Cellar Craft Port kit help!

[markb1983]

Hello! First of all, forgive me since I'm typing on my iPhone, I know there will be grammatical errors lol. Ok down to business. I'm looking at starting a port kit, after doing about 3 hours of research, I haven't found my answer about the size needed for a carboy.

My goal is to buy a cellar craft or winex kit make the 3 gallons of port and fortify it with Brandy.

My question is, with the 3 gallons of wine, will the brandy equil 3 additional gallons or will I need to purchase a different carboy?

Any help tips or suggestions is greatly appreciated!

 

[markb1983]

Also is filtering important or is time all that is needed?

 

[WAG]

3 gallon is good.
Also, my understanding is the filtering takes out particles that provide flavor also. If you filter too much, you sacrifice taste. And mostly if you compete.

 

[Thig]

The 3 gallon carboy will be fine but you are going to need around a 5 gallon primary to get it started in and probably a smaller bottle or two. Like a half gallon or gallon size. When you rack into the carboy the first time you will probable have a little over 3 gallons and you could rack that into a smaller bottle. When you are ready to add the Fpac you could use your 5 gallon bucket to mix it because you will not have room in the carboy and when you add the brandy it will also take room. You don't need to add that much brandy so you will not end up with 2 three gallon carboys.

When it is all mixed you need to get it back in carboy under airlock and rack the extra into a smaller bottle also under airlock. When I did mine after the racking and brandy additions I ended up with a full 3 gallon carboy and 1 wine bottle full.

 

[markb1983]

So would a 6 gallon carboy work? When you fortify it, do you need to worry about head space? Or does the brandy prevent oxidation?

 

[CBell]

You will need to worry about headspace, a 6 gallon would not be recommended.

 

[Thig]

You will need to worry about headspace, a 6 gallon would not be recommended.

CBell is right, you could use a 6 gallon carboy to get the Fpac and brandy mixed in but you are going to want to get it back into a proper size carboy and eliminate the headspace.

 

[markb1983]

Ok please forgive me on my next question

Does anyone have an order of operations to make a double batch of port and also fortifying it?

So my plan is to use my 8 gallon fermenter plus the 6 gallon carboy. Any rough guess on how much brandy it would take?

Also any personal preference over winex or cellar craft for this kit?

 

[markb1983]

Thank you everyone who has replied!