[JoeBronco]

This is my first port... In fact my first wine ill be making. Let me know your thoughts about process and product. I have gathered a bunch of information from Winemakingtalk and homebrewtalk. This is what i have come up with...

Start out with 3 Gallons of Sangiovese Juice (with skins if possible)
Hydrate the Bentonite - Add to must
Add 1lbs Corn sugar
Add Metabisulfite to sanitize
Add 1/3 dose Fermk
Pitch Wyeast 4767 (port style)

During fermentation Add the additional 1lbs of sugar and two more doses of Fermk (if needed) to keep away H2S.


The juice SG is 1.086. Adding 2lbs of sugar brings me up to my target SG of 1.130 with a potential of about 18% abv. Fermented to 1.050 to keep enough of the grape sweetness and brings my starting must/wine to 10% abv. Ill be fortifying with a Everclear, Kirschwasser, Brandy mixture. To brink the wine up to 18.5%

When the wine hits the targeted gravity of 1.050 Rack to secondary over Fortification mix.

2.5 Cups Everclear
.75 Cup Kirschwasser (Cherry Hiram Walker Distillate)
3 Bottles of EJ Brandy

Initial Degassing


After a two weeks:

Rack over to Carboy (4 gallons)
Degass
1oz Oak cubes
Metabisulfite - To sanitize
Bar Chocolate
Top up

Taste the wine every week or two. Rack off the chocolate and oak when the wine is your liking. Rack over to another carboy.

Let sit till clear, bottle. Let sit on bottle 6 months

[JoeBronco]

What about yeast choice? whats the BEST port yeast?

[JohnT]

Look up the "Pearson's Square". This is an invaluable tool for making port.

The square takes (as input) the alcohol level of your wine, the alcohol level of your fortifier (everclear?) and kicks out how much you should add.

Once recomendation is this..

Everclear is a pure grain alcohol. I would suggest that you switch to a cheap brandy instead. The brandy brings flavor to the party.

Brandy is also distilled wine. I find that this is better then "mixing grain and grape"

[JoeBronco]

Thanks about the pearsons square. I have an excel document that i formed up, i just need to plug in the numbers and it shoots everything out (quantity, abv and all that good stuff) the pearsons square is a great tool, but it gets kinda tricky when your blending more than 3 quantities of different ABV fluids.

Since Im kinda a math wiz and an experienced beer brewer. I like to tinker around with Hydro Readings and ABV. Im only adding 2.5-cups of Everclear to the 12-cups of Brandy and 3/4-cup Kirschwasser. I have it sitting in a glass carboy airing out now and tastes like it will be a great fortification mix. My Final Fortified Solution is going to be 14 cups of 49.11% (or 99 Proof). That takes my 10.13% wine to a perfect 18.93%.


Any advice on my process of Wine making? This is my first batch. I have done a TON of research on Ports and Wine making but nothing helps more than experienced guidance. Im still unsure of when to add Metabisulfite and Yeast Nutrients...

[ibglowin]

Follow the directions for your chosen yeast nutrient. You can find them online as well. They are usually added 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 with a dose upfront then every couple of days at certain SG's. Is this a fresh juice pail? I don't understand where you come up with a 10% wine. If you start out with an SG of 1.13 and it goes to 0.996 that is 17.6% ABV. I don't think any yeast will go that high. It will more than likely peter out around 15% or so. Also 1oz of oak is not near enough. Port and Oak go together hand in hand. I would use 3oz. Remember you will be diluting the oak with your brandy etc.

Concentrate on the wine first from start to finish, get it perfectly clear, back sweeten it to your desired level (if needed, may not if your yeast stalls out). Add your Sorbate and Sulfite. Oak it. Add your fortification and let it marry for a few months, check the oak again it may need a bit more. I would not bottle this for 1 year so you will need to top up the SO2 every few months.

You know they have some fantastic port kits that take all the guess work out? If this is your first crack at winemaking you may wish to consider it until you get some experience under your belt.

[JoeBronco]

Thanks for your response ibglowin. Im a Portuguese beer brewer with wine drinking friends and family. Some friends of mine own a brew shop and gave me a few wine kits. This particular kit (Sangiovese) was given to me with with the stipulation i was going to make a port out of. Im segregating 3 gallons to make a port and i have 3 gallons of just Sangiovese fermenting now. The Wine fermenting now, i followed the instructions to a the letter. But as i know with beer brewing kits, these kits rush the process and better wine can be made with a better process and time allotment.

I was looking to try the more traditional approach at a non-traditional wine. Starting the Gravity at 1.13 and fermenting to 1.050 and Fortifying just as it is done in Porto. Leaving me with a 10% wine to fortify up till about 19%. Not fermenting dry and backsweetening the wine, unless the 1.050 wine (That's about 3.9lbs of sugar in 3gallons of wine) is not sweet enough.

Ageing 1 year before bottling a port makes more of a Twany style port allowing it to slightly oxidize and im trying for the more green Ruby style port that is bottled young and cold filtered. Im looking at more of a 3-4 month from start to bottling period. I will definitely keep the "marriage of the brandy" in mind as that did not cross my mind, if it takes longer to "Marry" than i may have to keep it ageing in secondary longer. Do you suggest 3oz of oak cubes or powder? I have both but was thinking that i would be able to control the flavor of the cubes better than powder as the surface area is less.

[ibglowin]

How do you intend to get the wine to stop fermenting at 1.050? The home winemaker is better off fermenting to dry and then back sweetening. Do not use oak powder, use a high quality cube or bean.

Welcome to the winemaking world. 1 year in a carboy and your port will be just about ready to go. It will be more like a LBV Port. 3-4 months is rushing things considerably especially when your talking a port wine.

Good luck!

[bob1]

if you fortify then it should work. It may ferment on down to 1.040 while shutting down which is where you want to end up. But 19% - 20% will shut it down.

[JoeBronco]

I was thinking the same thing bob. Dropping another point on the Hydrometer wouldn't hurt anything. In fact thats what im hoping for. 1.050 will be a bit sweet with 1.04 just about perfect.