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Hello Group, I did a field blend yesterday of 60% Merlot, 20% Cab Sav and 20% Cab France. The grapes came from Paso Robles and are currently cold soaking. I just tested the OG and it is at 1.112, with a potential 16.2% ABV. I am concerned this could be a little high. I do plan on...

I also made the same mistake of over correcting by adding too much acid before fermentation. Started at 4.2, added enough acid priorto bring it down to 3.6, and after it was finished it was at 3.3, and a little too tart. I used some potassium bicarbonate to bring it to 3.45 before racking and...

Hello Group, Yesterday I picked up some really nice Washington Chard juice that came to the store in bulk. I am assuming that the vineyard did not sulfate the juice since when I picked it up, wild fermentation had already started. The specific gravity was 1.083 when I got it home, so it...

My game plan right now is to use the barrel first for a Chardonnay I am starting today. The barrel has a lighter toast than I thought and will add good tannins to the Chard. I will probably keep the Chard in the barrel for 5 weeks or so, enough to pull out some of the oak flavor. Then I will...

Depends on the wine. Roses' and light bodied whites I'll ferment at 48F, which will really extend the fermentation. Full bodied reds I'll ferment at 82F to 86F, which will be a short. Although I have some really high quality grapes coming in soon that I plan on fermenting at 86F but leaving...

So you order barrels for this group, part of a large order? If so, keep me in mind for next year. How big are the barrels?

Thanks for the advice all. Here is the link for the barrel. They sell larger sizes too. Balazs New Hungarian Oak Barrel - 28L (7.39 gal) | MoreBeer

It is Hungarian.

I got my hands on an 8 gallon new oak barrel with a medium toast and plan on first aging a full bodied right bank Bordeaux blend, followed by a Petite Sirah & Malbec blend I plan on fortifying and sweetening to turn it into a tawny. This is the first time I used a barrel and have a few...

Thanks everyone, so for now I will not sweat it. I forgot to mention the PH when I crushed was 4.3 and I had to add a decent amount of Tartaric acid to bring it down to 3.5 and balance the wine. Perhaps there is just not that much Malic acid in the wine. It did not taste tart when I tried...

I recently racked a new red wine blend (Cab Sav & Merlot) adding the MLF towards the end of primary fermentation, so about 7 days ago. After racking two days ago, the airlocks are still at the same initial level. The wine is about 14.5% ABV with a PH of 3.45. Could MLF already have happened...

Thanks for the advice.

If you plan on barrel aging a wine, should you sulfite it prior to putting it in the barrel? If so, what about MLF? Should you wait until it is finished before putting the wine in a barrel or add the culture after enough time has gone by to ensure there is not enough SO2 left to inhibit MLF?

I have the added advantage of working from home about 60% of the time, so I can break periodically to swap out bottles of water. I would recommend that you use large water bottles you would get at a convenience store made of stronger plastic with better caps. The gallon jugs tend to open too...

When I picked up the grapes, they were at 32F already, so I only needed to maintain the low temps. I did so by pooling all of them into one container and swapping out frozen bottles of water, 3 or 4 at a time, in the must. I made sure to sterilize the bottles before adding them in.

Thanks, but I'm just not getting the Syrah now, only the PN (5 lugs worth). Since it is now a high quality coastal grape, I want to let the Pinot be Pinot.

Thanks for the advice. I did a field blend for the Cab and Merlot, so too late on that. Shortly after writing this post, my store called me up and told they were not able to get Pinot Noir grapes from Central Valley and offered to substitute a much high quality Pinot Noir from Central Coast...

80% Cab Sav and 20% Merlot blend this year. I also have 5 lugs of Pinot Noir grapes coming in soon and was thinking about adding some Petit Syrah, but not sure. Any advice?

I currently have an 80% Cab Sav 20% Merlot cold soaking, and was wondering how long would be optimal. It is now at day 2, and the juice is really taking on a nice color. (I also removed 10% of the juice.) I was thinking about starting fermentation tomorrow. I also have 180 lbs of Pinot...

Interesting. I too crushed 180 lbs of Cab Sav and Merlot from the CA this Monday, and I did not notice any burnt smell like you described. With that said, mine had to be shipped across country. But any way, my OG was 1.106 and I diluted it down to 1.101. PH is pretty high too, at around...