Cherry Port wine -- is this recipe about right?

David:

According to the chart on Jack Kellers Website you're a little over 6 Brix and haven't fortified yet. That''s close! The everclear addition may dilute the sweetness too or below your target level.

But, everclear is 95% abv and brandy 40% abv. You'd use 2-3/8 times the brandy to boost the alcohol level of the port vs everclear.

Would using brandy instead of everclear possibly dilute the sweet, giving you some room to work with? You'll need to pencil this out to tell.

Steve Oregon

thanks, spud and frederick. I will noodle over these inputs. This really helps.

I'll rack, taste and decide. wow. what I learn > David:

Dave:

Keep us posted on your trials. As you've probably found there's not a whole lot at this ng about port winemaking. Everything you post goes into the archives at Google and can be retrieved by you, me and anyone else for future reference. I use this site a lot for my info gathering, so do a lot of folks, like you for instance. Your cherry port progression is good stuff for reference!

Take Care Steve Oregon

thanks, spud for the idea or alternative.

Today, the S.G. is still 1.022 and no more bubbles. (I now wish I had been slower on the sugar adding, cause this is sweeter than it should be). Using Pearson's square formula - I'm calculating, but not adding today, how much I need to fortify the wine.

Today I racked it off the lees - which was about 1/5 of the contents. The Cherry Port, racked, is now about 18 - 750ML bottles worth and pretty clear, so I won't lose much as it settles. One 3 gallon carboy, one 1.5 L and one 750ML bottles worth of precious fluid. :*)

Using Pearson's Square formula (forgive the graphic attempt)

So 5.4 units of everclear per 75 units of port would result 20% abv. That is about 90% of a bottle of everclear for these 18 bottles.

Then I tried this portion to the few ounces of left over that didn't fit in the carboys. Cut the sweet nicely.

I then did the same Pearson's square formula with 40% brandy - and again, tried this to some left over - tasted like a sherry (what do I know what a sherry tastes like, but it was warmer and fuzzier - or maybe my head was warmer and fuzzier from alcohol so early in the day).

So I am not sure yet which I will use. Another racking or four and another taste test.

But again, thanks for your inputs and insights. This Cherry Port is real good, wish I had made 6 or 18 gallons! smile.

DAve

spud wrote:

I am now considering the brandy over everclear - the Cherry port is now stable at 1.020 for the past 9 days. A little sweet. As I pencil this out - I know nothing of brandy - is there any better brandies to use to fortify Cherry Port over other brandies? Oddly, there is a lot of space for brandy in the ABC liquor store here in NC. Who drinks this stuff? haha. Any suggested brands or types, please post. thanks.

I may also do a little of brandy and little of everclear - not sure yet.

One thing for sure - it has a GREAT taste (a little sweet but that will reduce when I add the brandy/everclear), well worth the effort. This may beat my elderberry port or my blueberry port, of which the later is bubbling down it's last time.

DAve

spud wrote:

An update, more than most care to know about, I'm sure. :*)

The Cherry port is very clear and stable. Today I racked off a slight

It is very clear, very dark red, but needs aging to get the harshness and "nose" mellowed out.

I will bottle in a month or when I'm sure it won't cloud up, and store away for a year.

Hope port makers will share any experiences, as I am thinking these fruit ports are wonderful.

DAve

Dave Allis> I am now considering the brandy over everclear - the Cherry port is now

Dave, I never made a port but did do some sherry; I used everclear too. The brandy I keep around is EJ VSOP (Gallo). It's cheap and I think it tastes fine.

Keep in the back of your mind when a winemaking text tells you they add 'brandy' it's usually closer to everclear than brandy from a store. They distill marc or junk wines to make a concentrated alcohol which probably tastes closer to moonshine or real grappa than brandy. They don't age it in oak; it's just used to fortify the wine. Sounds like it was a nice experiment.

I get to Spartanburg SC once in a while if you are close to there.

Joe

Just a note of caution on bottling this early. I've done several port- style wines from fruit (raspberry, elderberry, blueberry, mixed berry) and in my experience, it takes at least 2 years for the wines to stop throwing sediment. Raspberry seems particularly bad this way - I bottled some batches that looked crystaL clear after 1 year but ended up cloudy in the bottle with a very fine sediment. So these days I look at 2 years aging minimum - this has the advantage of letting the alcohol and sugar meld together and do any finetuning on those if needed - the balance can change significantly from the early stages.

Pp

OMG - bulk aging for 2 years prior to bottling! thanks for the advice, I guess I could wait that long, but wow.

DAve

pp wrote:

mapquest tells me it's a four hour drive to Sparanburg, SC. But remove the x's from the above email and if you are in that area this fall, let me know. Sometimes I am in Charlotte, which is real close. Maybe a swap of a couple bottles. :*)

Thanks for the info about the brandy - it was a great taste test that my wife and I hoovered over for a while - deciding what everclear or brandy brought to the port.

If you ever do make a port, I highly recommend cherry, as it cleared so much nicer than my blueberry or elderberry.

DAve

Joe Sallustio wrote:

Pp:

What interests me is the last statement, " the balance can change significantly from the early stages".

Are there any consistent changes in flavors, nose, whatever in ports over time? Less sweet, less alcohol burn over timeor more what?

Steve Oregon

The overall impact is the flavours become more integrated and the nose will develop as for regular wines. Especially if you use high proof alcohol like Everclear, it can take a year or more before the alcohol blends with the rest of the wine. A good port will last years so it is a great wine to age and observe how it develops and figure out at which stage one likes it best.

Pp

. Especially if you use high proof

Funny you should mention that. I noticed some Limoncello I made last year is less 'sharp' now. I did not expect that. I only noticed because I just made more and was comparing them.

Joe

My Limoncellos are not sharp at all. My recipe is

- Soak the zests of 16 thick-skinned lemons in 1.75 liters of Vodka for six weeks.

- Stir 5 lbs of table sugar into 3 qts of boiling water.

- Add sugar water and another 1.75 liters of Vodka

- Wait another six weeks and bottle.

After Quality Assurance Testing, you should have about

But don't trash the zests. Add them to the secondary of homemade beer. Mead, or wine.

I've also have an Orangecello in the works.

Admittedly Everclear give you a higher ABV, but I suspect more sugar water might help.

Dick

Dick, You are right, I actually switched to vodka after trading a few posts with Bill Frazier. It does give a smoother end product. We are going to make another batch soon so we will give yours a shot.

Let us know how the Orangecello works out. I just did some limes with Everclear and water and I really don't think it's worth the effort. It tastes fine but drinking something that green seems a little weird. It looks like something Scotty would drink on Star Trek.

Joe

Only if you are a married man, can you fully appreciate someone acknowledging that you are right. ;)

You can make book on my reporting the results.

I declined to try limes even though someone else was paying for the fruit because the ones I have seen are not thick skinned, i.e., possibly too much junk comes off with the zests.

Whoa! The actor wo portrays him may or may not be a good actor, but no reason to besmearch either he or his character. Maybe it was something the character of the infamous Harry Mudd would have relished!

An update and question: The Cherry Port has remained clear. when someone says 2 years of bulk aging - do I rack it every 3-120 days or just let it sit for 2 years?

DAve p.s. h> OMG - bulk aging for 2 years prior to bottling! thanks for the advice, I

Hi Dave:

You know as much as I do, but if it's clear right now then I'd let it just sit. If there was lots of build up in 6 months or a year then I might be inclined to rack.

What's a lot? 1/4" to 3/8" of some yuck I don't know where it came from, maybe...

:-)

Take Care Steve