# 2019 Cab



## stickman (Dec 5, 2019)

Picked up the frozen must today, 100% Sonoma Moon Mountain AVA, absolutely frozen solid, won't even bother opening for a couple of days. The following numbers are from the supplier: Brix 26.1, TA 4.7g/l, PH 3.62, YAN 133ppm, right now is the clicking of the chain on the roller coaster ride.......


----------



## cmason1957 (Dec 5, 2019)

I'm kinda jealous. I think I count 15 buckets, 3 gallons of finished wine each?? so about 45 gallons give or take. Very nice. I might, but might not based on taste add some tartaric acid to it, to push up that TA some. But I love me a 3.6 PH to start with, so maybe I wouldn't do anything.


----------



## Johnd (Dec 5, 2019)

3.62 pH with a 26.1 BRIX is a dreamy start for a Cali Cab, you should have a lot of fun with this one!!!


----------



## stickman (Dec 5, 2019)

Only 10 pails for me, the other five I'm transporting for a fellow winemaker. I appreciate the vote of confidence on the numbers, we'll see what we got soon enough, I suppose some people will cringe if I decide to water back to 24.5 brix.....


----------



## mainshipfred (Dec 6, 2019)

I believe I've read the trend in wine is to increase the alcohol levels. Personally I seem to like the 13.5 to 14% range for big reds so you won't get any grief from me.


----------



## cmason1957 (Dec 6, 2019)

I won't cringe at you watering back. After all it is your wine and you should make it how you like it. I probably wouldn't, but then I like my dry red fairly heavy and chewy with 14-15% abv.


----------



## stickman (Dec 6, 2019)

I understand the need to get to proper ripeness which may ultimately mean higher brix must, but I just don't want the quite that much alcohol.
Historically I use my hydrometer for measurements before and after fermentation, typically 24.5 brix starting and ending .992sg. Looking at my hydrometer 24.5brix is right at 1.100sg, using Fermcalc 1.100sg dropping to around .992 it indicates 15% ABV or so, depending on what number you want to believe. It seems like 15% ABV is high enough, I guess I'm getting old, any higher than that and it's one glass and I'm done.


----------



## Johnd (Dec 6, 2019)

I’m cringing!!!


----------



## ibglowin (Dec 7, 2019)

I would do the same using acidulated water. If fact you really have no other choice unless your making port out of all that.



stickman said:


> I suppose some people will cringe if I decide to water back to 24.5 brix.....


----------



## CDrew (Dec 7, 2019)

I'd look at these as great numbers and would be hesitant to do more than bump the TA a bit.

Any one else you feel a bit of alcohol is lost during open fermentation? I think it takes it down by a point or so but I have no numbers to back it up.


----------



## stickman (Dec 8, 2019)

Pails are at 55F. Made up a 2 gallon starter by combining samples of 5 of the pails, heated to 160F then chilled back down to 75 then took measurements, the pH is just as reported, I got 3.60 on a freshly calibrated probe, the brix came in at 26.5, I watered back the starter to 23brix, and added nutrients before acclimating and adding re-hydrated DV10.
I intend to water back the entire batch to 24.5 once everything is in the vat, I've done this before without any issues. The must is so dense with skins and seeds that I can't imagine the water will have much of an effect on the flavor of the finished wine. Added 35ppm sulfite to all of the pails, added Lallzyme EX, will add starter to pails in the morning.


----------



## jsbeckton (Dec 9, 2019)

Interested to see what you think of these Brehm buckets vs. fresh grapes. I’m always wondering if the premium is more for quality or convenience? Starting a batch in December certainly does sound appealing!


