WineXpert WE Speciale' Chocolate Salted Caramel

[Johnd]

No fermentation activity for 7 days, SG at 1.010 (which is within limits), so I added the Fpacks, kmeta, sorbate and chitosan. Lees formed and dropped out quickly, finishing SG right at 1.020. Took a little taste and it was really good, looking forward to getting it into bottles and doing some sampling by Christmas.

 

[Kraffty]

I ended up going slightly off the instructions but finished at 1.000 sg and calculate it at 17.3% before adding brandy. I switched to one pack of Premier Cuvee yeast because I stole the EC1118 from the kit to use on some grapes…… long story, basically I just didn’t want to pay $27.00 shipping to get get $4.00 worth of yeast here overnight. Anyway, with stirring and a couple of nutrient additions the ferment went perfectly.

I thought it was a little too sweet when finished and added 1.5 L 40% brandy, that also brought the ABV up to slightly over 20%. All in all I think it tastes good and plan to bottle at end of Nov to share at christmas.

Anyone else missing the Caramel taste? I’m getting the chocolate and plenty of sweet, also a very cherry kind of flavor - Consistency is almost syrupy - It’s definitely going to be a “Sipping” kind of wine.
Mike

 

[Johnd]

Kraffty:

I agree, don't quite get the salted caramel taste, also find the berry taste in the finish very nice, and I have to say that I am quite pleased. It's not the kind of wine I thought I would like, til my wife and I tasted the first batch. I bottled my first double batch this weekend, the second double batch is in secondary and should finish up in the next week or so.

 

[kevetz]

I have a double batch of this port that continues to actively ferment after dextrose addition. SG is now at 1.010 and lowering.

I have a pack of raisins from a Meglioli Barolo kit that did not get used because I upgraded to the grape pack. I was thinking that it might be a good addition to this port. I would rack to the secondary over the raisins early (while still actively fermenting) to extract sugars and hopefully bump ABV.

Any concerns with this approach? Also, should I cut the raisins in half or leave them whole?

Kevin

 

[David219]

Kevin,
Depending on your SG readings, you'll likely find that the combination of the amount of sugars in the juice and dextrose will yield a potential ABV at, or even a little above, the alcohol tolerance of the yeast. Adding anything with additional sugar will probably not bump the ABV...just make it sweeter.

 

[Jericurl]

I've got mine racked to secondary.

Next weekend I'll be fining and adding in the fpac.

I'm considering adding 1 oz of rum soaked medium toasted french oak chips and a half of a vanilla bean.