The Witches Brew

I was at M &M the other day and Tom was showing me a few things in his lab. I saw that he had a full 5 gallon carboy labeled "Port Wine" and it got me thinking. I'm gonna try my hand at a port. But since it's going to be a year, at least, before I even take a sip I want to make sure that I've got a good recipe. Is there one out there?... can someone help a drunk out?

No recipie per se. You want to allow your must to ferment until it has reached your desired level of residual sugar, than add brandy or everclear back to raise the alcohol to arrest fermentation. Using everclear you don't need to add as much but brandy has a better taste profile.

I just summarized 400 years of Portugese winemaking in three sentences. Not bad.

PTN

I'm afraid that's not possible. If I buy Everclear then I will just end up making more Limoncello. I guess I'll have to go with the brandy....... Have you used any particular strain of yeast?

?don't trust yourself with grain alcohol?

Where is Everclear available?

Paul

I got some the last time I was in NC. Pretty pricy stuff, especially considering what it is.

Here is a recipie for Port that I found on Jack Kellars site. I strongly recomend that site as a good beginners reference and also highly recomend www.winepress.us as a GREAT rescource. I'm not sure if you are using kits/concentrates or whole grapes. If you haven't made many batches off wine before I'd stick with the kit/concentrate route for the port, the 'kit taste' wont be nearly as noticable in a port as it will in another wine.

PORT WINE
1 gallon can California Red Grape Concentrate
12 lbs fine granulated sugar
5 gallons warm water
6 oz dried elderberries
16 oz dried, non-glazed, banana chips
2 tsp yeast energizer
3 oz acid blend
5 crushed Campden tablets
1 pkg Port wine yeast
Prepare yeast starter 3 days in advance according to instructions on yeast packet. Separate banana chips in primary, add elderberries, grape concentrate, water, 1/2 sugar (6 lbs), yeast energizer, acid blend, and crushed Campden tablets. Stir well to dissolve sugar, cover well, and wait 24 hours. Add yeast starter and stir gently once a day. When specific gravity is 1.040, draw off 4-6 cups of must, slowly dissolve additional 3 lbs of sugar into it, then stir it into primary. When S.G. is at 1.030, strain out elderberries and banana chips and siphon wine into secondary. Attach air lock and check S.G. daily. When S.G. is at 1.010, draw off another 4-6 cups of must and slowly dissolve remaining 3 lbs of sugar into it. Gently add this back into secondary. Rack as deposits form, but not more often that every three weeks. When no more deposits form, allow one month for wine to clear. If wine fails to clear, stabilize wine and add fining according to instructions for particular fining agent. Wait 10 days, rack wine one last time, sweeten to taste, then add 60 oz brandy and bottle wine. Age one year before tasting or using for cooking. [Adapted from Stanley F. Anderson and Raymond Hull's The Art of Making Wine.]

As far as what the spcecific yeast he is referencing is, your guess is as good as mine. I'veused Prise de Mousse (lalvin 1118) with good results.

PTN

I did see that recipe on Jack Keller's site. In fact that exact recipe is on several different sites. I don't want to use grape concentrate though. That's kind of why I put the question out there to see if anyone had a recipe. I guess I'll buy a few extra boxes of Zin or something and experiment...... Thanks for the response!!

btw..... you can get Everclear in Rhode Island. until last year you could get it in New Hampshire too but they stopped selling it.