carboy question

Winexpert (and other wine kit companies) consistently state that their wine kits should be made as 6 US gallons or 23 litres. Despite this some people make the kits as 5 US gallons (or 19 litres).

It's basically your choice.

Personally I do the 6 US gallon thing. If I was going to do 5 US gallons I would probably use the cheaper 4 week kits, definitely not the top end 6-week kits (ie WE Selection).

But thats just me....steve

Further to this question.

Check out

There is a lot of info on making kits (and other wines) properly. Winexpert's tech rep hangs out there regularly.

Warning: There is a ***LOT*** of reading there.

Steve

I dilute the 6 gallon kits to 5-1/2 gallons. That typically gives me a full carboy plus a 750 ml bottle of top up after the primary fermentation. Second racking I've got a full carboy (with is actually

5-1/4 gallons). This works out just fine.

I do primary fermentation in a 7 gallon food grade bucket covered loosely with plastic wrap. Supposedly the fermentation can be done in a 6 gallon carboy, but since most fermentations are vigorous, I'd not try it in a carboy.

Bryan

The problem with concentrating a kit to get more flavor is that it concentrates everything in the kit including things like acid and since the sugar is already in them, you will end up with either a much higher alcohol level or a wine that is too sweet. If the kit has enough sugar to make 12% at 6 gallons and you only make 5 you will end up with 20% more alcohol or

14.4% or the sugar will be left in. That is a big difference. Any or all of this can yield unbalanced wines. This assumes that the kit was ballanced to fit it's instructions to begin with. That is a good assumtion for high end kits.

Low end kits are a different matter. You may want to experiment with them but I stick with the high end kits when I am not making wine from scratch.

Ray