[Question] Making stronger wine

[Herculainn]

H'yello,

Any tips on pushing the abv up a couple percent? The wines I've done have come out at 10%, it would be nice to go that bit further..
There are so many articles and videos with different/conflicting ideas, so I want to know what works for you.

I'm using a 30L fermenter for 23L of juice; Am I right to assume that kind of head space will leave plenty of O2 for the yeast's reproduction pre[/during] fermentation? I've an airlock on the whole time, can't think of a place in the house safe enough to leave her open.. which sounds like a horrible idea anyway..

Would banging in some sugar after a while for the wee buggers to work off help? The wine I'm left with is already on the sweet side, though. So perhaps more yeast with tolerance to higher levels of alcohol?

Perhaps the secret is patience.. Airlock bubbling stops after 4~5 days, two days later and I'd move to secondary where it resides another 4~5 days before bottling.

..or maybe the secret is using a better kit. I've only used Cellar 7's Merlot, and Sauv. B.
My only deviation from their instructions is the duration; should only take 7 days.
I could be asking for too much from the kit..



Aidan

[itsclinto]

Hi Aidan,

There are two things you can do that i know of:
1. Use less water - by reducing this from 23 litres to say 20 litres would increase the strength of the wine.  By how much, i wouldn't know.
2. Probably as you said add sugar/honey/glucose to bring the fermentable sugars up.  Again, i wouldn't know by how much. This may affect the taste/crispness/dryness of the original wine.
There are probably other ways that i don't know of.

The way that i do wine is to do the kit and mix it all together and sprinkle the dried yeast on top.  I noticed that some kits say to mix the yeast into the wine but i'm guessing thats up to you.  I normally have the wine in a 30 litre fermenter and have no problems.  I don't rack the wine until after about two/three weeks.  There is no harm in leaving it there and also the trub hardens on the bottom as the yeast is finished.  After racking, i then leave for another couple of days with the additional clearer (according to the instructions).

I noticed that the reds are harder to get as per a normal bottle of wine taste compared to the white.  I have a cab sav bottled and left to one side so the harshness hopefully comes out of it.  The white wine is more drinkable sooner and i noticed that the pinot grigio is probably the best (althought i've only a sav blanc to comapre to).

Probably post this over in the wine section, you might get more info there

[Herculainn]

Thanks, man.

I'll try the stronger concentration with Cellar 7's "Merlot Blush", and leave it longer again in fermenters.
Another thing I keep neglecting to do is check the scale that's pasted to the bucket, I don't trust it

I'll give the additional sugar a go the next time perhaps, and try the pino.

What abvs are you getting?

[itsclinto]

No problem at all.

I was told by the Hambleton Bard woman that she makes the 23 litre kits to 19 litres so i've done the past two like that.  I think it came out around 11-12%.  I'll check that when i get home.

[Herculainn]

Starting at 1.066, ending at 0.992.. Sound good?

Most wine kits advise you to add water to get an original gravity of ~ 1.086 - 1.092 to get ~12% - 13%

Sounds like the same advice from the wine board!