Cherry Melomel & port

Instead of fortifying with everclear why not just increase the sugar and use a high tolerance yeast like Lalvin EC-1118. It might taste better. I have never don't it but if I were to fortify with liquor I would probably use a brandy instead of everclear. From what I have read that is what most people use.

The best way to sweeten that I know if is to ferment dry and stabilize with potassium sorbate, then sweeten to taste at bottling. I would wait a week or two after sorbating to bottle if you are going to sweeten.. The sorbate will inhibit new yeast growth and keep your bottles from blowing up. Some people use non-fermentable sugars to sweeten with out using sorbate.

If you are looking for an 11% wine then I would start at about 1070-1075. But if you want 2 gallons of port it may not be a bad idea to split the batch into two batches from the start. The 2 gallon bring the gravity to

1.125 and use Lalvin EC-1118. If the conditions are right and the must ferments completely dry you should end up with an 18 percent wine. The hydrometer scale will read somewhere around 16.5 at 1.125 but my wines usually ferment down to 990 adding another 1 to 1.5 percent to that reading.

David

I agree with David. You are making 2 very different wines. If you have not started them yet, then separate them before you start. For the 3 gal batch, start with the SG that will yield the alcohol level you want and use the yeast you want. For the Port batch, start with about the same SG but use a high tolerance yeast like a Champaign yeast. Then feed it. As it drops to about 1.005, add more honey to bring it up about 10 to 20 gravity units. Continue this until it quits. Calculate the total gravity drop to determine the actual alcohol yield and then fortify if needed.

If you have already started them, then separate them now, make a good high tolerance yeast starter and add it to the port batch as per the instructions for starting a stuck ferment on Jack's site. Feed it some extra honey as described above at the same time. Don't worry about the yeast that are already there. Eventually the regular yeast will give up and the high tolerance yeast will take over.

I would want to fortify as little as possible. For one thing, the more you fortify the more you lessen the taste of the original fruit and the more taste you add. Even everclear or vodka will change the taste. You could use a good brandy but that gets really expensive and it changes the taste as well.

Ray

Thanks for the info guys. It really helped. It also led me to a few more questions.

First: Will there be enough puree & honey to accomplish both tasks if I'm taking Davids advice and shoot for an OG of 1.125 on the port and around1.080 on the moelomel?

Second: Will the Lalvin 1118 be fine just rehydrated before pitching? Or should I begin with a good hearty starter first?

Thenks aga>I agree with David. You are making 2 very different wines. If you have not

Some people always use a starter as a safe measure. I am not sure what they have done to preserve the puree if anything. It might be fine on it's own with out a starter but a starter never hurts.

You may want to take Ray's advice and not start the port batch as high as

1.125 right away but start with something lower like 1.090 and add sugar/honey as you go feeding the yeast a little at a time. Make sure you keep up with how much you are adding so that you can calculate the ABV% later. I have read that many people do it this way. I am not exactly sure why, perhaps Ray, if you could share that with us?

I would imagine this is so that you can better control how much sugar goes in. When the fermentation starts slowing and it takes longer for the gravity to drop then you know to put less sugar next time or none at all.

David

Feeding is done to maximize the alcohol yield without ending up with an alcohol based syrup. If you are aiming for 18% and add enough honey to hit

18% one of 3 things may happen. First it may ferment out just fine which is no problem. Second it may ferment part way and then stop. 18% is high and the yeast may not make it, even if they were suppose to. You will end up with too sweet of a concoction. Third, the high sugar level at the start may inhibit much of the yeast and you may end up with a stuck ferment or a very slow ferment.

If you want a high alcohol yield it is generally better to feed the yeast slowly so you can hit the highest yield possible without ending up with a too sweet wine. What you need to do is record your Starting SG. Then record the SG before and after each addition. Sum up all the SG drops and that will give you the alcohol yield. To be really accurate, and with honey this is more important, you should keep track of the starting and ending volume as well. I would start off with an SG of about 100 to 110 and then every time it drops below 1.005, add enough honey to bring it back up to

1.015 to 1.020. Toward the end you might add it more slowly, making sure that it is never too sweet in case it suddenly quits on you.

Ray