Blueberry Port

[Boatboy24]

I racked yesterday at 1.008. Things actually seem to be percolating a bit more since then.

 

[RegionRat]

I racked yesterday at 1.008. Things actually seem to be percolating a bit more since then.

Jealous, I have got to find time to start mine. I need the freezer space for the pears I have on my trees.

RR

 

[Boatboy24]

I'm excited for this wine. I picked up a few cases of 500ml "pirate bottles" from a local winery last week. $4 a case! I'm using them for the blueberry and Black Forest ports this year. They are similar to the one on the left below.

 

[mainecr]

I made this recipe 4 years ago. It is fruity and wonderful.

 

[Boatboy24]

I made this recipe 4 years ago. It is fruity and wonderful.

Good to know. Thanks.

I just returned from a few days in your neck of the woods. I was up in Camden.

 

[RegionRat]

Just ordered light dry malt today. I have 75# of fruit in my freezer. I am planning on starting it as soon as malt is delivered. I was planning on using 30# frozen berries for a 3 gal batch. The remaining fruit is gonna be all fruit wine.

RR

 

[chasemandingo]

Anyone know where to find bottles like the 'pirate bottles' pictured above? Would like to buy a case or two lol.

 

[chasemandingo]

Also, I was wanting to do a blueberry port as well and have a couple questions. Is the dry malt extract actually necessary? I was thinking 6 pounds of fruit per gallon and the rest of the volume filled with organic blueberry juice. Mabey one half of a quart of actual water per gallon added. Also, I do not have easy access to red wine grape concentrate. Could I sub in some welch's concord concentrate? Also, should the concentrate really be added post fermentation or could it be added to the primary with a similar effect? Also, I am assuming that after you get the wine where you want it in terms of fermentation, one would fortify, back flavor and back sweeten in the primary and then rack to secondary for bulk aging. Is this correct?

 

[saramc]

chasemandingo....the malt extract adds a layer of complexity to the port. I have made it with and without the malt and would pick the malt added version hands down. The concentrate is added postfermentation and will add flavor, body and some sweetness. A wine grape concentrate will lend much more to the outcome than a common drinking grape concentrate. You can grab pints of wine grape and other fruit concentrates from www.homewinery.com, in fact adding a half pint of blueberry instead of a half pint of grape concentrate kicks the blueberry far forward, or use blueberry+grape.

 

[chasemandingo]

Alright Saramc, I am going for it soon. I plan on making roughly 4.5 gallons. I will be using DME, and will be back flavoring with both blueberry concentrate and red wine concentrate. Since the recipe calls for 1/2 pint of red wine concentrate per gallon, I figure that 1/4 pint of the red and 1/4 pint of the blue concentrate per gallon should suffice. What varietal should I use for the red grape? Burgundy? Zin? I will be ordering it from homewinery.com. My plan is to ferment till around 18%. Rack into carboy and allow sediment to drop for bout a week. Rack off lees into primary and add brandy up to around 22% that way when I add the concentrates and sugar to reach a gravity of 1.03 or so, my ABV doesnt drop too much. Then back into carboys to clear and bulk age. My only concern is that the instructions for a fruit port in the recipes forum states not to use sorbate with a port. Is this true or can I stabilize before I add the concentrate and sugar?

 

[RegionRat]

chasemandingo....the malt extract adds a layer of complexity to the port. I have made it with and without the malt and would pick the malt added version hands down. The concentrate is added postfermentation and will add flavor, body and some sweetness. A wine grape concentrate will lend much more to the outcome than a common drinking grape concentrate. You can grab pints of wine grape and other fruit concentrates from www.homewinery.com, in fact adding a half pint of blueberry instead of a half pint of grape concentrate kicks the blueberry far forward, or use blueberry+grape.

Thanks for pointing out about the concentrate. I was planning on just using frozen concentrate from the grocery store. I just ordered Blueberry Concentrate from homewinery.com.

I have 75# of berries I was going to use 10# per gallon of finished port and an undetermined amount wine. So, If I use 30# fruit and 24 oz concentrate to make 3gal of port that would leave me 45#fruit and 40oz concentrate to make wine.

With the left over 45# of fruit and 40oz of concentrate do you think I should shoot for a 5 of 6 gal batch. When do you think I should add the concentrate. Assuming I decide to make 6 gal do you think I should ferment berries on the skin then when I go to secondary add concentrate and enough water to make 6 gal?

