December 2013 Wine of the Month Club

[vernsgal]

It looks good Raelene. Apricot brandy is my husbands favorite

 

[jamesngalveston]

ok...now.....you have to top off that head space..heres how

get a bottle of white wine, look at the abv...figure out the pearson square..and add to get to 20 percent...
top off with that...
you cant leave that much head space for long...

 

[the_rayway]

Wineforfun: it's 'regular' unflavoured brandy.

James: Aha! Was wondering where to go with that! I'll take care of it.

 

[jamesngalveston]

hum....you think that apricot is good.
get some cans of frozen welches concord....make a port out of that.
by the end of the year, you will be using your bathtub as a primary.
lol


good luck ray...

 

[kryptonitewine]

hum....you think that apricot is good. get some cans of frozen welches concord....make a port out of that. by the end of the year, you will be using your bathtub as a primary. lol good luck ray...

So what should a starting sg be?

Add brandy at around 1.50.

Any other "tips"?

 

[jamesngalveston]

i start my ports at 1.100, when it gets to 1.045, i start tasting every day.
when it gets to where the sweet level is where i want i add the brandy.
always will have residue of sugar, and no sorbate is needed.....with 20 percent abv.

 

[vernsgal]

hum....you think that apricot is good.
get some cans of frozen welches concord....make a port out of that.
by the end of the year, you will be using your bathtub as a primary.
lol


good luck ray...

Is this the one you made James?

 

[the_rayway]

I vote that James makes a 'Port Recipes' thread for all us newbies.

I've started scrubbing out the bath tub...

 

[jamesngalveston]

lol ray

 

[vernsgal]

I vote that James makes a 'Port Recipes' thread for all us newbies.

I've started scrubbing out the bath tub...

I think a port thread would be awesome!! I know you and James are both new to this but if we can get something going with some members , I'm sure there's some on here with more experience to maybe even get a sticky? I think I'm getting interested in this, but I'm not as brave as you two to jump in just yet lol. I have to say Raelene, your recipe definitely has peeked my interest. I think my husband could love this!

 

[the_rayway]

I think a port thread would be awesome!! I know you and James are both new to this but if we can get something going with some members , I'm sure there's some on here with more experience to maybe even get a sticky? I think I'm getting interested in this, but I'm not as brave as you two to jump in just yet lol. I have to say Raelene, your recipe definitely has peeked my interest. I think my husband could love this!

Hey Kim!
I would love to get some of the members in on that. I think I need to have a couple under my belt that have aged and turned out ok before I'd jump in with a recipe though.

I've found it interesting that other than port kits, very few people stray from either blackberry port or elderberry port. It's time to expand our horizons!

Also, there is a recipe on my to-brew list that is a cherry vanilla port using sour cherries. Will have to look into that when it's pie cherry season around here

 

[jamesngalveston]

vernsgal, i think theres a few here that make port from scratch using the old method of fortifying the wine, just not sure who.
the reason i started was because if making port, you dont have to backsweeten are flavor and you really dont have to use sorbate.
the 20 percent are higher abv will keep it from spoiling are refermenting.
when your wine gets to about 1.045 it starts loosing the sugar rapidly.
and starts tasting sour/less sweet/dry.
you stop the fermentating about half way through....in the days without hydrometers they would go by number of days and taste.

 

[vernsgal]

Hey Kim!
I would love to get some of the members in on that. I think I need to have a couple under my belt that have aged and turned out ok before I'd jump in with a recipe though.

I've found it interesting that other than port kits, very few people stray from either blackberry port or elderberry port. It's time to expand our horizons!

Also, there is a recipe on my to-brew list that is a cherry vanilla port using sour cherries. Will have to look into that when it's pie cherry season around here

Lol I hear ya on wanting the experience 1st. Aging is the key, what looks and sounds good doesn't necessarily come out that way.(I still think this port of yours sounds awesome )

vernsgal, i think theres a few here that make port from scratch using the old method of fortifying the wine, just not sure who.
the reason i started was because if making port, you dont have to backsweeten are flavor and you really dont have to use sorbate.
the 20 percent are higher abv will keep it from spoiling are refermenting.
when your wine gets to about 1.045 it starts loosing the sugar rapidly.
and starts tasting sour/less sweet/dry.
you stop the fermentating about half way through....in the days without hydrometers they would go by number of days and taste.

I understand the making of a port I'm just not sure if I have enough wine making experience to get that part of it made proper. lol

hum....you think that apricot is good.
get some cans of frozen welches concord....make a port out of that.
by the end of the year, you will be using your bathtub as a primary.
lol
good luck ray...

So is this one you've made James? I realize you've just started this past spring and have obviously read up on making ports but haven't had the time to age one yet, so is this an early drinker?Have you set any aside to age?

I've got a couple 3 gal. carboys coming available soon and am thinking of letting them hibernate for a year or so with some port, so I'm starting my quest on gathering all the info I can,Lol I know when to add the liquor, how to do the math (thanks Seth), I just need someone to guide me through the aging process.
Also figuring the wine I'd like to fortify would be a big start
I'm going to be following you on your ports Raelene so keep us updated

 

[jamesngalveston]

First off....a port is the exact same wine as any other you make....
The diffrence is a yeast with higher alcohol tolerance, a higher starting sg, and that you fortify it.
I have made:
blackberry port
peach port
white grape peach
concord
blackcherry
strawberry / blueberry
and blackberry/strawberry
I use danger daves recipe, and double are triple the fruit, are i use
concentrates...
I use red star premier curvee yeast
I start my sg at 1.00 are 1.110
I add my brandy at about 1.050 to 1.035 depending on taste.
Yes i started in the spring, 5 mos after you did.
I have made almost 150 gallons of wine in diffrent varietes. i can only make 200 gallons per calendar year in texas...I cant wait till new years.