----------



## Ajmassa (Dec 9, 2019)

jsbeckton said:


> Interested to see what you think of these Brehm buckets vs. fresh grapes. I’m always wondering if the premium is more for quality or convenience? Starting a batch in December certainly does sound appealing!



a large portion of the premium is related to the handling/crushing/storing/shipping of the must. In one of these brehms related threads recently stickman mentioned the #s. 
Purchasing the same grapes locally at harvest is about 40% of the cost of purchasing the frozen must. 
Makes sense. Making top quality wine from top quality fruit but only needing ‘hobbyist sized amounts’—- either live in the region or pay up!


----------



## CDrew (Dec 9, 2019)

Ajmassa said:


> a large portion of the premium is related to the handling/crushing/storing/shipping of the must. In one of these brehms related threads recently stickman mentioned the #s.
> Purchasing the same grapes locally at harvest is about 40% of the cost of purchasing the frozen must.
> Makes sense. Making top quality wine from top quality fruit but only needing ‘hobbyist sized amounts’—- either live in the region or pay up!



Unfortunately, right? But this looks like great stuff. Bet it makes great wine. Any time of the year too. Looking forward to updates on this.


----------



## stickman (Dec 10, 2019)

It's been watered back to 24.5brix, 1st dose of nutrients and starter added, pails are at 62F, I have the garage set at 65F for now, letting the fermentation come up slow, but should have a cap by noon tomorrow, I'll dump everything into the vat tomorrow, need to get some sleep.


----------



## stickman (Dec 11, 2019)

The pails had a cap in the morning, ended up putting 9 pails into the vat, left one out to prevent a mess. Drained and returned a few pails in the evening to get some early oxygen to the yeast; the aroma is intoxicating.


----------



## Johnd (Dec 11, 2019)

Looks wonderful!! I note how much color you have already, it’s one of the advantages I enjoyed with frozen must.


----------



## Johnd (Dec 11, 2019)

stickman said:


> The pails had a cap in the morning, ended up putting 9 pails into the vat, left one out to prevent a mess. Drained and returned a few pails in the evening to get some early oxygen to the yeast; the aroma is intoxicating.



It's hard to be sure in the pic, but it looks like you have some holes drilled into your PVC drain pipe on an angle nearly parallel to the direction of flow, I assume that is to allow some air into the flow as the wine passes through? Or are those just drops of wine that happen to appear symmetrical ? Something else?


----------



## mainshipfred (Dec 11, 2019)

Johnd said:


> It's hard to be sure in the pic, but it looks like you have some holes drilled into your PVC drain pipe on an angle nearly parallel to the direction of flow, I assume that is to allow some air into the flow as the wine passes through? Or are those just drops of wine that happen to appear symmetrical ? Something else?



Good eye, interested in hearing the response.


----------



## stickman (Dec 11, 2019)

I agree, in the photo above the must is still cool at around 63F, the yeast has just become active, so the color is from the freezing process, the Lallzyme EX, and cold soak during the thaw.


----------



## stickman (Dec 11, 2019)

Yes, those are holes to allow air to be pulled in during draining, you can actually hear the difference if you cover them momentarily while draining.


----------



## stickman (Dec 12, 2019)

The sg is dropping as expected, 20 brix, cap 72F, wine 64F, tomorrow I'm anticipating the "third day runaway" so I lowered the temp in the garage to 56F for tonight. Added another dose of nutrients. The co2 doesn't appear to be affecting the pH reading very much, was 3.60 and now 3.59; however, the co2 would definitely cause an error on the high side if you conducted a TA titration.


----------



## jgmann67 (Dec 12, 2019)

What is your plan for an mlf? At this point, I’m guessing it’s either post-AF or not at all (can’t imagine).


----------



## stickman (Dec 12, 2019)

@jgmann67 I've been doing sequential MLF for many years and haven't had any issues with MLF completion, the chromatogram is usually complete in less than a month, and I don't even add MLF nutrients. I'm not sure why MLF seems to go without problems, I speculate that it's due to low use of SO2 and good quality/quantity of nutrients during yeast fermentation, so I'm not complaining, but now that I've said that, this batch will probably have some MLF trouble......


