Beaverdale cabsav + sugar

[ross]

Hi

I have just experimented with Beaverdale Cab sav and added a pack of sugar to the water and added 21% yeast. The result is spectacular and is like a cross between Port and Red Wine. It is very alcoholic.

This is an experiment I will repeat.

[lesrands]

That is very interesting, something that I must try. We need to experiment as much as possible. We shall be having a cheese and wine evening before the end of the month. Bring some along then.!!

[stingrayjay]

I love to read things like this , it puts ideas into my head ,
I
Might give this a go out of curiosity :-)

[stingrayjay]

What size kit was it you addrd a pack of sugar to ? :-)

[ross]

Hi stingrayjay

The kit size I used was 30 bottles

I was trying to work out how much sugar I could add and generate alcohol rather than an appallingly sweet wine.

At the time, the mathematics seemed to flaw me, because I did not know how much sugar there was in the grape juice and therefore I did not know how much more I could add.

After consulting a bottle of this brew I was able to find an alternative mathematical solution to this problem. You can produce 20% alcohol with 8 Kg of sugar. This means that 1 Kg of sugar will increase the alcohol content by 2.5%

Cab Sav is available commercially at a range of alcohol contents from 13.5 %to 15.5%.

If the Beaverdale kit comes in at the bottom of this range, then 2 Kg of additional sugar will bring the alcohol level up 5% to 18.5 % which is perhaps the practical maximum that can be achieved in reality, rather than a lab (obviously using high alcohol tolerant yeast)

If this kit is at the top of the commercial alcohol range, then 2 Kg of additional sugar will result in an alcohol level of about 18.5 % PLUS sugar which has not been converted to alcohol making it sweet. If you find sweet red wine totally unacceptable then adding 2% water is likely to solve the sweetness problem (as long as the yeast is alive an kicking), though it will dilute the flavour.

My general thoughts are that 1.5 Kg of additional sugar combined with high alcohol yeast is the limit to which this idea should be pushed.

I also think that this process ids best suited to Kits that use concentrated grape juice, so the sugar can be added to warm water.

See how fatastic this wine is


I'm not getting younger and my wine is not getting older! If only things could be reversed!

[stingrayjay]

Hi Ross :-)

How long did it take to ferment out ?

Jason