# When to press??



## Rhys (Oct 7, 2011)

Hi Everyone. I am new to this forum, but have been making wine with friends at home since 2004. We have made some great wines over the years, but need some advice on a dilemma that is facing us. Here are the facts:

We like dry, red wines. In the past, when making red wines, we have pressed at about 1% residual sugar. The primary fermentation usually took around a week. We allowed the wine to finish in carboys.

We are using a new yeast strain (RC212) this year and have no previous experience with it. We do know that is is a slower fermenter.

We are making Merlot from the Central Valley.

Our crush was on 9/26/11. Starting sugar 26.5%. Added yeast on this day.

We punch the cap daily.

Our fermentation vessels (5 of them) are yielding sugars that are as follows: 5, 7, 11.5, 12, 10 last night.

What are the advantages to pressing sooner or later?

Is there an optimal time, sugar level, etc. to press?

Thanks!

Wino757


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## djrockinsteve (Oct 7, 2011)

First of all welcome to the forum. Second Pressing can be done at various levels and all have pros and cons. Pressing too soon will yield a higher acid level and a lower ABV as there is less sugar available.

Pressing later will allow for a less acidic juice and a higher ABV (alcohol by volume) as there being more sugar for the yeast to consume.

Pressing later will yield a very high sugar content as in ice wine.

Many prefer to press around maybe 21 brix. The juices I receive from california are ph balanced, sulfited and have a specific gravity of @ 1.090 which will yield 12% ABV if fermented dry.

Pressing too hard can extract excess tannin and make your wine bitter. A light pressing will yield a nice sweet juice.

RC 212 by Lalvin is an excellent yeast. It is best for young and aged reds. It will ferment up to @16%ABV and usually is finished in about 6-7 days depending upon temperature, nutrients etc.

It will enhance the juices variatel character but does need yeast nutrients more so than other lalvin yeasts. It is generally a low foamer as well.

Add pectic enzyme first and allow 12-24 hours for the enzymes to start. Then rehydrate your yeast and add, don't just dump into the bucket. You can add your nutrients at this time at the rate of 1 teaspoon per gallon or add half now and half around 1.050-60

Stir gently often.

I have used lalvin yeasts for years and love them. Check the "Home Page" "Tutorials" "Yeasts" for a further review of other yeasts.

Hope this helps a bit. Again welcome to Wine Making Talk


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## Rhys (Oct 7, 2011)

Thanks djrockinsteve,

Good info. We started at 26.5, so the wine should finish at around 13-14% ABV dry. Was wondering if at the levels we are now, (average is around 9) if it makes sense to press tomorrow or wait until Monday. We want a dry red wine. We have been fermenting for 11 days now.

One of my wine making buddies is concerned that the cap will start to decompose even though there are lids on the fermenters. The fermenters hold around 30 gallons each. I don't think that this is a problem since the wine is still fermenting and the CO2 will keep it preserved. I could be wrong. 

The temperature has been a little low lately and we haven't measured the temp of the fermenting wine (my guess is in the high 60's). Maybe that is the reason that fermentation is slow overall. It's supposed to be warm, in the 80's, over the next few days, so fermentation should pick up. 

I would personally rather wait until the sugar drops before pressing and moving the wine to the barrel because there is less possibility of more robust fermentation blowing the airlock off and making a mess when it warms up. Also, I think that a little more contact with the skins and seeds will add tannin and give the wine more ability to age in the bottle. This is just my opinion. Either way, the fermentation will finish in the barrel.

My question is if there will be any harm or benefit if we press now, when the wine is still fairly sweet, or later, when the wine is dry.... is there a possibility of spoilage if we wait?

Thanks again for your help!

Wino757


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## djrockinsteve (Oct 7, 2011)

remove around 1.020 don't squeeze let it drip back into the primary


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## PCharles (Oct 8, 2011)

*Re RC 212*

I also used RC 212. I started with 12 gallons of freshly crushed and de-stemed gallons of Cab Sauv. My starting SG was no where near as high as yours was, but I added sugar to bring it just below 25 brix. The cap was really firm to start off with, but gradually softened as the SG dropped. Sorry, I use SG instead of brix as a general rule. I used White Labs MLF product, which I added when SG was about 1.020. I kept punching down gently until the SG was near 1.000 8 days later. That's when I pressed. The wine looks great... really dark. I removed gross lees after 1 day then added heavy toasted French oak. I wanted medium toast, but must have picked up the wrong bag. What the heck. Wine continues to look very nice with small bubbles from continued fermentation or MLF. 

This is my first attempt with fresh grapes and my knowledge base is certainly limited. My 2 cents is that it was fine to wait until SG/Brix was down to 1.000 or brix close to 0. MLF looks ok... I stired on day 4 and will hit again on day 7... mixing up those MLB. 

I hope I've had something to add here. I look forward to following this thread is of interest to me. 

Best regards,
Paul


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## s2000 (Oct 17, 2011)

subscribed. I too am deciding if I press tomorrow. It was a BRIX of 5% tonight. Will probably wait right till I see close to zero. Before pressing the must into carboys.


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