RR

 

[Boatboy24]

I think I may go with those concentrates as well, but I'm torn between the Merlot and the Cabernet. They are kind of expensive, though. I guess I'd be making a batch of wine with the leftovers. Hmmm. Blueberry merlot sounds pretty good.

 

[chasemandingo]

Boat boy, it says on the website to call if you want to place an order by the pint so you could have enough red wine concentrate to back flavor just your port. Also, does anyone have suggestions on the best red wine grape variety to use? I'm thinking something bright and fruit forward. Any ideas?????

 

[Boatboy24]

Thanks Chasemandingo. I'll give them a call. I'll probably go with the merlot - as you said to get something fruit forward.

 

[Boatboy24]

Spontaneous MLF?

I racked this concoction into secondary on 9/2 (SG of 1.008) and had 1 full 3 gallon carboy and a 1 gallon carboy with a lot of sediment - just to keep it topped up. The 1 gallon bubbled for a week or so and stopped. The 3 gallon bubbled steadily for a week, but I'm still getting a steady stream of tiny bubbles - enough to create activity in the airlock. I'm guessing I could be going through a spontaneous MLF, but didn't think there was that much malic acid in blueberries. And at roughly 17% ABV, I'm surprised there's a malolactic bacteria that would be happy. I guess I'll run a chromatography test on the two when/if the 3 gallon carboy ever stops bubbling. I'll measure SG this weekend, to be certain its not just fermenting.

 

[RegionRat]

I racked this concoction into secondary on 9/2 (SG of 1.008) and had 1 full 3 gallon carboy and a 1 gallon carboy with a lot of sediment - just to keep it topped up. The 1 gallon bubbled for a week or so and stopped. The 3 gallon bubbled steadily for a week, but I'm still getting a steady stream of tiny bubbles - enough to create activity in the airlock. I'm guessing I could be going through a spontaneous MLF, but didn't think there was that much malic acid in blueberries. And at roughly 17% ABV, I'm surprised there's a malolactic bacteria that would be happy. I guess I'll run a chromatography test on the two when/if the 3 gallon carboy ever stops bubbling. I'll measure SG this weekend, to be certain its not just fermenting.

I went through something like this with a batch of DB. Turns out it was just degassing its self.

Oh, I just pitched yeast in mine this morning.

RR

 

[Boatboy24]

I went through something like this with a batch of DB. Turns out it was just degassing its self.

Oh, I just pitched yeast in mine this morning.

RR

I thought that might be the case, but it has been going on for weeks.

Keep us posted on your progress.

 

[saramc]

Alright Saramc, I am going for it soon......
Rack off lees into primary and add brandy up to around 22% that way when I add the concentrates and sugar to reach a gravity of 1.03 or so, my ABV doesnt drop too much. Then back into carboys to clear and bulk age. My only concern is that the instructions for a fruit port in the recipes forum states not to use sorbate with a port. Is this true or can I stabilize before I add the concentrate and sugar?

If you are fortifying before the must reaches its natural final gravity it would be pointless to add sorbate (some call it wine stabilizer, is actually labelled this in some markets). And of course if MLF was involved you never want sorbate on board anyway. If the must has reached its natural FG of 1.000 or less (assuming your OG is not so high that you are trying to achieve yeast toxicity) then you would want to add sorbate + k-meta before you backsweeten, as long as MLF has not occurred. Some say if you plan to fortify you do not need sorbate because the booze will cause yeast toxicity...your call on that front.

If you ferment dry....I do recommend fortifying and waiting a few weeks (2 or more) before you start adding sugar, the concentrates for the flavor impact are recommended with the brandy/pure grain, this way you can do a tasting trial to reach that final SG.
I say this because if you use brandy to fortify there is a sweetness that the brandy brings with it. You can actually end up with an overly sweet port if you opt to fortify and sweeten in one fell swoop.
And remember brandy may require more dilution on the flavor front due to volume you have to add to reach your final ACV (hence the concentrates), so you may consider a blend of brandy and pure grain, or just pure grain. (Brandy + pure grain, the best of both worlds).

 

[RegionRat]

I thought that might be the case, but it has been going on for weeks.

Keep us posted on your progress.

I was in the same boat. Here is a thread I started about what was going on. There is a vid I shot of what was going on. After a week I ended up pulling a vacuum on the carboy for an hour or so and it stopped bubbling.

RR

 

[Sammyk]

Grape concentrate? Is that red grape frozen juice (Welch's)? or something else?