Hi!

I found Sweet cherries real cheap today. Bought 17 pounds to make 2
gallons of port. I'll probably do 17 pints of water so I end up with 2
gallons. Since I've done so many KITS, I added Bentonite at the
beginning like many kits do. Thanks for any insights, I really
appreciate it.

Would love your inputs and thoughts:


Here is what I think is a good recipe:

Cherry Port (2 gallon recipe)

• 1 tsp Bentonite
• 16 lbs sweet eating cherries
• 1 banana (& ½ pound raisins)
• 7 lbs sugar (to S.G. 1.140+)
• 14 ½ pints water
•
• 3 tsp citric acid
• 1 tsp tannin
• 2 tsp pectic enzyme
• 2 tsp yeast nutrient
• Port wine yeast
• Later:
o Sorbate to stablize
o add 75ml brandy? An idea.

Bring water to boil, add Bentonite slowly stirring until dissolved.
Meanwhile, de-stem, wash and crush the cherries in the primary without
breaking any stones. Pour sugar over cherries, mashed banana and
raisins. Pour the boiling water over the mix and stir well to dissolve.
Cover and set aside until cool. Add remaining ingredients except yeast;
cover and set aside for 12 hours. S.G. >1.120-1.150Add activated yeast
and ferment 5 days. Strain juice into dark secondary and discard pulp
and stones. S.G. <1.060 ?Add 1 pound sugar, stir. Rack after 30 days and
again when wine clears. S.G.~1.060 After two additional months (S.G.
1.030) stabilize, wait 10 days, rack, wait 20 additional days, rack
until clear, then bottle, and store in dark place for 1 year.