Any Experienced Port Makers?

[vacuumpumpman]

No I have not tried adding brandy to my port yet -

When I add the oak sticks to the ever clear - It turns the same color as brandy and tastes very similiar when diluted

I have 12 gallons of port already in the secondary from this years harvest.
Do you know how much brandy I would have to purchase to bump up the alcohol up 10-12 %

Thanks Steve

 

[JohnT]

No I have not tried adding brandy to my port yet -

When I add the oak sticks to the ever clear - It turns the same color as brandy and tastes very similiar when diluted

I have 12 gallons of port already in the secondary from this years harvest.
Do you know how much brandy I would have to purchase to bump up the alcohol up 10-12 %

Thanks Steve

Granted, brandy is expensive, But IMHO, I fell it is well worth the expense. Keep in mind that, for me, port is a once in a while thing. A 5 gal batch is enough to keep me happy for a while.

 

[jamesngalveston]

I agree, I dont drink it like wine...for me its more of a really special time.
good company, good food, relax enjoy and after noon, with a good port and cigar...etc...the vacuum save...

 

[jensmith]

Ok. Here is a stupid question from a non port drinker. Why not make your bace wine with a high abv to start with?? You will still need to fortify it, but not with nearly as much. Max out the yeast, natuarly leaving residual suger. Then backsweeten and fortify to desired levels? Do you not do it this way because you are using wine grapes and do not want to add suger? ( I make fruit and wild grape wines only so added suger is just "normel" for me.) It just seams odd to start withe a low abv ( 12%) and add so much store bought brandy or everclear when you could bump the wine to 16-18%abv easily and add less store bough stuff.
Feel free to laugh at my igrorence!!!!

 

[jamesngalveston]

jensmith, your not ignorant at all. in fact thats a fair and very smart question.
if you start with and sg of lets say, 1.030, and use a yeast of lets say
good for about 18 percent, then the yeast will consume all the sugar and finish off at about 1.020...completely fermented and no sugar are flavor will be needed...thats the wine should be made. Just my opinion.
no need for added sugar, cause you have lots of sweetness left
and you still retain the flavor of the original fruit.
and you could bump the abv with less spirits.
all in all, very good post..
thanks.

 

[jensmith]

Wow!! I've never been called smart before Good thing I was sitting down.
Thanks for the info. My curiosity has been satisfide.

 

[sour_grapes]

James, I don't think your numbers quite make sense. What SG did you say to start with? Did you mean 1.130?

 

[jamesngalveston]

oops...yea...1.130

 

[cmason1957]

Here is what I did with my blackberry port style that I made this year. 65 pounds of frozen blackberries, a small amount of water and sugar to get the sg up to 1.120 (or about that) let it ferment down to 1.050, add sugar to take the sg back up to 1.100, let ferment to 1.050 add sugar back to 1.100. Let ferment to where it stopped. And I think it got almost to dry. I believe this gave me about 20% alcohol. I'll probably sweeten it some. It still tastes like a blackberry, but with a heck of a kick.

 

[jamesngalveston]

http://www.brewersfriend.com/chaptalization-calculator/

 

[seth8530]

Here is what I did with my blackberry port style that I made this year. 65 pounds of frozen blackberries, a small amount of water and sugar to get the sg up to 1.120 (or about that) let it ferment down to 1.050, add sugar to take the sg back up to 1.100, let ferment to 1.050 add sugar back to 1.100. Let ferment to where it stopped. And I think it got almost to dry. I believe this gave me about 20% alcohol. I'll probably sweeten it some. It still tastes like a blackberry, but with a heck of a kick.

How did you add the sugar back into the wine? Did you dissolve it in some water first or did you add it straight into the must?

 

[dangerdave]

All this talk about ports, but no one has mentioned chaptalization. Or did I miss it? I'm planning on starting a fruity "Dragon Port" (port style Dragon Blood recipe) and I wanted to use the chaptalization process to get the ABV as high as possible (to what the EC-1118 will tolerate).

Do any of you chaptalize your ports style wines?

Edit: oops! I missed a few of the last posts. Never mind!

 

[jamesngalveston]

drink more coffee dave....lol

 

[dangerdave]

Ok, I'm trying to take notes, but I've got TMI overload, here!

Let's start from the beginning, in case i missed something...

I want to make a Dragon Blood type port style wine. I don't want to fortify. My questions for the "porties":

1) For a five gallon batch, how much fruit should I use? How many pounds per gallon? How should I handle the fruit?
2) If I'm going to bag the fruit, what do I use as a base for the must? The bag(s) have to float in something!
3) I'm going to chaptalize along the way, step adding sugar and nutrient until the EC-1118 gives out (like cmason1957 mentioned above).

Um, maybe I should try a one gallon batch or two first, to see how this works and how it turns out. I'm a port nooblet, you know.

 

[dangerdave]

I need a dang steam juicer!

 

[jamesngalveston]

dave since a port, are port style, which ever is suppose to really be flavorable, i would use 5lbs of fruit per gallon, ]
I usually add 2 gallons water, with the fruit and pectin for a day, then add sugar to 1.110, then add water to 5.5 gallons.
the sugar is going make up alot of the volume....
then force feed the sugar......chaptalize

 

[Johngottshall]

James how much brandy would I add to a 1 gallon batch not sure how to use Pearson square trying to make concord / black cherry

 

[dangerdave]

You're thinking right along my lines, James. That sounds like a good plan! I'm going to get this going this week, I think.

 

[Runningwolf]

I used a different flavored brandy for each of the different Port Kits I made several years ago. The brandy enhanced each one. You just want to make sure they complement each other. I now prefer to make Port starting with Chilean or Italian juice pails. The kits all turned out fantastic and I would personally recommend them to anyone. I just prefer to go the pail route now as I can control the outcome better. Dave it sounds like you're stirring up another competition. LOL

 

[sour_grapes]

James how much brandy would I add to a 1 gallon batch not sure how to use Pearson square trying to make concord / black cherry

We need to know the ABV of your Concord/Black Cherry base wine. And verify its volume -- is that still 1 gal? Then I can do the Pearson square calc. for you if you wish.