# Petite Sirah



## pgentile (Sep 15, 2015)

Hey all, feeling cocky after many batches of fruit wine, two Chilean juice buckets(aging nicely) and several kits(also aging nicely), I purchased yesterday a lug of Petite Sirah grapes and a juice bucket of the same.

Tasted the grapes, delicious, tasted the juice bucket juice, good but not the same. But I guess it shouldn't being the juice is most definitely from a different source or a blend(Regina).

Anyway I de-stemmed and crushed the grapes last night added the juice bucket to it. Tested sugar 1.092, TA .60. Temp was 60f. PH meter on order, too late for this batch. Liked the taste. Then added potassium metabisulfite(6 campden tablets) planning to pitch in the am or afternoon today.

Got up this morning and took off the towel to pitch yeast and found a thick cap and fermenting activity already under way. Pitched the RC212 anyway.

So question is what is most likely the cause? Wild yeast? From the grapes? Yeast existing in my basement? Something unwanted? I sanitized all buckets and utensils prior to use.


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## ibglowin (Sep 15, 2015)

How many gallons of must do you have? If you are using a Brute or similar trash can you can calculate the approx amount using the formula for a cylinder and measuring your height and other dimensions. More than likely not enough SO2 and the possibility that the bucket may have been pre-inocculated etc.


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## NorCal (Sep 15, 2015)

You just got a running start from yeast that was present somewhere, samet Hing happened with a ton of grapes I just crushed. Pitched the yeast I wanted, which will crowd out the native yeast anyway. It's rocking and rolling now.


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## pgentile (Sep 15, 2015)

ibglowin: I have a little over 8.5 gallons of must. Probably needed a few more tablets. According to source the bucket wasn't pre-inocculated.

NorCal: I hope I can crowd out whatever started before I pitched. thanks


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## ibglowin (Sep 15, 2015)

That should have been enough. Did you crush the tablets?


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## pgentile (Sep 15, 2015)

Yes crushed the tablets and dissolved in small amount of warm water before adding.

But after racking my brains out about this, I think I got this cross contaminated with yeast from another batch that's about 4 days in the primary. Thinking back on it I used the same stirring paddle that was rinsed off but not sanitized. Should have used another one or sanitized in between use of different batches. The other batch has ec-1118.

So this got started with ec-1118 from stirring paddle of another batch and was re-pitched with RC212 this morning. May the best yeast win, but I think the ec-1118 might have had too much of a head start.


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## NorCal (Sep 15, 2015)

I had a conversation with the best winemaker in our area, MS degree from UC Davis. I was all proud that I'm trying to take my wine to the next level and I split batches and used two different yeasts. I told him how different they tasted and was really good when blended. His response was that after 6 months it's usually difficult to tell the difference in taste of the wine, just with a different yeast.


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## pgentile (Sep 16, 2015)

Interesting info NorCal.

One thing so far that I'm surprised at is how good the Petite Sirah grapes smell fermenting. Nothing I have fermented with so far, fruit and juice and kits, has smelled this good.

Question to all: Should I put this through MLF?


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## Boatboy24 (Sep 16, 2015)

pgentile said:


> Question to all: Should I put this through MLF?



Answer: Yep.


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## ibglowin (Sep 16, 2015)

I would for sure.


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## pgentile (Sep 16, 2015)

I'm going to order White Labs WLP675 today. But I'm reading some conflicting things on when to add the culture. Some say at 5 brix, some say at 0, some say before press and others say after press? And another says 24 hours after pressing rack off of gross lees then add the MLF culture?


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## ibglowin (Sep 16, 2015)

Ask 4 winemakers the same question you will likely get four different answers…..

Everybody has their own preferences. I have sat in several talks in winemaking conferences with industry folks talking up "coinnoculation" and swearing by it. Others swear by adding MLB after the gross lees are racked off. 

Main thing is to make sure that whatever you use, you know your wines numbers. pH, SO2 levels, ABV and make sure your MLB can tolerate those starting conditions. If this is your first time with MLF you may wish to go with a dried strain of something tried and true like Lalvin VP41 or Viniflora CH16. Most folks usually have better luck with a dried strain than a liquid strain. Also quite a few people order that strain as it is cheap but it also seems to have a high failure rate. You get what you pay for.


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## pgentile (Sep 16, 2015)

Thanks, I will take the advice.


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## NorCal (Sep 16, 2015)

I take it one step at a time. Go dry, press, let settle 24/48, rack to barrel, mlf, rack and start SO2 regiment when mlf completed.


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## Boatboy24 (Sep 16, 2015)

NorCal said:


> I take it one step at a time. Go dry, press, let settle 24/48, rack to barrel, mlf, rack and start SO2 regiment when mlf completed.



Same, except I do MLF in a carboy and move to barrel later.


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## ibglowin (Sep 16, 2015)

+1, Like the safety and cleanliness of glass until MLF is finished then into the barrel.

Like I said, ask four winemakers……


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## pgentile (Sep 21, 2015)

Pressed the petite sirah late saturday, going to rack off the gross lees today and add mlb. My LHBS only had liquid malo from Wyeast-4007 Blend (blend of ER1A and EY2d cultures). The package and website says to keep refrigerated but doesn't say anything about temp when pitching. Is it ok to pitch this at 34-40°F? Or does it need to be warmed up?


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## pgentile (Sep 21, 2015)

Oh and by the way, this wine tastes pretty darn good already.


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## Enologo (Sep 21, 2015)

Petite Syrah is becoming my favorite and I just had a similar experience. Picked up my juice pails and usually wait 24 hours while they come up to room temp before I start my process. Well got home about 7PM from the supplier and brought my buckets down into the basement to get ready for the next day. When I went down the next morning to start getting things ready the buckets were already going so much that they overflowed onto the floor so rather than wait I had to batch and pitch and feed in a frenzy. undergoing MLF as we speak.


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## heatherd (Sep 21, 2015)

You'll need some way of knowing when it is done with MLF, and you'll need to avoid adding any more kmeta until the MLF is done.

To know when it's done you can get testing supplies or you can taste test it.

Good luck!


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## pgentile (Sep 25, 2015)

Enologo, undergoing MLF here as well. Not showing any signs what so ever of activity, but I trust all the info here that it is normal. At 8 days this tasted better than many commercial wines, petite sirah might be my new favorite as well.

heatherd, I ordered the Accuvin Malic test kit.


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## pgentile (Sep 13, 2016)

Year out update on this batch of juice bucket + fresh grape petite sirah.

Opened a bottle at six months back in march, not expecting much, hoping to get a hint of a good wine to come. But was floored when I found it completely undrinkable from overwhelming burnt rubber taste. Aerating and the penny trick would temper it a bit but couldn't get past a few sips. Opened two more bottles hoping it was isolated but not so. Chalked this up to something I did wrong early on. Read info here and there about petite sirah and burnt rubber but this batch was too much. Had high hopes for this wine.

Last week decided to open a bottle and see if it had gotten worse and if so figure out what I was going to do with 25 + bottles of burnt rubber wine. But somehow the wine gods or time have turned this wine into something promising. The burnt rubber aspect is still there but it has actually become more of a background aspect and complimentary. I cannot believe how much this has turned around. 

Now the hard part don't touch any for another 6 months, year or maybe 5 years+.


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