First ever wine kit!

[jansman]

Right then. Just fermented a Wilko Spicy Cab Sav,cleared and racked. Stirred it to clear the CO2.My Wife and me are rather impressed at it's initial smoothness! The only downside is the lack of body, is there any way to remedy this? Or should I just not prat about with it?

 

[ScottM]

If it's good, then I would leave it as is.

Next time brew it short and that should make a good difference to the body :)

 

[jansman]

If it's good, then I would leave it as is.

Next time brew it short and that should make a good difference to the body :)

Yes, I will do that. I do itwith beer kits and it works. I will leave it be,as you suggest. Many thanks.

 

[ScottM]

If it's good, then I would leave it as is.

Next time brew it short and that should make a good difference to the body :)

Yes, I will do that. I do itwith beer kits and it works. I will leave it be,as you suggest. Many thanks.

You can take it as a rule of thumb with all kits.

Think of a homebrew kit like a pot noodle. If you fill it to the line it's not going to be anywhere near as tasty as holding it back a bit

 

[bobsbeer]

With wine kits you get what you pay for i am afraid. If you go for the £45-75 range you will end up with a cracking red wine with body and depth. Okay you are paying £2-3 a bottle but sadly the days have gone when you could get that price in a supermarket. Whites on the other hand can be as low as 30p a bottle made from grape & fruit juices. And taste as good as £5 a bottle supermarket wine.

 

[jansman]

I bottled this last night, and it is pretty smooth , but will certainly benefit from keeping. I will take the advice to brew the next one short. One question though.

If I brew the next kit to 20 litre instead of 23, do I use less sugar?
These kits require 3.5 kg of sugar when full brewed.

 

[ScottM]

I would up your budget and get one that doesn't require sugar. The less sugar, the more juice, the better quality the kit. Once you are into all juice, it's all about the concentration.

 

[jansman]

Thanks,can you recommend a good brand?

 

[ScottM]

I've made 2 Kenridge kits and been more than happy with them. I've only tasted one though (cabernet/shiraz) and it's lovely. It's expensive, but it comes with 10L of juice and you definitely get what you pay for. No additional sugar required.