Mosti Mondiale Questions making La Bodega port

[Cat]

I have been making La Bodega using the directions that came with it. My latest reading is .998 I have racked twice and added everything except the flavor bag which I planned to add right before bottling. Now I have found the extra instructions, and have a few questions:
- the original instructions say after adding the potassium m. & pot sorbate and findings, wait 7-10 days before bottling. It has been 6 days and I still have positive pressure in the airlock, although not active bubbling. If the dome is still rais d inside the airlock at day 10, is it still ok to bottle?
- the added directions say to add potassium m & s at bottling, but I have already done so. Should I add more when bottling?
- lastly, many have mentioned adding brandy..How much should I add to get just a minor tweak. Is it in the neighborhood of a couple of ounces, or does it take a lot? Thanks

 

[Jasper24]

Cat, the answer to your first question is yes it is ok to bottle at day ten. Provided you followed all the instructions.

Number two is no if you followed the instructions you should be fine.

Number three is depending on the amount of wine you are making and how big a tweak you want it could take alo t. Read up on a formula called the pearson square. It's away to find out how much brandy to add to how many gallons to get the desired abv you want in your wine. Hope this helps

 

[ibglowin]

You are asking for trouble if you bottle this in under 90 days. What is your hurry? Its a Port style wine that gets better with age (like any wine). You wine is more than likely not full degassed and not fully cleared. I have made this kit (2X) so I do have experience with it.

You will need one full bottle of Brandy (40%ABV) per gallon of wine to raise this up to ~ 19% ABV like a true Port wine.

Patience is a virtue in this hobby.

I have been making La Bodega using the directions that came with it. My latest reading is .998 I have racked twice and added everything except the flavor bag which I planned to add right before bottling. Now I have found the extra instructions, and have a few questions:
- the original instructions say after adding the potassium m. & pot sorbate and findings, wait 7-10 days before bottling. It has been 6 days and I still have positive pressure in the airlock, although not active bubbling. If the dome is still rais d inside the airlock at day 10, is it still ok to bottle?
- the added directions say to add potassium m & s at bottling, but I have already done so. Should I add more when bottling?
- lastly, many have mentioned adding brandy..How much should I add to get just a minor tweak. Is it in the neighborhood of a couple of ounces, or does it take a lot? Thanks

 

[richmke]

- the original instructions say after adding the potassium m. & pot sorbate and findings, wait 7-10 days before bottling. It has been 6 days and I still have positive pressure in the airlock, although not active bubbling. If the dome is still rais d inside the airlock at day 10, is it still ok to bottle?

It has to be fully degassed before you bottle. It can still have CO2 and not bubble.

- the added directions say to add potassium m & s at bottling, but I have already done so. Should I add more when bottling?

You only add Sorbate ONCE. For Dessert wines, you can usually skip it, especially if you are boosting the alcohol. Yeast is unlikely to ferment the remaining sugar.

If it has been more than a month, you might want to add a little more k-meta.

- lastly, many have mentioned adding brandy..How much should I add to get just a minor tweak. Is it in the neighborhood of a couple of ounces, or does it take a lot? Thanks

Assuming you fermented with EC-1118 to 18% ABV (limit of EC-1118), and you want to fortify to 20% ABV, then you add about 1 Liter of Brandy (80 proof, 40% ABV) per 3 Gallons (kit).

FYI: Be careful when adding the flavor bag. It may get too sweet for your taste. I suggest:

Add 1/2 of the bag, and whatever amount of Brandy. Mix well, and wait a week. Test it. If you want it a little sweeter, add 1/5 of the remaining amount in the bag, mix, and wait another week. Repeat until it is a little less sweet than you like. Wait a month, and repeat.

It it easy to overshoot on the sweetness. It takes time to incorporate the sugars. The high sugar content of the bag will keep it from spoiling. You can refrigerate it to be safe.

 

[geek]

I made this same kit, started in Jan. 2015 and bottled in Oct. 2016, so getting close to 3 years....

I added some of the f-pack up-front and then added simple sugar syrup during fermentation to bump the SG up a bit.

Per my notes:

Jan 23 1.022 SG reading around 10pm. Added ¼ simple syrup jar. SG=1.026
Jan 24 1.014 SG reading taken at 10am. Added ¼ simple syrup jar. SG=1.018

It finished at 0.996, after adding the remainder of the f-pack it went up to 1.030, so I wish I had added more of the f-pack up-front to make it less sweet, but the wine is darn good, I thought I added some brandy but for some reason my notes do not say anything about brandy....maybe I didn't..

