No Port in a Storm

Well I won't be making that elderberry into a port style wine. It didn't have enough umph from the get go to do well. I should have started out with a high brix of about 32 and I wasn't close to that. Then arrested the fermentation with the addition of brandy before it went to dry, to keep some residual sweetness. I know this now so I will try again as soon as I have a free carboy and jug.

Guess that will have to be a Christmas gift for the special folks in my life and not a birthday gift for Brian. I broke down and bought a that brew kit from Brewster Brown that guy who makes and sells immersion wortchillers. All of his stuff is really affordable, so I'll probably be buying from him more. I mean the wort chiller doesn't look nearly as professional and lightly coiled as the ones I see on Midwest or other sites but it's a hell of a lot less expensive and I'm more for the affordable right now. I'm doing this for fun and out of my own apartment, so it's not like I can invest lots of money and time into this.

What sucks most about this particular hobby of mine is that I feel like I'm the only black woman out there who makes wine and that can feel isolating. Of course I should be used to the feeling of isolation, I am one of a handful of black women in my Ph.D. program. Luckily, as a whole there are more women of color in my program. I went ahead and joined the MN HOmebrewers guild and will probably have to gear myself up to go to the meetings where I will most likely be the only person of color there. Yeah. I wish any of my other wines that weren't kits were ready to drink, so I could at least feel good about that accomplishment.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed on the braggot being bottle ready soon.