Ye experienced vinters,
I've just polished off the first half of the end product of Winexpert's Island Mist Blackberry Cabernet. It truly was tasty, but a little light on the alcohol content. I'd like to make it again, but with more oomph. Would adding sugar or honey to the fermentables to raise the ABV by 4% spoil the balance in something like this?
Thanks! WB
I have made that kit and several others in the line. It should finish out at 6 to 7% rather than 4%. It is really designed to be a picnic type wine where you can drink it as a thirst quencher in warm weather. Sort of a replacement for beer.
You could certainly increase the alcohol by adding some sugar to the primary to pick up the starting SG but just be aware that this may throw the balance off. You may need to adjust some of the other parameter such as acidity or tannin at the end of the fermentation. Or you may need to do something to the body.
Go for it if you want to.
Ray
I've never tweaked the kit you're speaking of, but have chaptalized some of the higher end cab kits, if the potential alcohol is bellow 12%. I've always adjusted for acid as well. And I've also thrown in a little DAP, to help the yeast. But for your lower alc, you may be able to skip the DAP and adjust for acid only.
If you want to boost your potential alc from 4 to 6%, ad about 14oz granulated white sugar, per US gallon (based on a chaptalization calculator chart from WineMaker magazine). Before adusting acid, use an acid test kit to measure current acid. if your acid is low and you wish to add some, 3.9 grams of acid blend will rais the acidity of 1 gallon of must by 0.1%
Jeff
I would think that raising the alcohol level from 6-7% to 10-11% would really alter the whole balance between alcohol, acidity, tannins, any residual sweetness, etc. If you want something closer to standard table wine (alcohol in the 11-12% range), I think you would have better luck blending one of these kits with an equal amount (or more) of a standard Cab. kit.
If you still have half of the first batch, try a bit of blending and see if that comes closer to what you have in mind. This is pretty easy to do on a small scale, without the risks of taking a kit like this into a place it wasn't designed for.
Doug
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