 

[crushday]

You will need one full bottle of Brandy (40%ABV) per gallon of wine to raise this up to ~ 19% ABV like a true Port wine.

Mike, do you have a recommendation on what brandy to use during fortification?

 

[ibglowin]

I made a double batch (6G) total. I used a combination of E&J Brandy (about all I could find locally back in 2010). I used 3 bottles of the VSOP and 3 bottles of the XO. The XO has a hint of vanilla. I think that really brought something to the wine. People really loved that Port especially Mrs IB and she is a tough critic. I only have a couple splits left of this wine and need to find a source for it since The Winemakers Toystore closed down.

Mike, do you have a recommendation on what brandy to use during fortification?

 

[geek]

I made a double batch (6G) total. I used a combination of E&J Brandy (about all I could find locally back in 2010). I used 3 bottles of the VSOP and 3 bottles of the XO. The XO has a hint of vanilla. I think that really brought something to the wine. People really loved that Port especially Mrs IB and she is a tough critic. I only have a couple splits left of this wine and need to find a source for it since The Winemakers Toystore closed down.

The big distributor in Hartford always carries La Bodega and had a great price in it last I checked, it was like $95 long time ago, i think they ship.

 

[geek]

Search here but looks like they don’t have it:

https://www.juicegrape.com/
https://www.juicegrape.com/categori...seoctl00_main_productListing_dvProducts=page0

 

[StFrancis]

I added blackberry brandy to a blackberry wine w/o adding additional potassium and ended up with a few bottle bombs. Didn't figure on the extra sugar. Lesson learned.

 

[ibglowin]

Yea but look what they want to ship to me!

The big distributor in Hartford always carries La Bodega and had a great price in it last I checked, it was like $95 long time ago, i think they ship.

 

[geek]

Yea but look what they want to ship to me!

View attachment 68606

WOW, that's crazy for a kit with such a weight. But man look at the cost of the kit...

 

[geek]

I remember now their shipping is crazy, to ship to me at merely 25 miles away is $58.99 Fedex Ground.

Mike, If I were you I'd give them a call and ask if they can rate this over the phone and if UPS Ground is available.

 

[ibglowin]

Did you forget this is only a 3 gallon kit!

WOW, that's crazy for a kit with such a weight. But man look at the cost of the kit...

 

[geek]

Did you forget this is only a 3 gallon kit!

Nope, I know. The freight seems out of this world.

 

[crushday]

Question: I just added 1.5L of 80 proof brandy. How stable is the port now? Do I need to add kmeta? I’m not planning on adding the sorbate...

 

[SLM]

Question: I just added 1.5L of 80 proof brandy. How stable is the port now? Do I need to add kmeta? I’m not planning on adding the sorbate...

I am brand new to this forum and pretty new to the craft. But as I learn I would love to be able to give as well.
I made a blackberry port this summer from a highly rated recipe. After alcohol fortification the recipe stated that the high alcohol content made further SO2 unnecessary. I assume that Kmeta and SO2 perform the same function, tell me if my understanding is incorrect.
Impatience motivated me to put a gallon in bottles way before their time so I could know if I was on the right track. My wife (who picked the blackberries) approves.
In conclusion, I don't think you need any bacteria killers. Alcohol is the solution.

 

[Johnd]

Question: I just added 1.5L of 80 proof brandy. How stable is the port now? Do I need to add kmeta? I’m not planning on adding the sorbate...

Are you making the La Bodega port? If so, we know the volume, and if you’ll share the ABV of your wine, ill be happy to make the calcs with the 1.5 L of 40% ABV brandy. You can do it on FermCalc in the Fortification section if you have Fermcalc.

 

[geek]

La Bodega, great port wine.

 

[crushday]

Are you making the La Bodega port? If so, we know the volume, and if you’ll share the ABV of your wine, ill be happy to make the calcs with the 1.5 L of 40% ABV brandy. You can do it on FermCalc in the Fortification section if you have Fermcalc.

John, much appreciated as I don’t have FermCalc - yet... The finished ABV of the La Bodega kit was 13.4 prior to adding brandy. The kit does not call for fortification, as you know. I’ll be moving to smaller vessels this weekend and can use KMeta if necessary but it’s not desired...