I am making port and I have french cubes in the 5 gallon carboy
according to the instructions. We put the port in Oct and we have
racked it once. I have three questions:
1) should I rack again - how important is that to do with Port?
2) if I rack I will have more head space. Should I top off with another
port or not worry so much because of the alcohol content?
3) As for the french cubes, I was planning on leaving them in there for
a year, but I am wondering if they will need that long before maximum
extraction.

thanks
marc

wrote:

> I am making port and I have french cubes in the 5 gallon carboy
> according to the instructions. We put the port in Oct and we have
> racked it once. I have three questions:
> 1) should I rack again - how important is that to do with Port?
> 2) if I rack I will have more head space. Should I top off with another
> port or not worry so much because of the alcohol content?
> 3) As for the french cubes, I was planning on leaving them in there for
> a year, but I am wondering if they will need that long before maximum
> extraction.
>
> thanks
> marc
>
Oak flavour extracts from cubes very quickly. A month or 2 should be
sufficient.

Have you fortified this wine yet? If so then do not worry about the
ullage. Port can tolerate this fine.

If it is well settled do not worry about racking, unless there is a
stack of lees there. These could start to stink. If so then rack it again.

Keep the SO2 level around 150 ppm total sulphur dioxide.

James.

wrote:
> I am making port and I have french cubes in the 5 gallon carboy
> according to the instructions. We put the port in Oct and we have
> racked it once. I have three questions:
> 1) should I rack again - how important is that to do with Port?
> 2) if I rack I will have more head space. Should I top off with another
> port or not worry so much because of the alcohol content?
> 3) As for the french cubes, I was planning on leaving them in there for
> a year, but I am wondering if they will need that long before maximum
> extraction.
>
> thanks
> marc

3) Real port is typically processed in big old oak containers, so it
doesn't pick up oak flavour. You're speaking of instructions - is this
a kit? Other than that, cubes should be fully extracted in 3-4 months.

1 & 2) Racking is important for clarification and development. Port can
handle oxidation better than wine because of higher alcohol content,
but it will oxidize too if kept with a significant headspace for some
time. A week is probably ok but I wouldn't go much over that. If you
don't want to top up with real port, a big red will work fine - you can
add some Everclear if you have it or vodka if you're concerned about
losing alcohol, depending on how much top up you need. Same for sugar.

Pp