----------



## stickman (Dec 12, 2019)

Completely drained the cap, those are 6gal pails so maybe 27gal free run, cap at 75F, wine at 65F, 18 brix, so far so good.


----------



## Johnd (Dec 12, 2019)

stickman said:


> Completely drained the cap, those are 6gal pails so maybe 27gal free run, cap at 75F, wine at 65F, 18 brix, so far so good.



Looks awesome!! When you press your grapes, I'd love to see what drainage strainer / apparatus you have at the bottom of your fermentation vat that allows the free run to flow so well. Looks a lot faster than vacuum pumping it out with a racking cane and gajillion hole pipe....................


----------



## jburtner (Dec 12, 2019)

Beautiful! Are you separating the free run at this early stage? 

Cheers,
johann


----------



## stickman (Dec 12, 2019)

@jburtner no not separating the juice now, it all gets dumped back into the vat, it's just a way of allowing the cap to drain under its own weight. 

@Johnd The whole vat can be drained in a matter of minutes, I do have an internal strainer installed now, but I've also used the vat without it. Without the strainer the outlet will plug up near the end of fermentation, mostly with seeds and some skins that sink, and needs to be reamed out, but even then, once the flow is started the whole vat can be drained. To some extent it depends on how you conduct fermentation, if you really beat up and tear the skins during punch downs, or extend skin contact until the cap falls, then an internal strainer is definitely needed (or the gajillion hole pipe). I made the strainer from the plastic cage of a spent filter cartridge. I'll get a photo of the strainer once everything is drained; it's a little larger but similar to this one I use in the Brutes, something about the shape of the holes resists plugging.


----------



## Johnd (Dec 12, 2019)

stickman said:


> The whole vat can be drained in a matter of minutes, I do have an internal strainer installed now, but I've also used the vat without it. Without the strainer the outlet will plug up near the end of fermentation, mostly with seeds and some skins that sink, and needs to be reamed out, but even then, once the flow is started the whole vat can be drained. To some extent it depends on how you conduct fermentation, if you really beat up and tear the skins during punch downs, or extend skin contact until the cap falls, then an internal strainer is definitely needed (or the gajillion hole pipe). I made the strainer from the plastic cage of a spent filter cartridge. I'll get a photo of the strainer once everything is drained; it's a little larger but similar to this one I use in the Brutes, something about the shape of the holes resists plugging.




That's what I was looking for, been thinking of a way to improve my own process with the Brutes, my concern was that anything I put in down on the bottom to gravity drain the fermenters would just clog up and end up being useless. Thanks for the pic, next time I change my pool filters, which will be soon, I'm going to cut them open and see what's inside..........


----------



## stickman (Dec 13, 2019)

Cap is near 81F, wine is at 72F and 13 brix, pH 3.59, drained and returned, added the last remaining dose of nutrients, so now we just hope all ends well.


----------



## mainshipfred (Dec 13, 2019)

stickman said:


> Cap is near 81F, wine is at 72F and 13 brix, pH 3.59, drained and returned, added the last remaining dose of nutrients, so now we just hope all ends well.
> 
> View attachment 57822



It appears you treat yours as a pump over rather then a punch down. Is that correct?


----------



## stickman (Dec 13, 2019)

@mainshipfred That's generally true depending on what the skins look like, I'll let any whole berries ferment internally for a while, then I'll punch in the later half of the fermentation if the skins hold up well, that's to ensure the skins are mixed well and the juice has been released from any remaining whole berries, if the skins are tough and holding color I'll punch more, I'll go gentle or stop if they start to disintegrate.


----------



## Ajmassa (Dec 13, 2019)

stickman said:


> @mainshipfred That's generally true depending on what the skins look like, I'll let any whole berries ferment internally for a while, then I'll punch in the later half of the fermentation if the skins hold up well, that's to ensure the skins are mixed well and the juice has been released from any remaining whole berries, if the skins are tough and holding color I'll punch more, I'll go gentle or stop if they start to disintegrate.



