Wine Kits - Brew short or long? :confused:

[Vinotinto]

Following on from some other threads I am interested to know what experiences you guys have had and any comments etc regarding a bit of fiddling with the market wine kits.

Some say leave alone completely ( although in many cases that will give me about 11% which is a tad low )

Some say brew short eg 21 litres for a 30 bottle kit.

Others recommend adding extra water AND sugar to allow for racking etc and to keep the abv up

What do you think?

 

[engineer]

For the first kit of any type its best to follow the instructions and see if you like it as the manufacturer marketed it.
Taste is a very personal thing and some people will like it per the original recipe some wont.

If i make it per the instructions and then conclude that it needs improvement i will generally brew the next kit short by at least one litre and in my experience for a mid level kit that's all i have needed to do to improve it at point of storage.

After that of course time takes over and most will improve with a month or more in storage.

 

[tonyhibbett]

The best way to improve a red wine kit is to omit the finings and transfer the wine to an oak cask. Some water is lost due to breathing, which reduces the volume but raises the abv by up to 2%. The slow interaction with oxygen and yeast significantly improves the wine, particularly the cheaper kits. A further period of maturation in bottle gives the best result.

 

[Tau]

Adding extra sugar will up the abv, adding the extra water will dilute that extra abv. Some of the yeasts supplied with kits struggle with the higher abv from extra sugar.

@tony, when you say omit finings, I take it because of a long stay in cask and it clears naturally.

Casks are expensive and take up a lot of room, if you have the room and money why not.

 

[yellowbelly]

I always brew to 21 litres find its the best compromise between quality and quantity