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Scott Labs also has a useful yeast nutrition planner. My usual go-to regimen is 20g/hL FMO at ~3 brix drop and another 20g/hL at ~1/3 brix drop. This year I doubled up on one of my fermentations (ie 40g/hL + 40g/hL) since I was using a nutrient-hungry yeast (BA-11). Still in the last few days of...

Just means that when he moved his wine from primary fermenter to barrel, he didn't settle out the gross lees first.

It's not uncommon (often due to lack of tank space for settling!) but probably means another racking in the near future, maybe after ML is done.

I would typically leave an inch or so of headspace for ML, for reasons of expansion outlined above and continued growth of ML bacteria. It sounds like you have some control over temperature in your cellar which is a HUGE benefit. Make sure it's not too cold for your ML bugs to be happy. In...

Today was press day! As described on another thread, brix seemed to have stalled around 0.2 but I think this was due to flocculent solids in the sample tube giving a falsely high reading. After settling, I measured -1.3 brix for both my RC212 and native ferments: Free run was drained out of...

Understood, yes it's just density. That being said, sugar is the major contributor (in clean juice at least) so brix/SG is a good surrogate for what's going on. I've just never seen such a dramatic difference based on the non-sugar solids in a sample. At the winery where I work we've probably...

My 2024 Pinot Noir is nearing the end of its fermentation, and I thought I'd pass on this observation which was a new one for me. My two 44 gal fermenters with RC212 have fermented vigorously; my native yeast experiment in a third fermenter was of course slower to get going but has caught up...

I previously posted my results from testing year-old pH standards here. YMMV of course but as long as you're taking aliquots to use for standardization (as opposed to just dipping the pH meter in the bottle of standard solution) I think you'll be fine. Good call - wine is a complex mixture and...

All looking good a few days after pitching yeast. The red pinot noir: Each primary fermenter contains about 10% pressed pinot noir 'cake' from my white pinot pressing (as in the press picture in my earlier post), so it's a lot thicker than normal... the cap is huge! My main fermenters (RC212)...

Yes, I would be concerned... If you can find a local wine testing lab you can run a test and see if there is a dangerous amount of copper present.

Love it! I brought in 1/2T grapes too but only one varietal, can't imagine crushing 7... What kind of crusher/destemmer is that?

Yes I think that's right though I don't measure that carefully. But if you do want to be a stickler, then use ~1lb tartaric acid per 8 (US) gallons of water to yield pH ~2. I guess it would be a bit less if you use citric acid.

What sort of vessel(s) are they in and what is the temperature? In order to get good fermentation and extraction you may need to get the temp up. Aquarium heaters are good, just be sure to switch them off before you take them out for punchdowns etc, otherwise they'll get fried... Also agree...

Any hint of an acetone (nail polish remover) smell? That is often the first indication that a native ferment is kicking off...

Scott Labs recommends adding bentonite part way through fermentation (of whites and roses) for best impact on protein stabilization. The paper cited at the bottom of this page (Horvat et al) also reports improved aromatics. I'm going to try it for the first time on my white pinot noir this year...

Today was quite the learning experience (and a second frantically busy day in a row). Everything looked good this morning and here are the numbers: White pinot (settled juice): Brix 25.0 pH 3.35 TA 6.6g/L That looked really good to me - perhaps could stand a touch more acid but I'm reluctant...

This year’s winemaking project is to buy a ½ ton of pinot noir and turn half of it into white pinot noir with the rest going to red wine. My grapes came from a renowned vineyard in Mendocino Ridge – the only non-contiguous AVA in America. The region is geographically bounded by the Pacific ocean...

You do need an acid rinse to neutralize any peroxy residue... I like to use tartaric (or citric since it's cheaper) but since StarSan is acidic I guess it should have the same effect...

I don't think it's "in the wine". The fact that it can be cleaned up with oil suggests that it's hydrophobic and won't mix with your wine to an appreciable degree. I've made elderberry for the past 3 years now and the 'goo' has aways gone away. Though I'm still not sure how much I like the wine...

One of the harder aspects of home wine making (as compared to commercial) is keeping small amounts of leftover/topping wine in good condition. We all have our collections of small vessels (from maybe 1 gal down to 1 pint? 1 cup?), but keeping them in good condition is IMO more challenging than...