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I was exhausted after just reading about your journey before realizing that you were going to crush same day as well! Any acid additions planned (looking especially at the Viognier) or are you just going to go with what the vineyard gave you?

T bins (and their larger cousins S-bins) are great for maintaining high fermentation temperatures when required, but you're right that you need to make sure they don't overheat, particularly if you're fermenting outside in warm weather. That being said, sometimes if you're fermenting in a cool...

I think just a loose covering (cheesecloth, plastic sheet) is fine. You're much more likely to get up to the temperature you need for good extraction in a 55gal bin as opposed to 6 gallon buckets. Sounds like a great fermenter!

ah yes the good ol' hose lasso technique! Channel your inner cowboy! 😂 (Not making fun... I do this too!)

Same as my general equipment cleaning protocol - - Soak in peroxy (at least 10-15 minutes, longer if stubborn stains) - Rinse in citric or tartaric acid. Citric is cheaper but I don't want it in my (grape) wine, so I'll usually do a water rinse after. - Optional tartaric + KMBS/K-meta rinse if I...

The plastic wrap is a good idea - if you really want extra insurance you might buy some dry ice and hang a little bag in the top of the fermenter. Example here...

Never used test strips - I would recommend getting the vinmetrica out of storage if you can. It will most likely be fine - your must and the fermentation process will probably bind up most or all of the SO2 - but it's good to have data if possible.

I've never used this brand, but I looked it up and it says (a) free SO2 should be <10ppm and (b) pitch the ML when primary fermentation is ~5 brix. (Source: https://morewinemaking.com/products/white-labs-yeast-wlp675-malolactic-culture-purepitch-generation-industry-leading-viability.html) So...

I agree with Fred, MLB are sensitive to SO2 and it turns out that total SO2 (rather than free) is the relevant number. If you are indeed making 35gal wine, that 21.7g dose is already >50ppm, which is around the ceiling for many MLB strains. I'm in the 'add MLB after primary' camp, though others...

Not sure I fully understand - did you buy enough grapes to make 35 gallons of wine? Or 35 gallons (by volume) of grapes, which if we assume 20lb/5gal is 140lb, should be around 9 gallons of wine? The highest recommendation I've seen for adding at crush is 50ppm based on must volume (I would add...

I think that buying powder/capsules and making up fresh should be fine, but FWIW I posted a while back about comparing fresh vs year-old standards. I found that they gave identical results, so I wouldn't worry too much about using standards that are a year old. My personal experience is that I...

21-29 brix is a huge range... How did you do your testing in the vineyard? Grapes can certainly 'soak up' during even a single day of maceration... I would test the juice tomorrow (by hydrometer) and see where you are, but if you're around 20-22 brix that sounds a bit light for cabernet...

Welcome from a fellow Welshman, now living in Northern California wine country!

Welcome from another Pinot noir winemaker just north of you in Mendocino county!

They're fine. I have 10 gal, 32 gal and 44 gal and those vents are wide enough that they can be easily cleaned.

Another good reason to wait a day before inoculating is that grapes often 'soak up' after crushing, meaning that sugar, acids etc start extracting from the fruit and change the characteristics of your starting must (and so potentially affect the decisions you make about your winemaking). Last...

That's sad to hear... I was a wine club member there for several years and loved their Rhone varietal blends (Ditch Digger, Dirt Worshipper...)

Dry ice is another option; hang a little mesh bag with some dry ice over the side of your fermenter, cover with a lid (doesn't need to be completely airtight) and the CO2 will blanket your grapes. It will eventually mix with air by diffusion, so you'll have to replenish the bag every day or so...

I would lean towards a manual (hand crank) crusher-destemmer if possible. Here is one version - there are several Italian brands (Marchisio, EnoItalia, Cantinetta) I think all similar in terms of design, operation and quality. Two people can easily crush up to 1000lb in a morning/afternoon...

Most winegrowing counties/regions have a winegrowers' association and it looks like this is the listing of growers in Temecula valley. The web page has a link to a list of grapes for sale, but it's from 2023; no idea if it's still maintained. You might consider looking through the listings...