Gaudet/Waldos Muscadine Port

[Waldo]

The Wyeast has taken off nicely, what a heavenly odor!!!

 

[Waldo]

Foaming has all but dissipated and she is still going strong
How's yours doing gaudet?

 

[Waldo]

SG this evening is at 1.064 with a must temp of 74 degrees. Will probably be racking this to glass tomorrow evening

 

[gaudet]

Still fermenting at 10 bpm on the airlock. Smells are good as well. The carlos batch as a side wine is at a stand still I'm letting it sit and going to rack it off the lees in a month. Maybe sooner.

The port is under glass and working nicely. I only used 1/2 of the spirals. I will use the other half once I stabilize it.

How long do we anticipate aging these puppies??

 

[Waldo]

I transferred mine to glass last night and a tentative schedule I think reasonable would be that we can probably bottle this one sometime around Labor day

 

[Waldo]

Worked on a label design for my Muscadine Port this morning. May come up with something different later but right now I like this one

 

[Wade E]

Im liking it!

 

[gaudet]

Very nice label Waldo.

I think my port has finally stopped fermenting. I'll finally have a day off after tomorrow. and I need to rack it and top it off. Looks like a nice deep purple color. Its got a good 1.5 inches of lees on the bottom. I'm very interested on how low the sg dropped since its fermented for so long.

 

[NEBama]

Very nice label.

 

[Waldo]

Thanks all on the label
How low did your SG drop to gaudet? What does it taste like right now?
Where are the pictures of it?

 

[cb_Sadie]

Waldo, I really like your label. In your second picture above of your glass carboy your wine level was kind of low. I have a question. When I just racked mine to bulk age it that is about how low mine was. I added like kind of wine but it sure seemed like a lot. Is it OK to add that much like kind of wine or should I have done something else? It seems like if you add that much of a different wine it has to do something to the original wine in the carboy.

 

[gaudet]

Waldo I haven't tested it yet. I plan to rack it this week off the lees and see whats happening since its been under glass 14 days and has a good amount of lees. I should probably stabilize and degass it as well, but we'll have to see. This puppy is only 3 weeks old.

 

[Waldo]

Waldo, I really like your label. In your second picture above of your glass carboy your wine level was kind of low. I have a question. When I just racked mine to bulk age it that is about how low mine was. I added like kind of wine but it sure seemed like a lot. Is it OK to add that much like kind of wine or should I have done something else? It seems like if you add that much of a different wine it has to do something to the original wine in the carboy.

The picture may be a bit deceptive sadie in that it is a 6.25 gallon carboy but to answer your question it is not uncommon to require as many as 3 750 ml bottles of a like kind of wine to top up with and that is fine. If one is not comfortable in adding that much then the marbles added as displacement works great too.
I calculate right now that when this one completes fermentation and I rack it I will need to add about 2 750 ml bottles of my Muscadine wine to top up with.

 

[Waldo]

Waldo I haven't tested it yet. I plan to rack it this week off the lees and see whats happening since its been under glass 14 days and has a good amount of lees. I should probably stabilize and degass it as well, but we'll have to see. This puppy is only 3 weeks old.

Mine has slowed down considerably and I anticipate it will be finished in another couple of days. I am thinking I may try making an F pack of sorts from a couple of bottles of my 2007 Muscadine. Wonder if anyone has ever tried this before?

 

[gaudet]

Just checking the airlock I'm down to 2 bubbles a minute this morning. I have a lot of bottled wine to top this one off. I'm afraid of diluting the color though. Guess we'll see how much I have to top off soon.

 

[Waldo]

I have a good 1-1/2" of lees on mine right now gaudet. I am thinking I may rack to a 5 gallon carboy when it gets ready, leaving enough space to degass, stabalize and fortify and rack the remainder to a gallon carboy doing the same with it except I know I will need to top off the gallon carboy with probably 1 to 1-1/2 bottles. That way I will have 5 gallons of the Port with nothing extra added.

 

[gaudet]

Funny you should say that. I have a 5 gallon in use, but I think I'm going to bottle that one tomorrow. Doing it your way there makes great sense.

 

[gaudet]

Ok Waldo I finally got er did....

I bottled up the 5 gallons of cranberry muscadine and freed up my 5 gallon carboy. I then racked the port from its 6 gallon carboy and placed it in the primary to get a good reading on my hydrometer. As you can see for yourself it fermented down to 0.998 I tasted it and wow was it dry and rocket fuel. SWMBO came home from an appointment and thought I had spilled booze everywhere from the smells.

I put it in the 5 gallon carboy and a 1/2 gallon bottle. I think we will be back sweetening to 1.030 on this baby to smooth it. I can't imagine what 4% more alcohol will do. I had about 5.5 gallons after racking. I stabilized it with k-meta and k-sorb for 6 gallons.

I added the last spiral of oak and I degassed with the vacuum pump for good measure. Now its banished to the wine closet for its magical clearing.

 

[Waldo]

looking good buddy. what did you calculate your abv to be right now ?
are you using any kindof clearing agent to help it out.

 

[gaudet]

Just the original bentonite. I figure that its going to clear on its own in the next two months. If not I will superkleer it.

As to the % ABV, I just calculated it to be 15.76%. So I guess I need to figure to make it 20% is 4.25% more alcohol. Not too bad.