Chocolate Strawberry Port

[keena]

Thanks Saramc! You hit my questions head on!

 

[brewski09]

I would love to hear about anyone's experience if adding just the nibs to ferment.

I used them in a beer (Left Hand Milk Stout) and it turned out really nice with a light hint of chocolate. I could have left it longer to get more flavor or used more. I bought mine from whole foods in bulk. Apparently, the higher the alcohol content, the better the extraction of the chocolate flavors, so your vodka extract tea should work great and be find in wines. I have been told about 10-12% is a nice ABV to extract flavors over a few weeks in stouts. I'll probably try tossing some nibs into a small batch of wine and see how it works out compared to the vodka tea. it'll be a while before i have fermenting space to try this though...

 

[southlake333]

For anyone interested, I made a double batch of this and just racked to secondary carboys. It's around 9 gallons total right now. Below is a pic, looks like chocolate milk.

 

[SarahRides]

Wow! 9 gallons? That is more like a triple batch! It will drop a lot of sediment though. Mine wasn't quite that milky in color, a little more red. But I'm sure it makes a difference with the ingredients you use (the type of cocoa powder, etc.). It will be awesome once it's done and aged!

 

[saramc]

looks great southlake, though one that one gallon jug that has a bit of headspace I would consider adding some glass marbles to get that level up, or downgrade to a few wine bottles. You will be amazed how it goes from yoohoo colored to red.

 

[southlake333]

I used the correct amounts of ingredients per the recipe although I guess I did use 16 lbs of strawberries per batch (32 total) since I used frozen 4 lb bags. So I guess the extra 2 lbs contributed a bit of volume. The cocoa powder I used was Hershey's Natural Unsweetened Cocoa.

As for the level in the 1 gallon, I'm not concerned as this stuff is in secondary fermentation now and still blowing out plenty of CO2. I purposely left some headspace in the big carboy to avoid a blowout. In my next racking I expect to have a bunch of sediment and end up losing that partial gallon when I top the others up.

Since I know there was a lot of confusion over what chocolate extract and strawberry syrup to buy for this, I took a pic of what I'm going to use when I backsweeten. I hope this helps anyone else wanting to try this recipe.

 

[thrion]

For making a single batch, are most of you guys using a 6 gallon carboy for the secondary? The recipe says it makes around 3.5 gallons and that seems to be a lot of head space...is it better to use a 3 gallon carboy and a couple wine bottles for the overage? Or just go with a standard 6?

Thanks!

 

[mutterback]

I posted this elsewhere, but it seems more appropriate here. Are there some opinions out there for a target ABV? I got an inaccurate SG reading initially, so I tried the Honneyman Method and if I did it right, it looks like I'm at 16%. Also, is there a formula someone can point out for me in figuring how much brandy to add to it? It came out to be a 5 gallon batch, so I'm a little off from following the recipe. Thanks

 

[agb4090]

3 Gallon recipe
15 lbs – Fresh Strawberries diced up
7 1/2 lbs – White Table Sugar
3 tsp – Acid Blend
1/2 tsp – Tannin
2 cups – Ghirardelli or Hershey's Cocoa Powder
3 tsp – Yeast Nutrient
1 1/2 tsp – Yeast Energizer
3 Gallons – Water
1/8 tsp – Liquid Pectic Enzyme
1/8 tsp – K-Meta
These are extra ingredients for after wine is stable.
8 ounces – Liquid Chocolate Extract
3– Frozen Strawberry Daiquiri Mix
2 lbs – White Table Sugar added to 1 Cup Boiling Water
14 ounces – Monin Strawberry Syrup
1 Pint – E&J Brandy
Pour 1 gallon of warm water in 5 gallon primary bucket or bigger. Add K-meta, Tannin, Yeast Energizer, Yeast Nutrient, and Ascorbic Acid and stir well. Put all fruit in fermenting bag and squeeze over primary to extract most of juices and then put bag in primary. Pour the 1 gallon of boiling water with all dissolved sugar over fruit. Add another 3/4 gallon of cool water in. Take 4 cups of water and the 2 cups of Cocoa powder and mix in blender on low speed and then add this to primary and stir well. You should have a SG of around 1.110 give or take a little, if more then add a little more water, if less then add a little more dissolved sugar in small amount of water as sugars from fruit can vary a little. Let sit for 12 hours with lid loose or with a cloth covering bucket with elastic band or string tied around so as that not to sag in must. After those 12 hours add your Pectic Enzyme and wait another 12 hours while also adjusting your must temp to around 75 degrees. After those twelve hours, pitch your yeast either by sprinkling yeast, dehydrating yeast per instructions on back of yeast Sachet, or by making a yeast starter a few hours prior to the 12 hour mark. At this point either leave primary lid off with the cloth again, place lid on loose or snap the lid shut with airlock. Punch down cap twice daily to get all fruit under the liquid level. When SG reaches 1.015, rack to 3 gallon carboy and let finish fermenting with bung and airlock attached. When wine is done fermenting, (check a few days in a row to make sure SG does not change and SG should be around .998 or less), you can stabilize your wine now with 1/8 tsp of K-Meta powder and 1 1/2 tsp of Potassium Sorbate. At this Point I took all extra ingredients listed above and stirred it all in well and then add the wine to it and stir that in and add fining agent the transfer back to glass at which point you will have approximately 3 1/2 gallons. When cleared, rack off lees and bottle or bulk age with another 1/4 tsp of k-meta.

I'm new to wine making so this might be an extremely stupid question. When it says "add fining agent" what fining agent and how much should I use?
Thanks in advance.

 

[photoactivist]

Also, is there a formula someone can point out for me in figuring how much brandy to add to it?

Cheers, mate.