 

[the_rayway]

I think I need to start a 'to-fortify' list beside my 'to-brew' list. Ooooohhh, and some new, pretty 375mL bottles! I like pretty bottles.

Sediment is falling out heavily already - I've already got a good 2.5"-3" in each gallon carboy. They are still blipping at a fair rate degassing, so I will wait a little longer before topping up and may actually wait until I rack it again before I do so. This means I need to bottle something from one of my half gallon carboys before then Likely early next week(?)

Oh Kim, those 3 gallon carboys are the best. I've got 4 now and they are always in use! Port sounds like a great way to use that space!

 

[LoneStarLori]

Sounds like a winner! I picked up 3x750mL bottles - I had no idea it was going to be this expensive for a 1 gal batch! It will rank as the most expensive thing I've done yet: Cost is at approx $90 for one gallon. That should go down a bit depending on how much of the brandy I use.

Wow that IS a lot of brandy. I only used 2-750ml bottles in my 3 gal choc-orange port. You've got 1 1/2 gal of brandy so i'm not so sure you will only end up with a 1 gal batch. I stink at math though so don't take my opinion to seriously.

 

[LoneStarLori]

I'm a little late getting started, but I am going to do the onion wine I was going to do last month. (before I got enticed by the strawberry chocolate wine.

This is another of Jack Kellers recipes. It calls for Vidalia onions but since they are not in season, I found these Sweetie Sweet onion. Grown in CA and guaranteed pesticide residue free. (Whatever good that does on something that has a skin.)


His recipe:
1 lb sweet Vidalia onions
½ lb potato
1 lb golden raisins
2 lemons (zest and juice)
2 lbs fine granulated sugar
7½ pts water
1 crushed Campden tablet
½ tsp pectic enzyme
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1 pkt Champagne wine yeast

Chop or mince raisins and soak overnight in pint of warm
water. Thinly slice onions and potato into
remaining water. Put on heat and bring to a simmer, holding
simmer for 45 minutes.
Grate zest from lemons and combine zest with raisins.
Transfer raisins and zest into nylon straining bag in primary.
Add sugar to primary. Strain onions and potato, pouring hot
water over sugar and discarding pulp.
Add juice from lemons and yeast nutrient, then stir until sugar
is completely dissolved.
Cover with clean cloth and set aside to cool. When at room
temperature, add crushed Campden tablet
and stir. Recover primary and set aside for 12 hours. Add
pectic enzyme, stir, recover primary, and
set aside another 12 hours. Add activated yeast. Stir daily for
14 days. Drip drain nylon straining
bag (do not squeeze) over primary, recover and allow to settle
overnight.
Rack liquid into secondary, top up if required and fit airlock.
Rack, top up and refit airlock every
30 days until wine clears and no new sediments form during a
30-day period. Stabilize,
sweeten to taste, wait 10 days, and rack into bottles. Allow to
age 6 months before tasting

The method is on his website Here

I think we could all make 6 different , 1 gal batches for 5 years from his website and never duplicate. It's like food.com for wine makers. lol



I'll have this all in the primary tomorrow after the raisins soak overnight.

 

[the_rayway]

Hey Lori - lookin' good! That's totally true about the recipes. I think I'll have something nice and interesting lined up for January :: Stay tuned.

I'm using imperial gallons (Canada, eh?), so it's approximately 5000mL to one gallon. Therefore, it only works out to about a 1/2 gallon of brandy to 1.5 gallons of must. Pretty decent ratio, and the apricot is really coming through.

 

[vernsgal]

It does look good Lori - I'm curious on how the taste will be. I love theses different wines.

Put mine in secondary today. SG was at .994. Not sure if it'll go any drier just thought I'd get it off those lees Lol
It really is a funky color. I tried to capture it but, old phone, not the best pics lol

 

[Jericurl]

I finally ordered my vanilla beans.

I got them from the company in Canada you recommended, Rayway.
Looks like I'll just barely have this made before the end of December.
It's been an insane month so far. Some days I get home and I feel like it's all I can do to take a bath and brush my teeth before I crawl off to bed.
Hopefully things move a bit slower in January.
I hate months that move too fast. I feel like I'm missing out on my life.

So anyhoo, back to the recipe part.

I've got 4 oz of medium toast french oak chips that I was wanting to experiment with in my wine.
I don't like heavily oaked wines, but I am wanting to use this months experiment to ...well, experiment.
I really have no idea what I should do to prepare these chips to add to my wine, if I should only add them in the secondary, how much I should start out with, etc.
I've read everything I can get my hands on and it seems there is so much conflicting information.
Some say to boil the chips for ten minutes in water before adding to wine.
Some say don't.
Some say to add oak in primary. Some say that is the most ridiculous thing they have ever heard, it only goes in secondary after all fermentation is completely done.

Anyone have any suggestions?
I'm shooting for werther's flavored wine with vanilla and some oak to ground it all.