Cherry Port wine -- is this recipe about right?

Dave

No !! The first recipe had only a single mistake that could be corrected in either of two ways. What you have here is so full of mistakes I wouldn't even know where to begin !! A real disaster just waiting to happen.

Go to Jack's site, find a recipe, and follow it. HTH

Frederick

PS - Stem and pit the cherries before you start. You don't ever want cherry pits in a must.

frederick,

That bad, ugh? smile. Well, it was from Jack's site, but I modified it based on other PORT recipes (guess I should not experiment). Jack's site says I don't have to remove the stone, but I will if you think it best. Jack's site doesn't have cherry port, but 4 cherry wines - 2 sweet and 2 dry.

Since my below recipe is fraught with errors, I must continue my search. I'd rather take a few days to search, than to start a batch with a bad recipe, so thanks, Frederick for the review. :*)

really...thanks!

DAve

frederick ploegman wrote:

David:

Decision:

1. Do you want to ferment to the capacity of your yeast ~18% then fortify to 20% abv.

OR

1. Halt fermentation at some point (~1.012 SG residual sugars) with the addition of everclear or brandy to 20% abv. This method is traditional. Note the addition of spirits will dilute the residual sugar down to some 'normal' level for port.

My findings for finished port so far are 20% abv and +/- 1.007 SG for residual sugar. Not sure on the acids but you may have read the thread I asked about TA.

Ports are aged in oak and they definately can take oaking. Boiling the fruit may make the cherry more 'port like' in the finished product. Not sure about that though.

Shoot for 20% abv, 1.006 or 1.007 SG residual sugar. TA to taste and oak. The rest is up to you.

Steve Oregon

Are you sure about the residual sugar numbers? I would expect something between 1.025-1.040 (or 7-10 B). As for oak, the casks used for port are old wood and 900L volume so they don't really add any oak taste.

Pp

Another point, after the initial ferment, I would not add all that sugar at once. I usually keep a check on the SG as it ferments and add sugar syrup in quarter pints over a longer period.

Got it, Shane. thanks.

As i stated above, I have to rethink the recipe, but since I can't find a Cherry Port at the regular sites, I will need to continue my search.

I like the thought of add> Dave Allis>

pp:

Hell no I'm not sure that's why I am asking and reading also. But yes you're right. I was talking SG and thinking Brix. Good eye, thanks!

Concerning Oaking, Amerine (p161) says about California ports: "...a period of contact with small seasoned white oak heartwood chips may be used to give a portion of the wine a slight oaky taste...the prefered practice is...wooden cooperage for four to six years." Maybe your thinkin' of 'crusty' port, pp?

My understanding is the Scotch guys use the 'old wood' port cooperage for their aging. The port guys and the scotch guys can't both use old port barrels, eh? ;-)

Please tell me what you know!!!!

Take Care Steve Oregon

Well, I learned so much this past few days.

I now have a BRIX to S.G. chart

The Cherry Port recipe mentioned below, is intially 1.106 S.G. with a

I know I may give fredrick a heart-attack, but here is the recipe, which I followed almost exactly, thanks to the Home WineMakers Manual - bless who ever maintains that!

I used the Berry Port recipe and used Cherries instead - watching the PH and S.G. closely as I added the sugar and other ingredients.

I will add oak essence liquid later to give it the oak flavor... maybe

thanks all for your insights, this helped me a lot. I'll let you know how it goes. DAve

Dave Allis> Got it, Shane. thanks.

Dave:

I used Premier Cuvee as well and got the abv up to ~18% before the yeast quit. I will be adding everclear to 20% abv. Since I'm not filtering I fear adding sugar then bottling up port grenades. Yikes what a mess that would be. Just a thought.

Steve Oregon

Well, I added the yeast last night and it is foaming nicely. As I monitor the S.G. down to 1.020 and then add sugar over and over, this takes more care than kit wines. smile. I'm heading to Tennessee today, maybe they have everclear... hmm.