^^^ Fully Aware every winemaker has different techniques and desired characteristics that affect decisions —- but for me I just don’t wanna screw anything up while trying to make the best product I’m able to make with my limited means. 
As far as stems go, the small amount that make it through I read can be helpful for a bold wine if they’re brown. My fam would just let it ride with all of em anyway lol. So good with that. 
But as far as whole berries go, assuming we’re talking about big reds, I never knew the protocol. I do standard punchdowns and some batches had a lot of whole berries make it thru crush and punch downs. There’s not much resistance to break this skins really. And I’ll be vigorous as hell in my punches once cap is saturated. But the actual initial punch I’m just shoving it down. The brutes can be 1’ thick so requires some muscle, but with whole grapes buried in that condensed cap doesnt seem like it would break the skin. 
Is it because in later stages the skins are broken down more making this easier to do? Even if I wanted them broken (which I did) how do you punch to do it?


----------



## mainshipfred (Dec 13, 2019)

If I remember correctly pump overs help eliminate the release of the harsher tannins. It's also my understanding the simple act of the grape being removed from the stem is enough for the enzymes and yeast to enter the grape without having to be fully crushed. I do believe you are correct though in the fermentation process weakening the skins perhaps even without enzymes.


----------



## CDrew (Dec 13, 2019)

This rack and return looks great. Nice going.

I have to say that the Brehm must looks perfect.

Curious why the "rack and return" vs a simple punch down?


----------



## Johnd (Dec 13, 2019)

Rack and return is a much gentler process than punching down as there is no mechanical intervention. It doesn’t break down the grapes as readily as punching, typically resulting in a subdued release of tannins and higher preservation of aromatic properties.


----------



## stickman (Dec 14, 2019)

Currently at 10 brix, cap 81, wine 72. Did a midnight punch, then drained and returned several pails over the top, you can see the difference with many skins completely deflated with some torn apart. I checked the berries that look whole and, at least in this case, they are fermenting on the inside, foamy wine squeezes out from the stem hole.


----------



## stickman (Dec 14, 2019)

Did a mid-day complete drain and return, got about 30gal of free run, allowed the cap to drain for 30 minutes after free run, currently at 7 brix, cap 80F, wine 72F. Taste is good, nothing unusual, as expected the tannin is becoming more noticeable as the sugar content drops.


----------



## jgmann67 (Dec 15, 2019)

Enjoying this thread. That’s some spectacular looking wine.


----------



## jburtner (Dec 16, 2019)

Very interested in this procedure instead of punching the cap. I've got some Carignan must coming in soon but probably won't be able to implement a drain/filter before this batch is fermented.

Do you eventually mix the press juice with the free run or do you age and bottle them separately - or it just depends...?

Cheers!
-johann


----------



## stickman (Dec 16, 2019)

@jburtner I use a basket type press and I don't make any attempt to get every last drop of liquid out. I consider it a soft press, so I've always combined the press with the free run. 

The current batch is down around 2 brix, my plan is to press on Saturday.


----------



## stickman (Dec 19, 2019)

Did some tasting, not much fruit, nice body, tannin is way up at this point, sg is at .992, pH 3.68, temp 65F, I bumped up the garage temp to 70F, still looking to press on Saturday.


----------



## stickman (Dec 21, 2019)

Pressed as planned, drained free run, transferred skins to press, put everything into pails with lids, will let settle overnight and then dump into flex tank tomorrow, will also add a couple oak staves and CH 16 ML culture. Got around 36 gallons total, 31 was free run. Tannin dominates the taste right now, will be interesting to see how it evolves over time.


----------



## Ajmassa (Dec 21, 2019)

The color these grapes give you every year is amazing. This cab is so vibrant. Such an inky deep yet bright purple. Same as the Tuscan blend. Very inviting. Looks great stickman!


