General wine kit info

[Rustynail]

When making a wine kit does the alcohol content increase if you make a kit at 5 gallons versus 6 gallons. Maybe a stupid question. No haters please.

 

[mainshipfred]

It does due to the increased sugar content. It also increases acids, tannins and other things.

 

[crushday]

It appears that you’re really asking about how to increase the alcohol. You could add simple syrup to increase to ABV. This is called chaptailization. Be careful that you don’t make it so high that it causes a stuck fermentation as the yeast do have a limit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaptalization

 

[sour_grapes]

When making a wine kit does the alcohol content increase if you make a kit at 5 gallons versus 6 gallons. Maybe a stupid question. No haters please.

I think Fred's answer was the one you wanted, but let's be exacting: The total alcohol content will be the same, but in one case, it will be spread out over 5 gallons, and the other over 6. So the ABV (i.e., the percentage of alcohol) will be higher for the 5 gallon batch. But there will be the same total amount of ethanol in the 5-gallon carboy as in the 6-gallon carboy. (All of the foregoing is assuming that fermentation proceeds fully in each case.)

 

[joeswine]

The old adage is" less is more."
Less dilution the more of everything.
The more dilution the less of everything.
It's only spread out if you dictated to.
I think!

 

[BernardSmith]

But while every answer is good, here's the essential point: if you are asking the question, rustynail, that suggests that your experience in wine making is limited and your experience with kits may be as limited. But the thing about a kit is that the manufacturer has tested and tested and tested everything to provide the first time wine maker with a good finished product if that fellow follows instructions. If - IF - you know exactly what you are doing and why you are doing what you do - then you can use a kit as your starting point, but if your experience in wine making is quite limited I would go with the kit instructions, because there are two secrets to making a pleasantly drinkable wine. The first is patience. All wine takes time to move from fruit to glass. The second secret is all about balance and balance consists of flavor to alcohol to acidity to perceived sweetness to astringency (tannin). The kit maker has tweaked the kit so that it should be in good balance. You can change the balance, but you need to know how to re-balance everything so that the wine is again "balanced". If the manufacturer has worked to provide your wine with balance I would follow their "recommendations", but this is your kit and your wine...

 

[Rustynail]

Thanks for ALL of the replies. I have made somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 wine kits from different manufacturers, from cheap kits to expensive kits. I find that they are all pretty decent and drinkable. I was simply curious, and answered, that if I made a kit at 5 gallons would that increase the ABV in each bottle. Thanks again.

 

[cmason1957]

Thanks for ALL of the replies. I have made somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 wine kits from different manufacturers, from cheap kits to expensive kits. I find that they are all pretty decent and drinkable. I was simply curious, and answered, that if I made a kit at 5 gallons would that increase the ABV in each bottle. Thanks again.

No, not a stupid question, but one without a simple answer. If your SG is higher at the beginning of fermentation when made to 5 gallons (which it more than likely is) than your ABV is going to be higher. Also, if you add more sugar at the beginning or during fermentation, your ABV goes up.

Remember how ABV is estimated, it isn't calculated, since the convrsion factors are just best guestimates, not absolutely how your fermantation actually converted the sugar to alcohol. (Beginning SG - SG at the end of fermation) * 131.25