Solomon Grundy wine kit

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blue eyes

Solomon Grundy wine kit

Post by blue eyes » Wed Feb 16, 2011 3:06 pm

I am about to start my second of these kits and I must say I am very impressed with them.
The question I have is it asks for 3 kilos of sugar to be added for the reds,but am I ok to reduce it to 2 kilos instead?
Will it still ferment as good?
I don't like my wines too sweet,this is a cabernet sauvignon.Will reducing the sugar make the wine drier?

fatnurse

Re: Solomon Grundy wine kit

Post by fatnurse » Wed Feb 16, 2011 3:42 pm

im no wine brewer but, the more the sugar the more the fermentables and therefore the higher the alcohol content, maybe trying a different yeast (a higher alcohol yeast) will get the result you want

danbrew

Re: Solomon Grundy wine kit

Post by danbrew » Wed Feb 16, 2011 4:21 pm

Cabernet Sauvignon is a dry red and if the instructions say 3 kilo then i'd go with that. The yeast with the kit should be adequate. Presume this is a 5 gallon kit? Less sugar will provide less alcohol.

If your first attempt turned out too sweet them presumably it was a sweet wine kit or for some reason the kit stopped fermenting and became 'stuck' at a certain OG? Did you take any hydrometer readings for your first attempt?

Geezah

Re: Solomon Grundy wine kit

Post by Geezah » Wed Feb 16, 2011 7:17 pm

I've done a few solomon Grundy kits and i'd say stick to the recomended 3kilo's.
Ignore the 7 days till finish statement on the box, they generally take a lot longer than that to finish, which is why maybe you found it too sweet. Let the FG get down to 1.000 minimum (pref .996) before clearing and degassing/bottling.

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