Starting 3 gallon of elderberry port

[BobF]

Should the acid levels of a port be the same as that of a regular wine? 6-7%

I hope you mean .6-.7%

I've never made a port or measured the acid in a port, but the concept of balance tells me that with higher alcohol and higher residual sugar, higher acid would be the norm.

Go a little at a time and taste along the way. Taste should be the final judge.

My comment about acid is a general comment based on my own experience. I have mistakenly back sweetened before checking/adjusting acid. When I adjusted acid up after the fact, the sweetness became too much.

So, if you're an acid adjuster, adjust acid before you back sweeten.

 

[pwrose]

I measured the acid level at .65% (yeah I meant ... in there) the pH was 3.6
Since it is still bubbling and cloudy I only took a little for taste testing and it is very stong right now. It will need the f-pak thats for sure and I will add sugar to back sweeten once it has cleared pretty good but at least 1 racking before bottling.

 

[upper]

I would back sweeten later. An f- pak with eldo's may take it over the top.Your test should be at least 8 months out.Good luck waiting,but once you do you will..............Dig -it ..Upper

 

[pwrose]

I am pretty sure I will be needing the f-pak. I only used 13 lbs of berries for what ended up being 3.5 gallons. It was only supposed to be 3 but somewhere it got an extra half gallon of liquid. LOL
But I will wait for it to finish and clear then test before adding anything else to it.

 

[pwrose]

I have been out of town for the last 3 days and haven't been around to update any of the wines I have going. Well I am back and here is the update for the elderberry.
(Like my copy and paste for the beginning explaination)
I checked the SG and it was down to 1.000 which gives me a total ABV of 18% which is where I was headed with this one. I racked it into a 5 gallon carboy even though it is really only about 3.5 gallons and both of my 3 gallon carboys have other wines in them now. I added sorbate and put an airlock on it. I also gave it a good shake to get the CO2 released to displace the air (this would be my version of degassing and using it to my advantage LOL). I will let it clear for a little while and at the next racking put it back into a 3 gallon carboy and use the left over for topping up, also will backsweeten it at that time.

 

[Wade E]

Just dont leave it in there for very long cause I highly dought that is enough C02 from degassing to replace the 02 volume in that carboy.

 

[pwrose]

It will probably only be in there until Labor Day, like 2 weeks or so.
I checked it just a little while ago and the airlock popped once while I was doing other stuff in the room. The only reason I know it was that one is beacuse I was standing right beside it when it happened.
You think it would be ok til then, the only other thing I could do is put it in 1 gallon jugs and put lids on them, until I get the other 3 gallon back.

 

[Wade E]

So I take it that its still fermenting a little then? If thats the case then dont take the airlock off and youll be fine.

 

[pwrose]

No I dont think that it is, and if it is I have already added the sorbate. I just think that it was I might have bumped the shelf that it was sitting on and it caused the CO2 to get released and popping it one time. It only did it once, oh and the SG was 1.000 after fermenting out .138 total SG.
Do you still think it will be alright for a couple weeks?

 

[Wade E]

If there is enogh gas in thefre to pop the airlock you should be alright, That must have been one gassy wine!

 

[pwrose]

I would not say it was overly gassy, I didn't degass it before I put it under the airlock once it was racked into the 5 gallon carboy. I knew there would be a good bit of head space left so I tried to not let it splash too much while racking. Once it was in the 5 gallon and under the airlock I shook it a few good times to degass it, and allowing the CO2 to stay in the carboy under the airlock. It took maybe 3 or 4 times and the the airlock would pop once or twice and stop, when I did it the last time it popped the one time and then didn't do it again until I hit the shelf it was on.