2012 Orange Chocolate Port
February 2012 – I spotted this kit in American Brewmaster, heavily discounted. I checked the label and it was 1.5 years old. Yikes! But a voice inside me said, “go for it!” and I did. [This was the first aged kit I purchased, but certainly not the last!]
Ingredients
| Kit | RJ Spagnols Orange Chocolate Port kit |
| Bentonite | yes |
| Yeast | whatever came with the kit, didn’t record it |
| Sulfite | yes |
| Sorbate | yes |
| Kieselsol | yes |
| Chitosan | yes |
Method
| Added juice concentrate to the fermenter, stirred in bentonite. Sprinkled yeast on top. | 02/11/2012 SG 1.112 |
| Racked the wine into a fresh primary fermenter. | 02/23/2012 SG 0.998 |
| Added sulfite, potassium sorbate, stirred with powered stirring rod.
Added F Pack and stirred well. Added kieselsol and stirred, then added chitosan and stirred. Racked into 3-1/2 gallon carboy. |
02/23/2012 SG 1.030 |
| This one is sweet! Racked the wine into a fermenter, and bottled in 31 splits. | 03/24/2012 SG 1.030 |
Notes
| Yield | 15.5 bottles, in 31 split bottles |
| Alcohol | 15.5% |
| Residual Sugar | 7.6% |
| 09/24/2012 | The kit may have been old, but it did not affect the quality of the wine. This came out fantastic! When I’m done to my last half dozen bottles, which will take a while as I don’t drink it often, I will spend the money to buy another port kit. |
| 01/04/2014 | This kit is aging incredibly well. This is not an authentic port, but it’s a delicious dessert wine, and it has done well for cooking. However, I’d rather spend the money on an inexpensive marsala than use this for cooking. I can always get more marsala but will eventually run out of bottles of this one! |
| 04/26/2014 | Unfortunately this wine is disappearing faster than I’d like. I need to make another one! Or at least something like it. |