Sweeten that Stout up with Some Tawny Port

[JonnyJumpUp]

I've been experimenting with Tawny Port wine in stouts. It is a great additive to sweeten things up a bit and add a fruity complexity. I have found that the Sandeman Tawny is an affordable well suited wine for this purpose.

Did your stout come out to bitter? Add about 500mL (per 5 gallons) to sweeten it up a bit and add very subtle cherry and dark fruit flavors.

At 750mL (per 5 gallons) you develop some noticable fruit flavors that are well balanced with the roast and can make a dry stout taste sweet.

With a full Liter (1000mL) the port will take center stage.

All these experiments were with an imperial stout grain bill and about 3.5lbs of roasted malts. I would scale back if you use less roasted malts. The great thing is you can add some to a pint with a shot glass to get a feel for how it will change the beer before committing an entire batch.

Soaking the port in oak before adding to the brew adds yet another layer of complexity.

Haven't seen much about the use of wine and thought I'd throw this out there.

 

[MikePote]

I know this is a seven month old post but hoped I could get some feedback from you. I recently made a post about doing a port wine stout and got limited feedback. I had my first run in with port wine a couple weeks ago, really enjoyed it and thought it would be a great flavor in a big stout.

Does the port wine ferment? I would imagine it has plenty of fermentable sugars left. I was thinking of aging with port barrel chips or oak soaked in port wine but your idea would probably work as well. Any thoughts are appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Micha]

Does the port wine ferment? I would imagine it has plenty of fermentable sugars left. I was thinking of aging with port barrel chips or oak soaked in port wine but your idea would probably work as well.

Did you find out about that? From the OP's findings, it'd seem that they were kegging, so the question was less important. If you bottle, though...

 

[jessup]

It should ferment if theres viable yeast. Since port fermentwtion is halted by adding booze there should be residual sugar. Youd prob never know though as the flavor will still be there. I have a barrel i put port in to keep it wet, & when i put beer in there that port stayed & helped make this deep, red winelike solera barrel. Tastes more of whiskey & port more than anything beerlike.