Chocolate Orange Port...

Ran into a film on Youtube for a Chocolate Orange Port, by Jack Keller- He finishes some of the statement here: http://www.winepress.us/forums/index.php?/topic/29868-orange-choclate-wine/.

Looks like it's at least a one year wait until bottling, and 2 years are better.

I did 3 gallons...
6 cans 100% Orange concentrate
1 can Barbara Grapes 46oz.
10oz Dutch Chocolate powder
1oz med oak chips
2 tbs Buddha Peak Ceylon Tea (Peets)
3oz. Trader Joes Cherry juice
EC-1118 Yeast
5lbs white sugar melted into water
SP at 1.160

The chocolate is messy, but this smells incredible (for however that long that lasts...)


Taking my time with the yeast, adding a pinch of yeast superfood, 1/2 cup orange juice and 1/2 tsp sugar every two hours, and will add it 20 hrs into waiting.

**USE YOOPER's covering technique, this will overflow at around 70 degrees and blow the airlock. (unless you want chocolate orange pudding)

Should be ready for next Christmas.

Any suggestions would be wonderful.

Thank you.

"QUOTE Jack Keller:
Cocoa contains a number of different very bitter oils that must be given time to break down. After the bubbling slows down put your fermenter/carboy away for one full year. Keeping the airlock on and checking the water level in it on occasion. Any other method of removing the oils will result in the loss of that little enzyme that the ladies are so fond of.

At the end of that year, rack the mead once to remove sediment and sweeten.... Put the mead away for a second year. After the second year bottle normally. It will be clear, but very dark.


Since I made nine different 1-gallon batches of wines and meads using cocoa powder after I was told how, I was very concerned when I tasted one and it was bitter. These were all started at the beginning of 2007 and are all wonderful now, 20 to 21 months later. "

Not to be a negative Nancy but the title of the linked thread is for a wine. You may want to skip the added sugar at intervals as this will dry your beer out more towards a wine which is not what you want in a porter other than that it looks good enough to me that I'd give it a shot to see how it comes and makes adjustments for the next batch if there is to be one.


***edited*****. My @$$. Mobile app got me again didn't realize till now was responding to a post in the wine brewing forum. Please disregard above************

********end of stupidity clause*******

No problem Gil. Been there done that too. Let me know what you think of the recipe if you do wine. I'm pretty excited about opening it a year from now, lol.

http://winemakermag.com/313-fruit-port (definitely read)... 1.040 SG = 10 Brix

"Stop, in the Name of Port

Adding alcohol will stop the fermentation of your base fruit wine, leaving the unfermented sugars to sweeten your fruit port. If you are using 151 proof Everclear, add 1.2 gallons (4.5 L) of it to your 5-gallon batch of fruit wine. For 190 proof Everclear, add 0.9 gallons (3.4 L). (If you use vodka, you will need to add 3.3 gallons to your 5-gallon batch!)

This alcohol addition will yield a fruit port with 20% alcohol. Stir well so the alcohol mixes rather than floats on top of the wine. A common tool used to figure out the amount of alcohol to add (regardless of proof) to hit any target alcohol level in a port-style wine is the Pearson square. For a complete explanation of the Pearson square, see Daniel Pambianchi’s article “Luscious Port Wine” in the December 2002-January 2003 issue of WineMaker. Knowing how to use this mathematical tool will help any winemaker formulate their own fortified wines.
"Stabilization

Alcohol will stop any active fermentation and stabilize the wine. You may wish to add up to 25 ppm sulfur dioxide (SO2), from potassium metabisulfite powder or Campden tablets, but this is not strictly necessary. You should not add any sorbate — as is common in fruit wine production — to stabilize the wine. "

Found out more information on the Specific Gravity of Ports.

http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f5/final-sg-never-low-kit-instructions-say-11793/

"I am trying to figure out why my wines rarely finish with the right specific gravity. If a kit's instructions indicate a finishing sg of 0.992 to 0.996 my wines usually finish at 0.998 to 1.000. I did find out that my temperature was too low. WE instructions say use 18-24*C and the place I was fermenting in was 17-20*C so I thought that was okay. After many conversations with LHBS staff and a KR sales rep I know that warmer is better and that 23-24 is the target temp for fermentation. Now I keep my must at 23-24*C (73-74*F). Since then 2 out of 4 kits have finished low enough.

What might I be doing wrong? Of those remaining 2 kits one came out of the primary low enough and the other did not. I should state that one of the 2 remaining kits is the notorious WE Chocolate Raspberry Port. The other is the Ken Ridge Showcase Amarone. So the CRP is known for stuck fermentations and the Amarone had about 1-1.5L too much water in it. The excess is in a 1G just at about 1/3 full, lots of O2 but it was the only place to put it.

The CRP is expected to go to 1.010 but is stuck at 1.020 after chapitalization. The Amarone is expected to go below 0.997 but it appears to be finished at 1.000.

Now that I've explained my situation I am wondering if the two kits that have not worked out well are explainable in that the CRP is a known hard kit and the Amarone is diluted a little and that is reflected in the SG reading."

Brix to Specific Gravity converter for us newbies:

http://www.brewersfriend.com/brix-converter/

http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f45/blueberry-port-39813/

"I've got about 16.5 pounds of blueberries in the freezer and a half gallon of Knudsen's organic blueberry juice. I've settled on attempting a blueberry port and will use the recipe from Keller's site as my basis. Here it is:

6 lb. blueberries
1/2 pt. red grape concentrate
1/2 c. light dry malt
1-3/4 lb. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. pectic enzyme
1-1/2 tsp. acid blend
1/2 tsp. yeast energizer
1/2 tsp. wine stabilizer
4 pt. water
crushed Campden tablet
wine yeast
Wash and crush blueberries in nylon straining bag and strain juice into primary fermentation vessel. Tie top of nylon bag and place in primary fermentation vessel. Stir in all other ingredients except stabilizer, yeast and red grape concentrate. Stir well to dissolve sugar, cover well, and set aside for 24 hours. Add yeast, cover, and daily stir ingredients and press pulp in nylon bag to extract flavor. When specific gravity is 1.030 (about 5 days), strain juice from bag and siphon liquor off sediments into glass secondary fermentation vessel. Fit fermentation trap. Rack in three weeks and again in two months. When wine is clear and stable, add red grape concentrate, wine stabilizer and crushed Campden tablet, rack again and bottle. Allow a year to mature. [Adapted from Raymond Massaccesi's Winemaker's Recipe Handbook]

I'm going to attempt a 3 gallon batch. Instead of using the measured sugar as written, I'm going to target an SG of 1.110-1.120, in hopes that I'll finish somewhere between 15 and 16% (I'm going to use EC-1118). From there, I'm going to give it some brandy and let it sit on a mix medium French and American oak.

Now my questions: 1) anyone tried Keller's recipe and care to share your thoughts? 2) I'm not sure about the backsweetening with grape concentrate, but am looking for some input on that. I don't want this to be too "grapey". I guess I could use another concentrate 3) where the recipe calls for 1/2 tsp of wine stabilizer, I assume that means K Sorbate. 4) any other suggestions?

Thanks! I'll be sure to post some pics as I get this going.

Jim"