Mixed berry port - what next?

[Mikeymu1]

1 gallon batch

2.2 lbs elderberries
2.2 lbs blackberries
1 lb sloes
1 lb blackcurrants
Ritchie's port yeast
nutrient & water

It's now in secondary and, after ten days, perhaps when my brain was disengaged I added 200 ml of brandy. It had already gone to 19.2% abv and I thought to euthanise the yeast.

I don't think this has worked - even though it's now at 20% abv - time will tell though. It could just be degassing.

I must say that I have done strong wines of this kind before except that (a beginner's mistake I understand) in the past I made them too sweet and adding brandy or mulling spices was something to make it drinkable. Very nice they were too!

I wondered whether to just go right ahead and fill the remaining space in the jar with sugar - got to add it at some stage anyway - or would this interfere with degassing, because of the wine being more viscous.

 

[RegarRenill]

Oddly, it may help some with degassing, as granulated sugar would provide nucleation points for the CO2, just be careful you don't get a volcano! Adding it as a simple syrup wouldn't have that risk, although it could dilute your ABV, slightly.


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[Mikeymu1]

Just in case anyone's following this post.

The sugar was added and now gravity is around 1.007. Tastes sweet but in time I will review and see if more needs to be added.

I could not seem to find what a typical % abv of finished port was on the interweb. Anyone know?

ABV now 18.8%.

 

[Mikeymu1]

An update.

It ended up at 20% when I added a bit more brandy then it tasted too dry at gravity 1.012. I added a few teaspoons of golden syrup at a time. I'm going to let it sit for a few weeks in case I decide to add more. At the mo it tastes sweet at first but with a long fruity brandy dry finish!

What are typical abv finishing values? Can anyone share some info please?

 

[cintipam]

Hi

Afraid I couldn't find an answer for you, and I both googled and checked thru this WMF site fairly thoroughly. I just didn't want you to feel ignored.

Pam in cinti

 

[PhilDarby]

had a looksy on Wikipedia typical final abv is 19 to 23 % so, your 20 % abv is about right.

Just had a bit of a nosey at some of my old notes, I took some sg readings ages ago, of some commercial port type wines, while I was drinking them medium was 1.018, sweet was 1.032 (they where taken from commercial sherry which tends to be slightly weaker abv, but the sg readings might be a decent guide to sweetness)

If you where curious about ballpark final sg figures.

 

[sour_grapes]

I always shoot for 19-20%.

 

[Mikeymu1]

had a looksy on Wikipedia typical final abv is 19 to 23 % so, your 20 % abv is about right.

Just had a bit of a nosey at some of my old notes, I took some sg readings ages ago, of some commercial port type wines, while I was drinking them medium was 1.018, sweet was 1.032 (they where taken from commercial sherry which tends to be slightly weaker abv, but the sg readings might be a decent guide to sweetness)

If you where curious about ballpark final sg figures.

Thanks to everyone for posting replies.

It was (slightly embarrassed) the final specific gravity I wondered about and not the abv.

It is less sweet (and more dry) than I remember shop-bought ports to be though. Now at 1.014, I think I will up it a little to get the balance between the fruit, the brandy and the sweetness, going on flavour as a guide as to when to stop sweetening.

This raises another pertinent question though: I have used table sugar to back-sweeten so far and perhaps that was typical of a novice wine-maker like myself. However, given how strong the other flavours are - the elderberry, blackberry etc - will this matter and if so what sweetener ought I to be using? I do have some "Splenda".