Turbo Merlot!

[MerlotMark]

Hi all,

I'm not sure if this post should be in the 'Wine Kit Reviews' section or this one but I chose this one because the kit was so extremely modified it felt more appropriate!

I started off with a WineBuddy Merlot 30 bottle kit which I've done before and swore I would never do again but I got a couple on eBay for £18 each and thought I'd mess around with a few modifications to try and make them drinkable

!

So this was the recipe I ended up cobbling together:

1 WineBuddy Merlot 30 Bottle Kit
4L of RGJ from Sainsburys
500g of chopped and simmered raisins (also from Sainsburys)
3.5kg of sugar (500g less than the kit instructions say as the mods obviously add a lot of fruit sugar)
1 cup of strong tea (3 bags of Yorkshire Gold)

Everything else I did adhered to their instructions except it took 10 days to ferment through completely then I racked off to a 2nd FV leaving the fruit solids and most of the sediment behind. After stabilising I added the finings as per the instructions but then gave it 3 more days to clear before bottling.

The initial gravity was 1.098 - considerably higher than the unmodified kit I completed some months ago which was 1.080 - and the final gravity was a rather remarkable 990! The unmodified kit finished fermenting at 992. So this gives us a final ABV of approximately 14.7% (or possible around 15% if the sugars from the solid fruit weren't fully registering when the IG reading was taken).

Anyway - I had my first sample glass last night and was rather pleasantly surprised! It's certainly a strong wine, that's for sure, but the fruitiness and body just about manage to balance with the high alcohol content. It's also not as dry as I was expecting (maybe due to the fruit 'flavour' pack that Youngs supply). Way better than the unmodified WineBuddy Merlot - both in taste and in colour (it actually looks like a red wine!) so I'm definitely going to apply these modifications to the other kit I purchased.

However, next time I think I'll add an additional litre of Sainsbury's RGJ and reduce the sugar to 3kg, that way it won't be quite so 'turbo'

and the body and colour should increase just a bit.

Give it a go if you dare!!!

All the best,
Mark

 

[Vinotinto]

Did yôu take this to the original total volume? Ie , replace some of the water with the rgj? I have 5 of these sitting in a cupboard that I keep ignoring as it is so 'awful'.

 

[GDog]

Did yôu take this to the original total volume? Ie , replace some of the water with the rgj? I have 5 of these sitting in a cupboard that I keep ignoring as it is so 'awful'.

It's pretty rank isn't it (unmodded of course, good luck to the OP in beefing it up !)

 

[MerlotMark]

Hi guys,

Agreed, it's definitely not 'fine wine' unmodified! I'm pretty pleased with the results of the tweeks I made although I would definitely reduce the sugar content in future because I'm sure that's what gives the Winebuddy kits that horrible 'glycerin' flavour. I topped up the FV to 21L so a bit short of the instructions which inevitably added to the high OG. Perhaps topping up to 22.7 would result in a 'smoother' finish. Anyway, I have a glass of the stuff in hand right now and can't say it's all that bad :)

All the best,
Mark

 

[Bigd2657]

Hi all,

Sounds great and I am off to mexico in august but when I het back I will be trying this for sure.

Big D 2657

 

[private4587]

Have you given any thought of replacing RGJ with Waitrose's Merlot juice?

 

[MerlotMark]

Ooh... sounds good! I wasn't actually aware that existed as we don't have a Waitrose nearby but I've just Googled it and it looks very decent... twice the price of the Sainsbury's RGJ however

I'll give it a go at some point though... probably on it's own in a 5 litre brew... I wouldn't want to tarnish it with a Winebuddy kit! :)

 

[Dempoe]

How long do you simmer the chopped raisins for please ?[/QUOTE]