Boosting ABV

[Eric1]

I have an RJS Grand Cru Vieux Chateau du Roi that I am ready to bottle. If I did my math correctly, the ABV is 10.11. I tasted it and it does not have much kick, supporting the low alcohol content.

Can I boost the ABV using Evercleer (sp) to 12 or 13%? Will it change the taste significantly? How much would I need? (Is it a simple algebra problem like we had in high school?) Has anyone else done this?

Right now, I feel like I have fancy grape juice, not wine. Thanks in advance.

Eric

Edited by: Eric

 

[Waldo]

Masta will be your "go to" guy to figure this one out Eric. It can be done though.

 

[Bert]

Eric; I have added Everclear to a couple of wines to boost the ABV...I was trying to raise them about 3%...I did the math and you really don't need much everclear.....My end result, I felt I lost or covered up some of the fruit flavor and added a bit of harshness to the wine....I did back sweeten some , maybe a little more would have helped the fruit flavor and the harshness is mellowing after a year in the bottle..


If you want to fortify, maybe think about splitting the batch.....Age the fortified and the other part will be ready to drink much sooner...

 

[lockdude]

Everclear is nasty. You cant really buy any truly neutral spirits at the liquer store.If you know anyone thats a good distiller,They can probably give you what you need.The trick is to put something in there thats not going to add off flavors to your wine.You will loose a little flavor,even with the clean stuff.Just dont raise the ABV verymuch.
lockdude

 

[masta]

The calculation is done using The Pearson Square and if you had 6 gals or 23L of wine with a abv of 10.11% you would need to add ~665 ml of Everclear (95% abv) to bring the adjusted abv to 12.5%.

 

[Dean]

Eric, I've made lots of RJS VCdR wines, but never have they been that low. What was your starting and ending SG?

I realize this is a 10L kit, so it might be considered a little on the thin side, but it still should be around the 12% mark for alcohol. Let us know what the SGs were, and we can also see if your math is correct.

 

[scotty]

This newbie thinks that raising alcohol content coverpowers the taste of the wine. I strted by making alcohol content high and now try for a little over 1o%

 

[Eric1]

Thanks for all your input.



Masta: That's pretty close to what I figured using algebra. That Pearson Square is interesting.



Dean: I don't have the SG here at work, but I used an Excel spread
sheet that I found on a forum to figure the ABV. Tasting the wine
confirms the low alcohol content. I have made other RJS GC kits before
with better results, but I may have stopped the fermentation
prematurely with this one.



Scotty: I guess the amount of alcohol is a matter of personal taste. I
prefer wine with a 12% or higher content, particularly the reds. I have
a RJS GC Pinot Gris that came in at 11.63 that's just fine. But for
this wine it just doesn't work for me.



Eric

 

[pkcook]

Eric,


I would never add everclear to a grape wine unless I was going for a port. I'd bottle it and let it develop for a year or so.

 

[Dean]

Eric, I've never made a RJS wine under 12%, except for the Orchard Breezin kits. Are you sure that spreadsheet you are using is accurate?

What was your starting and ending SG, and I'll try to calculate it as well to see if we come up with the same results.