Help with Cantina Shiraz/Merlot

[moremeba]

Hi all, I made this kit up today and accidentally added about 1.5 litres too much water. The OG was 1050, is this right OG as there is no indication in the instructions, should I top up with sugar to bring the OG up?

Any help/advice greatly appreciated



Cheers
Barry

[goldseal]

That's a pretty low gravity IMO. Presumably this is a 1 gallon (6 bottle kit).

My initial thought was to add a small tin of red grape concentrate and more sugar if necessary, but that will increase the volume further.

Sugar sounds like a decent idea, but you still have a wine which will be a bit short on flavour and body.

Maybe .... refrigerate it, buy another kit (quickly), then make 2 gals from both - the SG should be correct and you'll have 2 gals of wine

[lockwood1956]

Hi all, I made this kit up today and accidentally added about 1.5 litres too much water. The OG was 1050, is this right OG

I am not familiar with this kit, but would imagine that 12% ABV is the name of the game here....... so 1.050 is too low, it needs to be 1.080

So adding red grape concentrate or sugar to take the SG to1.080 is likely the way I would go

regards
Bob

[moremeba]

Thanks to you both for your swift replies.
The kit has been brewing for 36 hours now, would it be to late to add the juice/sugar as the instructions say that it should be finished fermenting in 4 days.
How much juice or sugar should i add?
BTW this is a 28 bottle kit.

Cheers
Barry

[goldseal]

Right, stop the bus!!!!

If this is a 28 bottle kit, you probably have about 23 litres of fermenting must, rather than 21-and-a-bit (from memory you make them up to a slightly smaller volume than a normal 5 gallon 30 bottle kit).

So, the dilution is not major - 7%.

So, the question is, why was the starting SG only 1.050? Two reasons spring to mind:

1. This kit is designed to produce a low alcohol wine

2. The must wasn't mixed properly to start with and the reading was therefore not a true reading

I suspect number 2. Did you mix the concentrate and the water really thoroughly (i.e. a couple of minutes of thorough stirring?). It can take a lot of effort to get it properly mixed.

It might be worth adding another 250g or so of sugar to make up for the dilution (draw some must off into a sanitised container, dissolve the sugar in that, then stir back into the main fermenter).

[moremeba]

Thanks again Pete for your help.
I will draw off some of the must as suggested and add some sugar.
Maybe i didn't mix well enough, i took the reading before i added the yeast/nutrient pack and the instructions don't say to mix before doing this.
The kit doesn't mention being low alcohol, so i assume it should be normal strength.

I will keep you posted of progress.

Cheers
Barry

[rjb222]

Thanks again Pete for your help.
I will draw off some of the must as suggested and add some sugar.
Maybe i didn't mix well enough, i took the reading before i added the yeast/nutrient pack and the instructions don't say to mix before doing this.
The kit doesn't mention being low alcohol, so i assume it should be normal strength.

I will keep you posted of progress.

Cheers
Barry

With your mistake of too much water being added your are going to be shy on everything. Body ,tannin flavor. Here is what a I would do i would get another kit and make it shy of the the right amount of water you add too much of on your first kit. mix the two together and you will have a proper mix. Shy of that use red grape concentrate. adding sugar at this point will only make a hot wine that is out of balance.The type of kit you are making usually are 68 brix before they are mixed so you should be able to do a little math to get the right amount of concentrate to add back in.