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Thanks John, I plan on blending the 2 for the sake of simplicity, been wanting to try a blend of 2 different yeast strains. I’ll probably wait until after mlf finishes for both and blend during that racking. Going to add a few ounces of American oak medium+ toast cubes at that point as well, I...

Day 8 and and both fermenters were under 1.000sg so I pressed this morning. Yield was about 12.5 gallons, will rack tomorrow off the sludge. When would you recommend I blend the d254 with the d80, after mlf(I co-inoculated during af)?

Day 7 and both are close to pressing. D254 is right at 1.000 and the d80 at 1.010, both caps are still in tact. Looks like a Sunday morning press! No off odors and glad both yeasts were able to handle the high starting sg. I’ll try to get a few pics at pressing.

I am in a similar situation now, I split my batches using d254 and d80 with the d80 fermenting much slower than the d254. I dosed with extra nutrients today with the hope of moving along. I’d like to press both this weekend if the d80 cooperates.

Day 6 and SG for the d254 is at 1.015 and the d80 is at 1.040. I hit the d80 this morning with a final dose of nutrient. Hopefully it plays catch up so I can press both batches either tomorrow afternoon or most likely Sunday morning. Caps are still in tact which is good. Cleaned up and...

Day 4 and fermentation progressing nicely, albeit slower than in years past. The d254 is at 1.040 and d80 at 1.060 as of this morning. I suspect a direct result of the high starting SG of 1.102. I added a 3rd dose of Fermaid O last night as well. The goal is to press this weekend.

Both fermenters are humming right along although the batch with d80 took a bit longer to really get going. SG at 1.070 on the d80 and 1.060 on d254. Both smell great. Added Fermaid K this evening and may dose with Fermaid O tomorrow morning before work. So far so good!

My 2019 crush went great on Saturday. Field blend of 57% Cab, 28% Merlot and 15% Cab Franc, 7 lugs total. Split evenly and decided to use D254 in 1 fermenter and D80 in the other with the intent in blending both together post mlf . Co-inoculated vp-41 mlb this morning, 24 hours after I...

I agree, 18 months minimum before drinking. We’re just starting to get into our 2017’s.

Getting the itch already for the fall. Definitely going all OVZ, most likely with 2 different yeasts and blending the 2 batches. My 2018 zin is aging nicely, very fruit forward so far.

We decided to pop the first bottle of my 2017’s this afternoon (snowy cold day in PA so why not right?), a blend of 75% Cab and 25% Merlot. Usually I wait until the 18 month mark to try but at 15 months it is showing promise. Funny thing is my 2018’s are tasting pretty decent this young (will...

Pressed yesterday after work, both my Merlot/Cab blend and OVZ finished dry and were at .990 and .992 respectively this morning. I racked and pitched VP 41 mlb this afternoon. Ph is 3.6 for the Merlot and 3.76 for the Zin. Happy with that for sure. Finished final clean up and put the...

So far I am quite happy with the results this early in the process. Looking forward to pressing this evening. Your slow burn ferment sounds very cool, keep us posted!

This year Merlot 70%, Cab 20% and Carnellian 10%. Last year reversed the Merlot and Cab percentages.

Color on the Zin is very deep purple while the Merlot is a very dark red. One noticeable difference is the Zin must was “sloppier” than the Merlot if that makes sense. Flavor on the Merlot is very nice fruit forward and the Zin fruity as well with more of a cherry flavor at the moment. Very...

Pressing both the Merlot/Cab blend and Zin tonight. SG for both sitting right around 1.000. Was concerned the D21 might struggle to finish dry on the Zin but all signs trending towards no issues.

Only pic I took pre-crush this past weekend. Inaugural run for my crusher/destemmer. Plowed through 8 lugs in a little over an hour (one man crew...me). Worked beautifully.

Saturday I picked up 2 lugs of Merlot and 1 Cab along with 3 lugs of Zinderella OVZ and 1 lug of Carnellian. Crushed/destemmed the Merlot and Cab for a field blend and Zin on its own. I split the Carnellian lug into the Merlot and Zin musts. I used MT yeast on the Merlot and D21 on the Zin...

Finally decided on this years grapes, going with 4 lugs Zinderella OVZ, 4 lugs of Cab, 4 lugs Merlot and will go with 100 lbs of Concord from Lake Erie region when available in October. Super pumped this year because I picked up a crusher/destemmer. My dad and I destemmed by hand last year and...

Ran chromatography test over the weekend, still showing signs of malic acid on both the Zin and Cab/Merlot blend. However, definite progress. Hopefully another few weeks and mlf will be wrapped up.