I have just racked and tested two gal. of red wine and the alcohol content is 24% and the sugar content is 5.1 on the brix scale. my question is how should I reduce the alcohol percentage and leave the sugar content about the same? Should I add distilled water?is there some formula, I want to get to about 12% alcohol and 3 to 5 sugar for semi sweet wine. thank you

thank you for your reply. I tested the alcohol content with a alcoholmeter and the sugar with a brix scale hydrometer.

"Hello, wines generally range from 11-18% alcohol. With that said, the best way to get a different percentage alcohol and still keep the flavor profile (sweet) that you want to keep is in your recipe formulation and yeast choice.

In other words, the next time you make wine, you may choose to use less must or possibly a different type of yeast. The wine yeasts available these days are quite varied. One yeast may make your wine very dry and one my leave it sweet.

There are programs available online, as well as slide-ruler type calculators to tell you how much must per gal/litre will produce a certain amount of alcohol. Then just go to a brewing website and read the information on the different yeasts and pick one that matches the flavor profile you like.

And sorry if this doesn't answer your question directly.

The direct answer is, that if you water it down, you will lower the alcohol level, but you will also weaken the flavor and thin it out. I would drink it as is, or age it a bit and then try to rectify the situation with your next batch.

Practice makes perfect!"