White Port....of a fashion.

[arturobandini]

A few weeks ago I started off a Beaverdale white wine kit and today the airlock finally ceased to bubble. I racked the wine off the sediment and into a sterilised glass gallon demijohn. Taking some of the wine and heating it up I dissolved 100g of organic cane sugar into it before adding this back to the racked wine. Airlocked bung was placed in the neck and back into the cupboard.

The specific gravity of the Wine was 990 from a starting point of 1080. The addition of 100g of cane sugar raised the gravity back up to 1010. My plan now is to do this process three more times before racking with a crushed campden per correct measure and into the attic for six months. When six months comes around I will add the correct amount of brandy to raise the alcohol levels to that of a standard port before bottling and storing for a further six months.

Anyone have any suggestions on the process? Perhaps adding the brandy at the start of the initial six months then racking into bottles for a further six? Therefore giving the wine 12 months to sit with the brandy?

All opinions gratefully received!

[MrBen]

If I where you I would make any sweetning additions all at once to lessen handling. Brandy fortification should be carried out ASAP for preservation and maturation. Sweetning with concentrated grape must would also be preferable to sugar due to the lactic acid in the must balancing the sweetness and avoiding any jammie characteristics.

Enjoy

[arturobandini]

Hi,

I'm not planning on adding any sweetening additions actually. I'm adding the sugar to the white wine must gradually to ferment it to a higher alcohol volume before racking it to clear.

[Duffbeer]

Try feeding with grape concentrate rather than sugar, it will increase body and vinosity as well as the alcohol.
Be careful though if you haven't used a high alcohol yeast ferment could stall after the first feeding, most GP yeasts will expire at 14%.
Also as above fortify with brandy at the start of storage, it will help with preserving and mean less tampering.
Good luck

[arturobandini]

Good advice thanks chaps.

I was leaning towards adding the Brandy and then leaving to clear before bottling off to forget about it. Adding Brandy will kill the ferment too and mean I can avoid adding sulphites to do the same right?

[arturobandini]

The specific gravity of the wine has dropped to 1.009 from a gravity of 1.020 after the second sugar feeding. I naturally sipped the sample and the alcohol is quite prominent at the moment. I calculated the current alcohol by volume to be around 16% and there are definite signs of continued yeast activity given the steady airlock bubbling.

I fermented this with the standard yeast that comes in a Beaverdale wine kit completely neglecting to think about whether the yeast could cope with abnormal alcohol levels. It seems the fears have been unfounded as it continues to eat happily and I'd be quite content should it finish higher than 0.990 as there is very little sweetness remaining which was my main concern.

Once the fermentation has finished I will rack this off any remaining sediment and add the requisite amount of Brandy to increase the ABV to Port levels and then leave to drop fully bright before bottling.

[MrBen]

The addition of SO2 aswell as fortifying alcohol would be a good belt and braces measure lessening oxidation and avoiding any unwanted nasties populating the wine. Although it would possibly slow any beneficial ageing effects meaning longer to wait .

[arturobandini]

Hi all, this has been batch maturing since adding Brandy in March 2009.

It is now time to bottle and this is where I need some help. I have the bottles etc. but I need a few of those foil caps that shrink over the bottle neck when held over the kettle. Without wishing to buy a whole bag of them (as I only need six) can someone who uses them more frequently or has some spare sell me six and post them along? Happy to PayPal a payment over and PM me for more details.

Thanks chaps

[danbrew]

Pm me your address and i'll send some on in the next week or so... Did you have a taste by the way?