----------



## stickman (Jan 2, 2020)

After press, the wine settled for two days and was then transferred to tank and carboys, added oak and CH16 as planned. ML fermentation has been visible for several days and going reasonably fast for 64F.


----------



## Johnd (Jan 2, 2020)

Looks awesome @stickman ! The color of the wine coming out of the press in your previous post is stunning. I’m sure the white spout accentuates the color, but it’s very impressive to see. We’re going to have to swap some ‘19’s in ‘21....


----------



## BI81 (Jan 2, 2020)

@stickman that is some beautiful color extraction!! I'm going to have to attempt to mimic your pump over process next year. Do you mind providing some more info on the setup you used on the picture for brutes? What type of filter did you pull the housing off of? What else did you use for the connection (ie gasket, valve, adapters, etc.)?


----------



## stickman (Jan 3, 2020)

@BI81 Below is a previous discussion about attaching a spigot to a brute, it has most of the details needed and provides some different opinions. The strainer is only attached by a simple friction fit, a few turns of Teflon tape to make it tight, so it can be pulled off by hand without tools.

https://www.winemakingtalk.com/threads/white-brute-trash-can.55300/


----------



## BI81 (Jan 3, 2020)

stickman said:


> @BI81 Below is a previous discussion about attaching a spigot to a brute, it has most of the details needed and and provides some different opinions. The strainer is only attached by a simple friction fit, a few turns of Teflon tape to make it tight, so it can be pulled off by hand without tools.
> 
> https://www.winemakingtalk.com/threads/white-brute-trash-can.55300/



Perfect, thanks @stickman


----------



## crushday (Jan 9, 2020)

@stickman I’m wondering if you can estimate the value of your wine verses a commercial wine. I’ve read many times on this site that forum participants estimate a bottle of wine made from a premium wine kit is comparable to a $20-$25. Not bad considering it costs $7.50-$8.00 to make.

I recently ordered (will arrive today, delayed because of the holiday vacation schedule of the Brehm staff) 2 buckets of Tempranillo frozen must. Shipped to my house, the cost is $440. All considered, I’m just over $515 with yeast, bacteria and other adjuncts. With the estimate of 3-3.5 of finished wine per bucket, simple math gives me a maximum of 35 bottles. Divided by $515 gives me a cost of $14.71 before I’ve even bottled it. A bottle and a cork brings the total to $16.50 per bottle to make.

So, if everything goes as planned and I don’t totally screw up my first frozen must buckets, am I making $50 bottles of wine?


----------



## CDrew (Jan 9, 2020)

This kind of accounting is dangerous, and I suggest you stop immediately. It's a hobby!

You are making wine from grapes, that you nurture to maturity and will drink 3-10 years from now. They are priceless! You'll have a ton of fun doing that, so that's worth something too.

If all you want is great wine that is relatively inexpensive, some diligent investigation at Costco will get you that. (Hint-start with the wines from Spain) Price is not really an indicator of how good the wine is, and honestly most $50 bottles of wine are overpriced.


----------



## crushday (Jan 9, 2020)

CDrew said:


> This kind of accounting is dangerous, and I suggest you stop immediately. It's a hobby!
> 
> You are making wine from grapes, that you nurture to maturity and will drink 3-10 years from now. They are priceless! You'll have a ton of fun doing that, so that's worth something too.
> 
> If all you want is great wine that is relatively inexpensive, some diligent investigation at Costco will get you that. (Hint-start with the wines from Spain) Price is not really an indicator of how good the wine is, and honestly most $50 bottles of wine are overpriced.


@CDrew It’s a fair admonition and great reality check. You’re right, I could simply buy finished wine but I WANT TO make it. And, like everyone on this site, I have lots of $$ in equipment to do so. So, it’s never going to pencil out. I love coming home from my office, finding out what my wife is making for dinner and heading to the cellar to grab a libation I had some hand in making. I’m living a pretty good life.


