Damson (in Distress) Port

Moley · Sep 7, 2011

I use an old-fashioned, hand cranked meat mincer for my raisins, and find that does a better job than blitzing in any food processor. Picked up cheap from a charity shop.

There are enough sugars already in the bucket to get the yeasties interested, so I think I might add demerara after straining. I will probably use Gervin GV2.

I always expect to give anything involving elderberries at least a year, so I'll let you know how this turns out next Christmas.

bluebell · Sep 8, 2011

Just got mine going and wondering what a second go with these fruit may produce?

If this truly is of port consitency then Im thinking it would be quite an acceptable full bodied red? What do you think? Waste not want not as they say

Moley · Sep 8, 2011

bluebell said:
Just got mine going and wondering what a second go with these fruit may produce?

I'd been wondering that myself, for the price of a bag of sugar it has to be worth a try :thumb:

graysalchemy · Sep 8, 2011

Never thought of that :hmm: :hmm: Unfortunately I have no damsons and haven't even managed any black currents this year. Might get out on sunday for a few pounds.

Moley · Sep 8, 2011

graysalchemy said:
Unfortunately I have no damsons and haven't even managed any black currents this year.

You mean blackberries ?

I have made elderberry & blackcurrant when clearing out the freezer, it was a belter :thumb:

graysalchemy · Sep 9, 2011

You are right I meant blackberries I was having a very stressful day at w*rk. Hope it stays dry to pick Blackberries this week end.

bluebell · Sep 9, 2011

Moley said:
I have made elderberry & blackcurrant when clearing out the freezer, it was a belter :thumb:

:grin: Now theres a thought! May need to check that I have enough elderberries...What did you use Moley 1kg of each? Mind you it will have to join the list for October :roll:

Moley · Sep 9, 2011

Just checked my notes, the usual mixed measurements, I used 1.5lbs of each, 1kg of sugar and 1 litre of red grape juice.

Started 28/3/09, bottled 21/2/10, it's bloody beautiful now but I think I've only got 2 bottles left

bluebell · Sep 10, 2011

thanks Moley, was that with any citric and how long do you think to stand the must? I have to say that my newly started recipe book has an awful lot that start 'Moleys....' :)

Moley · Sep 10, 2011

I have to confess that my note keeping has now become rather shoddy, but back then I was recording everything.

Started on 28/3, strained 4/4, racked, stabilised and slightly sweetened (0.992 to 0.996) 30/4, racked again 6/6.

So it had a week in the bucket before straining. I only added half a tsp of citric as blackcurrants are quite high in acid.

bluebell · Sep 12, 2011

oops Firstly I didnt really plan ahead very well and as Im going away end of next week decided to take this off of the must after 4 days, so that I have a chance to do a second batch from the same must. Dont really think it will make much difference as it already has a good strong taste.

Second I was using my faithful jelly bag and hadnt thought about the volume of fruit which proved to be rather more volume than my poor jelly bag was up to. Not a disaster just an inconvenience and now I have to see if I can adapt something to hang in the jelly bag frame

Thirdly Im running out of space as I only really have space for 3 x 5 litres in the kitchen and as the Strawberry and raspberry has not yet finished fermenting as I had planned and the TC has been extra slow to clear, even allowing that I can bottle the TC by the end of the week Im likley to have 5 x 5 litres on the go whilst Im away so Im bound to be in trouble :roll:

Just have to make sure that the livley ones are safely on the tray incase of accidents.

bluebell · Sep 14, 2011

First run of port is bubbling happily in a dj. Second run through is not looking as happy. Nothing actually wrong with it just dosent appear to be fermenting. Not sure if I should add more yeast or see what happens when I strain it and add then?

earthwormgaz · Oct 3, 2011

I racked off a gallon of this and bottled it.

I left it for a week to see if anything happened with natural yeasts. Then left it for another two after adding some wine yeast.

I added a small bottle of brandy to the stuff, then racked into bottles. I put some coco powder in one, and chilli in another to have chocolate and chilli ports as well as the normal stuff.

It now needs 6 months to mature then. I had a sneak taste, and it seemed to lack sweetness, would I get away with adding a bit of sugar to each bottle to sweeten it up? Might it actually sweeten up in the 6 months maturing? If I do add sugar, might it ferment and blow up?

On this last question, as I understand it, the brandy should have killed off any left over yeast, so it shouldn't keep fermenting in those bottles?

graysalchemy · Oct 3, 2011

earthwormgaz said:
I put some coco powder in one, and chilli in another to have chocolate and chilli ports as well as the normal stuff.

What The Feck were you thinking

Chilli Port next you will be telling you add garlic to bread :lol: :lol:

earthwormgaz said:
It now needs 6 months to mature then. I had a sneak taste, and it seemed to lack sweetness, would I get away with adding a bit of sugar to each bottle to sweeten it up? Might it actually sweeten up in the 6 months maturing? If I do add sugar, might it ferment and blow up?

And the rest. Anything with elderberry will take years. It will need sweetening up demerara is best but don't over do it. You really need top leave it 12 months minimum anything over 5 years is good.

hypnoticmonkey · Oct 3, 2011

Moley said:
Is it usually possible to pick blackberries, elderberries and damsons on the same day, or is the calendar out of kilter this year?

It is now 3rd October and I saw tons of blackberries ripe for picking in Cambridge yesterday. I'd say the calendar is out of kilter!

earthwormgaz · Oct 3, 2011

graysalchemy said:
Chilli Port next you will be telling you add garlic to bread :lol: :lol:

And the rest. Anything with elderberry will take years. It will need sweetening up demerara is best but don't over do it. You really need top leave it 12 months minimum anything over 5 years is good.

Mine's damsons and a few blackberries ... but yeah, looks like it'll need a while longer than I thought.

I really need to get my mash tun sorted and get on to making ale ... bloody awkward spirits

bluebell · Oct 3, 2011

racked mine off of the sedement and I have to say it is tasting surprisingly good, will see if it drops another look to rack again in a month or so. It still tasted a bit fizzy so although the air lock wasn t doing anything I think it is still going.

bluebell · Nov 9, 2011

Just started another version of Elderberry and damson port but wuth black currants this time. Needed some space in the freezer, this one is going like billyo never seen quite such an enthusiastic must :party:

Crastney · Nov 11, 2011

I racked my Plum/damson wine last night. I'm not sure if I have a problem or not.

originally I started three gallons off in a FB, and then after a few weeks, racked into three glass DJs, the third ended up with a lot of sediment, and fermented visibly, and the other two nowhere near as much. The SG recorded then (about two months ago now) was 1.075

The SG recorded yesterday on two of them was 1.070, and the third one was 1.042 the third was still visibly bubbling. I tasted all three, and they're all still very sweet, but rather nice, and strong already, and a very nice damson flavour to them.

I used a turkey baster, and transfered a smidgen of the yeast from the bottom of the third DJ into the other two to top up, and after about 2 minutes I had a visible fermentation going in all three again.

these are sat in the utility room, underneath the combi boiler, so temp varies, and is probably not that warm, so I'm guessing it's just been a slow ferment.

basically I just need reasurance that I haven't done anything wrong...

earthwormgaz · Nov 11, 2011

One of my bottles has got weird white floaty bits on the top ...

Damson (in Distress) Port

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