Once I had Apple Cider wine push the corks out, but didn't explode, just pushed up the cork and leaked.

Steve, let me know how your's turns out. DAve

spud wrote:

If you get that high in alcohol (18%), you don't need to worry about refermentation, especially if you're still adding alcohol. The high alcohol level together with the high residual sugar and depleted nutrients make the environment hostile to the remaining yeast. I wouldn't add any sorbates, just keep it in bulk over one summer at least, that should make it fully stable, and it help the wine anyway.

Pp

pp:

Cool, I wasn't going to add sorbate, fortifiy to 20% abv instead for stability.

It's plum, having a tough time clearing. Tried sparkoloid, no good. Tried ~ 1 tsp pectic enzyme in the 3 gallons. Maybe did some good. Will let it sit for a week or so before I do anything else.

Any tips fo clearing plum?

Take Care Steve Oregon

update on the recipe:

I ended up with two (2/3rds full) 3 gallon carboys. The S.G. dropped to

initial S.G. S.G. prior to sugar addition. add those. new S.G. after sugar add S.G. prior to sugar addition.

when done add those sums up.

Hope that makes sense.

more later, DAve

Dave Allis> Well, I added the yeast last night and it is foaming nicely. As I

My Fellow Port Maker:

That might be a bit much sugar at one 'feeding' for both the yeast and your sugar levels. But, I don't really know.

I was a little more conservative, if fermentation doesn't restart on one of the additions then you may end up with a way too sweet port.

I added sugar to 6 Brix at each feeding and ended up with a calulated abv of 18%. When it finally clears I'll go to 20% abv with everclear and sugar to ~ 5 Brix then adjust to taste.

Use Pearson's square for everclear additions. DAGS of: wine pearsons square, turned up 500,000 hits.

Take Care Steve Oregon

thanks for the input. I'll be more conservative in future additions, that is good advice. Thanks for the Pearson's square words to search on. !!

The port is bubbling again and today is down to S.G. 1.020.

More later, DAve

spud wrote:

Very cool. Cherry port just sounds delicious doesn't it?

Steve Oregon

An update: The bubbling has just about stopped (a bubble each 90 seconds), so I racked again into carboys (a 3 gallon, 1 gallon, 2 liter, and a 750ml) to ensure it was topped up without airspace. I racked must and all after stirring for 2 minutes. The S.G. is now at 1.022, a little sweeter than I'd like. Maybe in a month it will go down some more. Figuring out the alcohol seems straight forward, but here goes.

Original 1.106 = 13.9 dropped to 1.008 = .9 added sugar to 1.030 = 3.9 dropped to 1.016 = 2.0 added sugar to 1.030 = 3.9 is at today 1.022 = 2.8

So I think this calculates to:

original: 13.9- .9 = 13.0 %

--------

Acid levels remain at 3.1. It tastes great though a little sweet. Hoping it drops more over the next few weeks, and will balance out with the everclear I add to get it up to 18%+. (going to Google Pearson's square when I get closer to this step)

I only post progress since this is a new recipe not on other sites and wanted to give feedback on progress, I hope it's not boring. smile.

DAve

Dave Allis> thanks for the input. I'll be more conservative in future additions,

Hi Dave

There is an easier way that can save you some of that number crunching. Only use your interim readings to provide yourself with an adjusted OG (AOG). In this example, OG 1.106 plus a total of 36 gravity points of added sugar gives an AOG of 1.142. You can then use this AOG for your calculations.

Some folks would accept this estimate as 'good enough', but geeky old farts like me would say that it failed to recognize the effect of alcohol on post pitch SG readings. To compensate for this I would subtract 10 points from the 'sugar used' number. 120 minus 10 equals 110. I would then go back to my hydrometer and cross reference SG 1.110 to the PA scale and find that I had closer to

It's up to you, but Pearson's square won't do you much good if you_over_estimate alcohol by 1.4%. HTH

Frederick