----------



## stickman (Jan 9, 2020)

Well as I've said before, value is in the eye of the beholder. I don't know much about Tempranillo, but commercial value is driven by supply and demand, it looks like Delfino Tempranillo is in the $30 range commercially, but your wine may be of higher value given its rarity. What would you charge if you were a boutique winery? From a value point of view, Cabernet is king, not because it's better wine, but because it has much higher demand. Here is a boutique winery selling Plum Ridge Cab between $50 and $70 a bottle; the value of my version is much higher as it's sold out!

https://www.winemag.com/buying-guide/delfino-2016-tempranillo-umpqua-valley/

https://www.campanaranchwines.com/collection/cabernet-sauvignon


----------



## jburtner (Jan 9, 2020)

Supply and Demand is where the market transactions actually happen otherwise it's speculation. You're not even allowed to sell it so it's a $17 bottle to produce and also known as "Unobtanium". You can gift it and they'll probably ask for more.

Cheers,
johann


----------



## Johnd (Jan 9, 2020)

In my cellar, I have nearly 2000 bottles of wine, some I made, some I buy / collect. In the collection of purchased wine, I have exactly zero bottles that cost less than the most expensive wine I've ever made. Yet, I drink my wine more frequently than the commercial wine. That, to me, is a huge savings without having to place value on any of it..............


----------



## stickman (Jan 13, 2020)

ML activity started to slow down, so I ran a chromatogram yesterday, looks to be nearly complete, but as usual we'll wait at least a couple of weeks before racking and sulfiting.


----------



## crushday (Jan 20, 2020)

@stickman - can you offer any information about your stainless fermenter? Given that you fermented nine 5 gallon pails I’m guessing over 60 gallons. Where did you acquire such equipment?


----------



## stickman (Jan 21, 2020)

It's all discussed a few posts down in my first thread.
https://www.winemakingtalk.com/threads/must-finally-arrived.51536/


----------



## stickman (Feb 26, 2020)

Finally did the post ML racking, pH is now 3.77, added one more new French oak stave, cleaned the other two staves that were with the wine during ML and added those after racking. The wine has nice body, very dark, but definitely closed up and reductive, fruit doesn't show until it has been in a glass for an hour or so. I allowed air contact during the transfer. Added 53ppm SO2, will check in two weeks or so to see where it's at. I need to rack those other two tanks of 2018 Cab, but not today.


----------



## CDrew (Feb 26, 2020)

So @stickman, how good is the seal at the lid of the Flex Tank? I'm thinking about a 30 gallon for next year.


----------



## stickman (Feb 27, 2020)

So far I haven't had any problems, after about 8 years I did have to replace the 2" bung o-rings, bought a package of 25 from McMaster for $10. So far, I haven't had to replace the 6" cap gasket, the oldest one is 10yrs, I use petrol-gel on threads and o-rings.


----------



## ibglowin (Feb 27, 2020)

I have two of the 15G ones. Lids are quite heavy duty with a good soft (replaceable) silicon gasket inside. The Lid takes about 2 revs to fully tighten and seal. Your SO2 levels will drop like a similar sized barrel (micro-ox) but there is no evaporation at all.


----------



## stickman (Mar 25, 2021)

Well the pump was out and dirty after racking the 2020 wine, so I figured it would be best to rack this 2019 Cab before cleaning everything. Transferred to a clean tank, discarded the oak, added 30ppm so2, and I may move this up to the bottling rack in a few months. The American oak definitely has this wine slathered with vanilla aromatics, very nice, but much different than my normal routine French oak, this will be interesting.


----------



## stickman (Oct 2, 2021)

Finally getting close to bottling this 2019 Cab. Checked the SO2 today in preparation for transferring to demijohns on the bottling rack. The SO2 tested at 21ppm free, pH is 3.80, I'll probably add 25ppm SO2 during the transfer to the bottling rack. Taste is pleasant, drinkable right now, but will probably need a year or two once bottled. This is a 100% Cab, but I ended up using a 2014 Malbec for top up. 

