Blackberry and elderberry port

[The Goatreich]

Sorry to ask more questions. I have two sachets of GV4, both of which I was thinking of adding as this is two gallon's worth, but do you think one sachet will be enough? That'll leave me one sachet for my planned coffee wine experiment.

 

[RobWalker]

Thanks again. I presume for port I'd want to make this quite sweet then, perhaps 1.010?

it's up to you really, and also up to how you drink it. if you intend to mix the whole gallon with lemonade (or wkd, hahah) for example, you dont need to worry.

we sweetened ours to about 1.005 and it tastes good.

I think the packs of gervin yeasts are designed for 5 gallons...

 

[The Goatreich]

WOW! So it's worth weighing out 2g for 2 gallons then? That's some potent yeast!!

 

[RobWalker]

I would use half a pack in each. i'm no expert but yeast does a lot of reproducing, so you want a healthy amount to start. the more that are produced, the easier it will ferment out. low amounts of yeast = stressed yeast, and potentially not enough to finish the job. too high = yeast fighting for sugars, stressed yeast. I've always used a full teaspoon of Montrachet yeast for 1 gallon ferments, which is about 5g. i might have made that up somewhat, but that's my grasp of it :lol:

 

[The Goatreich]

I looked around and the 5g Gervin packs are marketed as for 1-5 gallons, so as I'm doing 2 gallons I just put a whole sachet in.

 

[graysalchemy]

I used a whole packet for 3 gallons but made a little starter an hour before pitching with a little water and a spoon of sugar always works for me

 

[The Goatreich]

Hey all,
I was supposed to rack this off the pulp on Tuesday night, but things are crazy hectic at the moment, with builders all over the house, forcing us to move 15 miles away temporarily, so I just didn't get a chance.

I have time to do it tonight, but will it be an issue to leave it until the weekend before taking it off the pulp?

 

[The Goatreich]

Racked this off at the weekend, and took some photos.

The must after about 10 days on the pulp:

The planned straining setup:

The actual straining setup due to the unsteady nature of the planned setup:

The squeezed out fruit:

The strained must with 2kg sugar dissolved in 1l water:

The fruit pulp, mixed back in with 1kg sugar and 500ml water:

2 gallons of port:

I'll leave this to ferment out, then rack for a year. I'll backsweeten when bottling to around 1.005 (probably), and then leave another year. My plan is to open the first bottle on my first wedding anniversary.

 

[RobWalker]

oh geez. keep an eye on that, mine were only.up to the shoulder and they exploded!

 

[The Goatreich]

That's after 10 days though, I'm hoping that it'll be a bit calmer now :s