Black currant port.

[seth8530]

Ok 3/24/12 Today I started fermentation,

-I used 3 96 oz cans of black currant concentrate (they had a sg of 1.025 and no pulp)

15 lb sugar

enough water to hit about 6.4 gallons

a cap full of fermaid k
cap full of wine tannin
half cap of acidblend
cap full of yeast energizer

2 packets of 71B-1122

when all was said and done the sg hit my target of 1.100 which will get boosted by aprox .0125 pts when i add the extra light dry malt extract when it gets here.

So total gravity is 1.125.. Hope-full finishing gravity is 1.030 at which 2.5 liters of everclear at 95 percent will be added.

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

Seth, did you taste the must? How much is in a cap? Crackedcork

 

[Wade E]

LOL, new way of measuring ingredients?

 

[seth8530]

ROFL, Of course I tasted the must, it was friggen delicious lol. And a cap, is a standard form of measurement approximately equal to any of the recommended measurements prescribed from the bottle said cap came from. IE about a tablespoon and some change.

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

Great, glad you liked it, this one will age well also, our regular black currant wines, even made from VH, have lasted almost a decade and are still good. Our black currants from fresh berries has crazy acid levels but lots of flavor after many years. There is also a black currant juice from Loonza if you need to boost the flavor any or backsweeten. CC

 

[Wade E]

I agree, they have enough tannins in them to stay pretty well. And since you added some on top plus are going to go for around 20% this one will go way past that 10 years. Do yourself a favor and get some really good corks for this batch, maybe some bi discs!!!

 

[seth8530]

That is awesum news! What kind of corks would you recomend and what are Bi-disc?

 

[Wade E]

Bi Discs are perfect agglomerate corks with a disc on each end of natural cork. They are pretty much the best we can buy. I know FineVineWines sells some and Im sure many other places do.

 

[seth8530]

Thanks for the clarification, I will def keep some of it aside for later testing.

 

[seth8530]

Phew, well today the fermentation has finally reached down to 1.050. This is kinda slower than I'm used to, but hopefully it means the fermentation has been clean thus far. Now I need to be really careful and check it daily that way i can catch her at 1.030. Also, the DME was added at the start of this week.

 

[seth8530]

Ok time for an update. The port reached 1.030 today. we had a total of a .095 gravity drop during fermentation.

The port was then racked onto .66 gallons of 95percent alcohol everclear that was sitting in a carboy. The final volume is very close to 7 gallons.

12.7% alcohol was gained from the fermentation. It was then fortified up to 20.5043% according to the calculator on jack kellers website.

Im hoping pics will be posted soon.

 

[Wade E]

Keep up the updates, let us know no matter how long it takes how it comes out!

 

[seth8530]

and here is a picture for those who are curious

http://www.fyurl.com/rr.php?c=2&sit...com&url=http://postimage.org/image/7n78k1mej/

 

[Wade E]

Id say its topped up nicely!!! LOL, be careful of any Barometric pressure changes!

 

[seth8530]

hehe, In such cases I think I will station my mouth right onto the mouth of the carboy

 

[Wade E]

But what if it changes from low to high you will get sucked in and then be forced to drink your way out!

 

[seth8530]

now that would be a story to tell!

 

[DirtyDawg10]

........looks delicious!

 

[buzi]

Sounds fantastic! How did it taste? I'm a port fan! What was the final cost for the batch?

 

[seth8530]

Two new members posting in the same thread? Nice to have yall here.

As far as taste, it is yet to be determined as of it is still way to fresh to give me a clue what it will taste like. Cost...

3 cans of black currant concentrate set me back $102
I spent about $10 bucks on the DME
And since I got the currant and DME in seperate orders I spend about $30 buck on shipping.
The everclear cost about $40 bucks
Plus 15 lb of sugar which was about $10
Igonring my stash of nutrients and yeast that puts the price at about
So total price was around $192 for 7 gallons of port.
ie $5.50 per every 750ml 20.5% abv port.

The average price for fortified black currant wine is $20 for 375ml

So that makes my price $2.50 per 375 ml
$2.50/$22
IS aproximatly 1/10. Ie My port cost 1/10 as much as the commercial or mine is 1000% cheaper than the commercial wine.

So yes, it is one of my more expensive batches, but at the same time, its value is quite high.