barolo modification - will this work?

[drmick]

I made a Beaverdale Barolo 6 bottle kit last year and I think (like most) thats its a rather jolly wine. However my brother (the wine expert) thinks it should be stronger and have more body.

My plan is to do a 30 bottle kit and add the juice from a 6 bottle kit to it and then add water up to a 30 bottle level and ferment it - in my mind this should up the alcohol by 20% (my current kit is about 11.5% so a 20% increase will make it nearer 14%) and the extra grape juice should give more body.

Does this sound wise? And if so should I stick with the kit yeast or should I use a specialist yeast to cope with the extra initial gravity - and if so which one?

Thanks for all your help

Michael

[Rich]

So, take a £40 kit, add another £10 kit to it. I think it'll turn out quite unbalanced. The kit concentrate contains more than just grape juice I think, It has the acid levels corrected if needed, yeast nutrient, etc all in the correct quantities for what the kit supposed to make.

Why not make a £50 kit in the first place, the Winexpert Vintners reserve kits around that price are very good, even better after some ageing. If you can go the whole hog for a more expensive kit, £60 to £70 ish, then age it a while you'll be in for a nice surprise. One of the first top end kits I made was a Selection Barolo (Upon Bob's advice) At first I was a little disappointed, But it came round into a really great wine that was probably drunk far too young.

If you are hell bent on trying your idea, then a decent yeast may help, the higher end kits tend to come with Lalvin ec1118 or Red Star Champagne yeast. K1v1116 would be an acceptable alternative too.

[NorthernWiner]

My advice would be to ignore your wine expert brother and drink what tastes good to you.

[goldseal]

I agree with Rich.

If you are going to experiment, I would be doing so with 6 bottle kits, not 30 bottles. Richard S successfully tweaked a Beaverdale Rioja (not a million miles away from the Barolo) by adding raisins (for body and a small amount of sugar), tannin and more oak. I thought it did make an improvement, as did others.

The suggestion of K1V yeast is sensible.

[Rich]

I agree with Rich.

Yay, I'll drink your wine more often if I could.

[drmick]

Following your advice I think I'll drink it all myself. Maybe I'll get my brother to fork out for a more expensive kit. I'm not much of a wine drinker normally but it tastes ok to me better than the stuff I was given at christmas anyway so I'm happy. Only problem is it seems to be disappearing rather quickly, think I need to get on and order some more.

Cheers
Michael

[lockwood1956]

Hi Michael

here is a little tweak that should leave the wine in balance


ditch the yeast that comes with the kit, and replace with lalvin RC-212 or K1V-1116

make up to 23 litres and add 500g sultanas to it, ferment as normal and see how it turns out for you. (pretty good I reckon)...it will certainly give you more of the oomph you are lookig for without upping slcohol levels too much, the resulting wine should be fuller in body, and more interesting on the palate.

regards
Bob

[lockwood1956]

or....

instead of ditching the yeast, you could use it to ferment parsnips, or some other such nonsense

[spritzer]

Make more, more often, and let it age....
I was disappointed with the Barolo initially, but its a different wine altogether after a year.
The more you make, the better chance it has to getting to a good age. (Thats my story anyway, and I'm sticking to it )

[Cellar_Rat]

I agree with Rich and Steve. .. and I still like to try stuff!

I think your change is too much to soon. If you want to try something, do ONE small thing at a time.
By making one change you can see the difference it makes.
By making a small change you reduce the risk of an unmitigated disaster which could be costly and undrinkable.

How about making it up slightly more concentrated by reducing the end volume to 29 bottles?

[billybuntus]

Is it worth swapping out the yeast across for the board on beaverdales? for the whites aswell?

[Rich]

Is it worth swapping out the yeast across for the board on beaverdales? for the whites aswell?

Without knowing exactly what yeast they use it's hard to say. It could be a major name bought in bulk and repacked for their kits.

It also may not been the same yeast in each kit, even though the packs look the same!

[lockwood1956]

Is it worth swapping out the yeast across for the board on beaverdales? for the whites aswell?

Well....every time i have done it ....its been an improvement

[billybuntus]

Well....every time i have done it ....its been an improvement

Add 5tsp trozozyzmzmnzoozlzomol aswell? or is there nutrient in the must?

[koomber]

trozozyzmzmnzoozlzomol

You missed a 'lol' in there