-reviews-a-z.57680/

 

[Babs]

Thanks for the tips, Chippy. I'm seriously thinking about doing a supermarket juice based wine next.

UPDATE! That was quite an experience! I racked the wine into another 25 litre FV and got rid of the considerable amount of gungy fruit in the garden (what will the birds/dogs make of that?!)

After adding the stabiliser we gave it a good stir and left it for an hour. (It was too heavy to shake, as per the instructions!)

Then we racked it back into to the re-steralised original FV and gave it another good stir.

The instructions suggest one final rack off before adding the finings. That'll not happen till after Spain v Russia.

The wine is cloudy of course but smells fantastic.

Further updates to follow......

 

[Chippy_Tea]

The beauty of supermarket wine is you only rack once and there isn't much sediment, we degas and add finings to clear it at the same time which saves time.
If you only like red wine supermarket juice wine may not be for you as you cannot make a proper red wine from this juice but does make a nice Rose or white wine.

 

[Babs]

UPDATE!

The BelVino Dried Fruit based Australian Style Red is done!

We racked off one last time this morning and its now in 20 shining litre bottles.

There was half a litre left over so we tipped it into big glasses and are quaffing it as we speak (or type!)

It really is not bad at all! Almost crystal clear, good nose and nice and silky. It lacks body at the moment but hope that will improve. Fruity flavours and quite dry. A very vague sense of sweetness. The ABV calculator suggests it's around 9.5% and time will tell if that's accurate!

Overall initial reaction: very pleased with it, it works out at £1.10 per litre (83p per bottle in other words). And ready in only NICE DAYS (the bloody Wilko is STILL fermenting after a whole month!)

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Glad it turned out well, does the Wilko one smell OK?

 

[Babs]

It smells fine, had a cheeky taste too, it was really sharp and tasted very "unfinished". It's still bubbling (31 days on) but very few and far between. Reading was 0.998 two days ago.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

They should have a warning on the side of the package saying - "You need the patience of a saint to make this"

 

[Babs]

UPDATE! I think it's finally finished fermenting! No visible activity since yesterday and readings of 0.996 given two days running.

The kit instructions boasted reaching this stage in 7-10 days, it's taken 37!

Stabilising and finings going in today (before England v Croatia!) :UKflag:come on @England !