Young’s Winebuddy 1.8kg advice

[Daniboy0812]

Hi Guys.

Merry Christmas to you all.

Just had the aforementioned wine kit as a present.

I see this kit is only 1.8kg - can this kit really make 30 bottles of Cab Sav? By my estimations it would probably be pretty pissy and weak.

Can someone advise how much water and sugar to I really need to add to this kit to make some half decent plonk.

Thanks

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I have have made the sav blank version many times and we enjoy it, read my review - https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/winebuddy-sauvignon-blanc-30-bottle-kit.49224/

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi!
I've made it exactly as the instructions and got a decent wine that SWMBO liked very much.

 

[Drunkula]

You have to add 4kg of sugar, that's where most of the alcohol comes from. If it's fairly new you could save half of the yeast for other things if you're doing other things. The amount they give you is perverse. It's basically to make it failsafe but if you're brewing it anywhere but in the antarctic.

 

[Daniboy0812]

You have to add 4kg of sugar, that's where most of the alcohol comes from. If it's fairly new you could save half of the yeast for other things if you're doing other things. The amount they give you is perverse. It's basically to make it failsafe but if you're brewing it anywhere but in the antarctic.

The amount of juice concerns me that the wine won’t have any ‘body’ to it. I normally brew 3-5L wine kits.

Can you ‘enrich’ it with anything if it turns out weak?

 

[tonyhibbett]

The simple answer is no! While you can get away with such small amounts of concentrate with white wines, you can't with reds. Originally, these kits came with just 1 litre of grape juice concentrate At best that's 4 litres of juice to make 23 litres of wine! I note that this has been replaced with 1.8 kilos, hopefully 100% pure grape juice concentrate and not adulterated with 50% glucose, like similar cheap kits such as Wilco. Check the label.
The kit can be improved by reducing the amount of water to be added, down to a total of, say, 21 litres, which will also slightly increase the alcohol. You can also replace some of the water with cheap red grape juice from Lidl, reducing the sugar by 160 g per litre added. Another trick is to add grape tannin to make it taste a bit more like cabernet sauvignon.
It does improve the longer you leave it to age.

 

[Drunkula]

What Tony says. To fake body the flavour sachet is rammed with glycerine. In the chardonnay and sauv blanc kits I haven't found it a problem but with the reds I find it sickening and have been doing the reds without it. I got loads of them really cheap and have two thirty fermenters cold crashing at the mo. I've added Lidl red grape juice before. So maybe taste it after it's done then add the flavour pack bit by bit.

 

[tonyhibbett]

Yes, glycerine adds sweetness which you don't want in cabernet sauvignon!
You can also replace some water with cheap apple juice.
The packs used to come with oak chips. Adding a lot more oak chips will help.
I put a Munton's cs (same as the Wilco) in an oak cask and kept it topped with red wine. That worked out quite well, but the cask cost almost £100!

 

[Daniboy0812]

Yes, glycerine adds sweetness which you don't want in cabernet sauvignon!
You can also replace some water with cheap apple juice.
The packs used to come with oak chips. Adding a lot more oak chips will help.
I put a Munton's cs (same as the Wilco) in an oak cask and kept it topped with red wine. That worked out quite well, but the cask cost almost £100!

Yes there are 2 pack of oak chips. I’ll hold off on the glycerin shall I?

 

[tonyhibbett]

I have the list of ingredients and unless there have been recent changes, there is no glycerine. The flavouring pack contains grape, blackcurrant and redcurrant juice concentrates. I estimate the natural sugar content of these to be around 200 g. Because this is added after the stabiliser it does not ferment and therefore has a significant sweetening effect. To avoid this, add the flavouring pack at the beginning. You can further enhance the flavour and colour by adding more blackcurrant juice at the outset. I recommend the Lowicz brand, as it contains no preservatives. I f you add a whole bottle, reduce the sugar by 400 g. You will detect a pronounced smell of blackcurrant at the beginning but this will fade and become more subtle.

 

[Bigcol49]

You can also replace some water with cheap apple juice

Hi!
Be careful - the Winebuddy kits have a large proportion of apple juice in the syrup to begin with.

 

[tonyhibbett]

the Winebuddy kits have a large proportion of apple juice in the syrup to begin with.

At one time, the cab sauv kit concentrate consisted only of apple and elderberry, but now it's pure grape juice concentrate. There is apple juice concentrate in the flavouring packs for the whites but not the reds.

 

[The Baron]

I have the list of ingredients and unless there have been recent changes, there is no glycerine. The flavouring pack contains grape, blackcurrant and redcurrant juice concentrates. I estimate the natural sugar content of these to be around 200 g. Because this is added after the stabiliser it does not ferment and therefore has a significant sweetening effect. To avoid this, add the flavouring pack at the beginning. You can further enhance the flavour and colour by adding more blackcurrant juice at the outset. I recommend the Lowicz brand, as it contains no preservatives. I f you add a whole bottle, reduce the sugar by 400 g. You will detect a pronounced smell of blackcurrant at the beginning but this will fade and become more subtle.

Plus one to this advise I put the flavour pack in to ferment out the sugar and add blackcurrant juice and sometimes redwine juice especially if I have bought the kits cheap in a sale. It does help to improve the kits at the cheaper end but you can spend a lot on top of the standard price with additions so be careful as it then is not a cheap kit.

 

[Bigcol49]

At one time, the cab sauv kit concentrate consisted only of apple and elderberry, but now it's pure grape juice concentrate

Hi!
When was the change made?

 

[tonyhibbett]

Years ago

 

[Daniboy0812]

I have the list of ingredients and unless there have been recent changes, there is no glycerine. The flavouring pack contains grape, blackcurrant and redcurrant juice concentrates. I estimate the natural sugar content of these to be around 200 g. Because this is added after the stabiliser it does not ferment and therefore has a significant sweetening effect. To avoid this, add the flavouring pack at the beginning. You can further enhance the flavour and colour by adding more blackcurrant juice at the outset. I recommend the Lowicz brand, as it contains no preservatives. I f you add a whole bottle, reduce the sugar by 400 g. You will detect a pronounced smell of blackcurrant at the beginning but this will fade and become more subtle.

I have added the flavouring bag, juice bottles, 4 litres of non concentrate red current juice from Sainsbury’s and 3.5kgs of sugar topped up to 23L.

Thank you

 

[tonyhibbett]

Unusual to get redcurrant juice. Did you mean blackcurrant? Anyway, good luck with it!
You've prompted me to remind myself what true cabernet sauvignon tastes like so I opened last year's, which had been in the cask for 12 months but only 2 months in bottle so still a trifle harsh, but promising!

 

[Daniboy0812]

Unusual to get redcurrant juice. Did you mean blackcurrant? Anyway, good luck with it!
You've prompted me to remind myself what true cabernet sauvignon tastes like so I opened last year's, which had been in the cask for 12 months but only 2 months in bottle so still a trifle harsh, but promising!

Full bodied red grape juice 100% so it says on the packaging.

Ingredients: Red Grape Juice not from concentrate.

 

[tonyhibbett]

That's fine. You have effectively doubled the grape content. Increasing the tannin content would be good. Make a strong mug of tea with 3 teabags, leave for 5 minutes and pour it in.

 

[Daniboy0812]

That's fine. You have effectively doubled the grape content. Increasing the tannin content would be good. Make a strong mug of tea with 3 teabags, leave for 5 minutes and pour it in.

Tea? Really?