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Sounds like they must be red grapes, and if the skins taste good it'd end up being the most flavorful and interesting wine if you fermented it on the skins. Use some sulfite (35-50ppm), crush up the grapes (avoid crushing the seeds), take them off the stems if you're so inclined, and add...

My advice is also to warm it up and maybe mix it up a bit as well. If you don't have a good way of doing this you could go ahead and give it some sulfite, and wait until spring when ambient temps warm up. If you go this route you should do a smaller than normal sulfite addition and have an...

This is where it starts to get a little nerdy but I'm betting a few people here are interested in this. I just spent a little time on excel making a quick ferm curve for the Syrah and the Grenache. This is showing Days of Fermentation vs Brix and Temperature (in Celsius). I made a trendline...

The earwigs are one of the elements that form complex flavors! (I don't actually think this but there could be something there- I think clean grapes make boring wines but that could be me justifying dirty fruit). I think it sounds like a mental block you should try your best to move past if you...

I guess my question, with no offense intended, is what do you think aging does to a wine that makes it less gross? I pretty much taste my wines all the way through, unless I've just added SO2 or copper or something else like that. I just try to skim around the earwigs and spiders, and try not...

I can't seem to find much on this grape and am not familiar with it, but everything I found seemed to suggest that it was a white grape. I would think there's no harm in trying to ferment it on the skins but there's likely a reason why most people prefer not to. You could always ferment it on...

To speed up the process you could try fining with bentonite, it's not a bad idea before bottling anyways.

Malic acid is the predominant acid in most apples, so the mouthfeel of an apple is similar to the mouthfeel of many wines before MLF. What do you mean by green apple taste, like as in it tastes like real green apples, or green apple candy? What kind of wine is it and how long has it been going...

I agree with this. I checked my Grenache (which as I had mentioned, I adjusted to 26 Brix as well) about an hour ago and it's down to -1.87 Brix after temperature correction, using a good hydrometer. Unless a refractometer was used, or the hydrometer was not very accurate, or was used...

Got myself some 1% copper sulfate today. Started off by making a 50mL solution of 0.01% copper sulfate and used that to make 4 different concentrations of copper in the Syrah: 0.2ppm, 0.3ppm, 0.4ppm, and 0.5ppm, as well as a control. Most things I read recommended larger doses to compare but I...

I think 26 is OK personally, this is what I adjusted my Grenache to (came in at 32 initially) and it's down in the negatives now. It does have a boozey smell but Grenache is much lighter than Zin, which should handle the high alcohol just fine. I used RP15 which seemed to have no problems...

This really does make sense and I hadn't really considered this. I guess I figured I would wait to rack it off the second time until I was going to add the Syrah and the Grenache to the barrel. I knew deep down that I really should have gotten it off that lees sooner and gotten some more...

Well, today was good and bad. I pressed off the Grenache, which so far is doing very well and actually improved with pressing. I ended up pressing the pomace twice because the press I rented was kinda wimpy and left the pomace still fairly moist. There were also many whole berries left behind...

This is interesting for me because I didn't actually know much about Fermaid-O, I had assumed that it's listing as being organic was more aimed at the organically grown wine crowd. I've been researching a bit about organic vs. inorganic nitrogen sources as a result and I think I'm going to have...

I don't have any experience with either of those yeasts, but they are both supposed to be low producers of H2S. I've just made some Syrah and am about finished making some Grenache using RP15 and I really like the results. I don't have anything to compare it to as I didn't split it up and use...

In general, the more solid in the must the more intense the wine will be. I used to work at a winery who had a custom crush client that was obsessed with making huge wines. After crushing, he would have us pump all of the liquid out of the must and just leave skins and some whole berries...

I've been noticing this really strong and interesting aroma of green Jolly Ranchers coming from the Grenache. I'm wondering if it will remain in the wine or if this is only going to be there for primary fermentation. I'm not sure I mind either way, but I have a feeling that it will go away...

Haha I think maybe you're onto a new tasting room model, tasting straight from the winemaker's hand! I'm glad to have the positive feedback :) The only thing to keep in mind is that fermenting must is very high in both yeast cell counts and nutrients, so don't go itching your eye or any...

Generally speaking, if you have enough H2S in your wine to be perceptible, you will know it. It's a quite distinct, pungent smell. Sometimes if it's just under the perception threshold it will reduce the overall aromatics of the wine. Some fermentations seem to develop a sort of paint-thinner...

This morning I added another 50g of oak chips (medium toasted french) from a gut feeling more than anything. I punched down 5 times today to try and get more sugar released and to try and integrate the water addition more because it was tasting very strongly of tartaric acid last night. Last I...