500lbs of 2021 frozen must is ordered and paid for, planning to do a 60% Merlot 40% Cab all from Sonoma Mtn, hopefully it's not all smoked out, we'll see.


----------



## crushday (Oct 2, 2021)

@stickman Color on that Cab looks amazing. Cool "mad scientist" equipment kit!!


----------



## Boatboy24 (Oct 2, 2021)

crushday said:


> @stickman Color on that Cab looks amazing. Cool "mad scientist" equipment kit!!



Took the words right outta my mouth.


----------



## stickman (Oct 14, 2021)

I finally transferred the 2019 Cab up to the bottling rack and added 30ppm SO2. The carboy has been held separate the entire time as an unoaked version, and it's interesting to see and taste the difference. This unoaked version has more lees impact and comes across with flavor and aromatics as a slightly younger wine, very nice but different. There's no mystery with the tank aged oaked version, darker and greater richness with more sweet oak vanilla in the taste and nose. Hopefully we'll bottle this in the next couple of weeks.

I have to extend a thanks to @cmason1957 for the reminder (in a different post) about potential TCA in the wine making area. 
A couple of days ago while preparing for the transfer, I was organizing the area and cleaning the demijohns and smelled something like TCA on the exterior of the glass, the demijohn basket also smelled like TCA, however this isn't the first time as I previously removed the shredded paper padding from between the glass and basket thinking that was the source. There were no odors inside the demijohn, only on the exterior which was easy to wash off, I also washed the baskets, but given I was going to be handling wine I felt it was best to remove them from the area. The plywood board I have on the rack had a stain from a previous wine spill that occurred a couple of years ago, at the time I sprayed sulfite solution and wiped with paper towels, but the wood is unfinished so the stain remained. I found this stain was also releasing a TCA like odor only noticeable if you were 12 inches away, so I deep cleaned the board with oxyclean followed by sulfite solution and baked dry in the sun, and this has reduced the odor to non detectable with my nose. I've never used any chlorinated cleaning products, but my tap water is chlorinated so I suspect that's a contributing factor. In my case, all internal surfaces of tanks and carboys have always been rinsed with chlorine free RO water, but obviously the years of wine spills and splatters on raw surfaces coupled with tap water is of greater concern.
The intent here was just to provide an additional caution about the potential for TCA in the winery, especially to those that have difficult to clean unsealed surfaces, including floors, walls, and any wood and cardboard etc. I guess I'll have to paint the concrete. Thanks again to @cmason1957 for the timely reminder.

Now on a happier note, some photos.


----------



## stickman (Dec 7, 2021)

Finally closing out this one. The wine has been on the bottling rack for 7 weeks, so I re-checked the pH and sulfite, got 3.78 pH and 36ppm free SO2. I decided to add an additional 10ppm sulfite and bottled a total of 14 cases yesterday without any issues. It's always a good feeling to get the wine safely into the bottle, I included a case of splits this time, my share of the cases are shown below. 

I'm looking forward to taking delivery on the 2021 frozen must and starting the new vintage in January.


----------



## Nebbiolo020 (Dec 31, 2021)

stickman said:


> Finally closing out this one. The wine has been on the bottling rack for 7 weeks, so I re-checked the pH and sulfite, got 3.78 pH and 36ppm free SO2. I decided to add an additional 10ppm sulfite and bottled a total of 14 cases yesterday without any issues. It's always a good feeling to get the wine safely into the bottle, I included a case of splits this time, my share of the cases are shown below.
> 
> I'm looking forward to taking delivery on the 2021 frozen must and starting the new vintage in January.
> 
> View attachment 81862


Nice that’s a good amount of wine. Also you nailed the ph.


----------

