Port spirit addition / Pearson Square calc

[SiSandrine]

Hi guys n gals,

A while since i've posted (too busy winemaking ). I need a little help on my calculations. I am making some elderberry port with some left over batch. I have fermented out to dry my base wine (13%). I have checked my Pearson Square calculation and need to add 7 parts of 40% spirit to 20 parts base to bring this up to a 20% port. However as I need to back sweeten won't this change the alcohol % of my base wine i.e. by diluting it a little. For example if I add 250ml of sugar syrup solution to bring it back up to say 1020/1030 is there a way of calculating the revised alcohol % of the base. Am I fermenting up the wrong demi john or is this a genuine consideration? It may not matter given the quantities (I have approx 3 litres base) but I would like to be reasonably pure about it.

Grateful as always your excellent advice.
Simon

[rjb222]

Hi guys n gals,

A while since i've posted (too busy winemaking ). I need a little help on my calculations. I am making some elderberry port with some left over batch. I have fermented out to dry my base wine (13%). I have checked my Pearson Square calculation and need to add 7 parts of 40% spirit to 20 parts base to bring this up to a 20% port. However as I need to back sweeten won't this change the alcohol % of my base wine i.e. by diluting it a little. For example if I add 250ml of sugar syrup solution to bring it back up to say 1020/1030 is there a way of calculating the revised alcohol % of the base. Am I fermenting up the wrong demi john or is this a genuine consideration? It may not matter given the quantities (I have approx 3 litres base) but I would like to be reasonably pure about it.

Grateful as always your excellent advice.
Simon

The actual change will be minimal and not noticeable. Do your additions and then allow to rest to check if it clouds then bottle. Anything i have boosted % of took a year to marry together so be patient after bottling.

[SiSandrine]

Thanks for the response. After posting, I noticed on the Wine Making tools page there is an adjusted alcohol calculator too. This seems to calculate an adjusted level so in these quantities as you said negligble.

Yes I intended to let it rest. One thing, is it conventional to filter fortified wine the same way any other wines are treated. I guess two options filtering base wine before addition or filtering the blended wine? Any thoughts?

[rjb222]

Thanks for the response. After posting, I noticed on the Wine Making tools page there is an adjusted alcohol calculator too. This seems to calculate an adjusted level so in these quantities as you said negligble.

Yes I intended to let it rest. One thing, is it conventional to filter fortified wine the same way any other wines are treated. I guess two options filtering base wine before addition or filtering the blended wine? Any thoughts?

I always filter the base wine. I have not had to filter the fortified wine. The only case would be if for some reason there was a farther drop out of some kind. That again is not a likely scenario.

[SiSandrine]

Thanks for the advice. I'll do that.