2011 Fresh Grapes From California via FVW

[ibglowin]

The only phenomena I know of that would cause a decrease like that would be the contraction of the wine due to a temperature change (cooler in this instance).
Since pressing to carboy on Friday and warming up the winery to ~68 for MLF I have had to siphon off 2-3 inches of wine due to the expansion of the wine in the carboy at a warmer temp than when pressed and transferred into the carboy.

 

[grapeman]

I always obseve the same thing as Mike here.......................Check for dirty straws or purple lips on all members of the house and all pets!

 

[ibglowin]

Another long day in the winery (yesterday). I don't know how Rich and Al do this! It took me from noon to almost 9:00PM to rack off the gross lees on all the carboys and containers, combine them into a Primary, add nutrient and MLB then rack back to cleaned carboy and smaller vessel for topping off down the road.
Not quite sure how you guys do the volume you have in a single day(s) and move the next day!
Nice to have a much more consolidated lot to deal with after yesterday.

 

[ibglowin]

Forgot to mention that after racking I am now down to about 46 gallons. One full 6 Gallon carboy on each and anywhere from 1.5G extra to only about 1L extra on some of the varietals.
I just realized all my carboys are full and I can't vacuum rack as I need another carboy to pull into! I guess this is how carboys keep multiplying!

 

[rhoffart]

THIS should fix your problem

 

[ibglowin]

I need it by this weekend though as I plan on trying to bottle my Old Vines Mencia.
I have a CC Showcase Cab/Merlot that already went through the Vadai and dropped some more sediment. I could rack to Primary, snap the lid, backfill the gap with Argon and add airlock, clean the carboy, then filter the Mencia using the new empty so its ready to bottle.....
Do I need one or two carboys to use the new "Hoffart Bottle Filler"?

 

[grapeman]

Mike you can get by with one extra racking. Using an autosiphon, rack off the
bit of sediment into a fermentation bucket and snap the lid on. Clean the carboy
pulled out of and begin cycling through them. You will end up with one empty
carboy after the final cleaning. Then put your vacuum racking cane in the bucket
of wine and draw back into that last carboy, top up and you are done!





Alternately, pour a glass of wine and put some Barry White on and let the
carboys multiply away!

 

[ibglowin]

I like that idea, put a little mood music on, turn out the lights in the winery.....
What is the gestation period? Do you get a 3G that then grows up to be a 6G!

Alternately, pour a glass of wine and put some Barry White on and let the
carboys multiply away!

 

[rhoffart]

Do I need one or two carboys to use the new "Hoffart Bottle Filler"?

funny ... Let me know how itdoes ... I haven't tested my"V2" with the added valve.

 

[grapeman]

I like that idea, put a little mood music on, turn out the lights in the winery.....
What is the gestation period? Do you get a 3G that then grows up to be a 6G!

Alternately, pour a glass of wine and put some Barry White on and let the
carboys multiply away!

You make sure you have at least one carboy (6 gallon of course) at least one cargirl (5 gallon), but they aren monogamous so you can start with a nice little harem of cargirls. Make sure the carkids (3 gallon) are in another room (you don't want any unexpected blushes), put on the music, dim the lights and within a short while you get the one gallon carbabies arriving. They do grow up quickly. SOme families seem to produce more carboys than cargirls, but every family is different. I find that around a lot of beer brewing, the smaller cargirls seem to be more common. Must be something in the beer................
Good luck. After a while you may have a hundred or so like me around the winery. Sort of like tribbles.

 

[ibglowin]

<table id="post153884" ="tborder" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="100%" align="center" style="-: initial; -attachment: initial; -origin: initial; -clip: initial; : rgb119, 40, 28; color: rgb255, 255, 255; -: initial initial; -repeat: initial initial; "><t><tr valign="top"><td ="alt1" id="td_post_153884" style="font: normal normal normal 9ptormal verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif; -: initial; -attachment: initial; -origin: initial; -clip: initial; : rgb255, 255, 255; color: rgb0, 0, 0; border-right-width: 0px; border-right-style: solid; border-right-color: rgb119, 40, 28; -: initial initial; -repeat: initial initial; "><div id="post_message_153884">Checked pH levels today post fermentation.

Cabernet Sauvignon #1 = 3.55

Cabernet Sauvignon #2 = 3.67

Merlot #1 = 3.32

Merlot #2 = 3.34

Malbec = 3.41

Petit Verdot = 3.83

Cabernet Franc = 3.59

Will probably do a preliminary MLF test sometime this weekend.</td></tr></t></table></span>

 

[rhoffart]

Very nice ... how much of a PH rise can one expect from a complete MLF on average?

 

[ibglowin]

MLF affects TA, pH and acid species through the following factors:</font></span>
<lu>[*]a chemical deacidification usually reducing titratable acidity by about 1-4.6 g/l (as tartaric)[*]a pH increase of between 0.1 and 0.45 units (more typically 0.1-0.25)</lu></font></span>

 

[ibglowin]

I am a little worried about the Merlot as the pH limits on my MLB was listed as being 3.4 (max). All the rest look to be OK pH wise Hopefully will see some activity on the Chromatogram this weekend.

Very nice ... how much of a PH rise can one expect from a complete MLF on average?

 

[ibglowin]

Ran a MLF chromatography test finally on Monday night. Have not done one of those since freshman Biology class in undergrad school. Got a little heavy with the sample size. Left it in overnight and pulled out the next AM, man does that shat stink to high heavens! I was little worried at first because I couldn't see any spots really even after 8 hours drying time. It really takes 24-36 hours for the white spots to become prominently displayed. Very happy to report that ALL wines are in MLF! 3 look to be complete or nearly complete. The other 4 are right in the middle (including the Merlot with the low 3.3 pH's!) Started another test last night using much less sample. Spots are just starting to develop today. Perhaps by tonight they will be developed enough to read.
Two thumbs up for the CH-16 MLB!

 

[Wade E]

Looking good there Mikey!!!

 

[rhoffart]

man does that shat stink to high heavens!

You got that right ... My wife was pissed. I took it out in the morning and went to work. She was looking all day for the source of the odor.

I put a small fan on it and it helped a bunch.

 

[ibglowin]

I hope this is readable. Messed with the exposure and tint to get the spots to pop. Still not as vivid as in reality. Did not do a Tartaric standard as didn't really care but that is the big spot evident on all the wine samples about 2" up from the line.
Looks like all are well along in MLF with Cab Sauv #1, Merlot #1, Merlot #2 not as far along as Cab Sauv #2, Cab Franc, Petit Perdot, Malbec.

 

[rhoffart]

Looking good, I'll test mine tomorrow

 

[ibglowin]

UPDATE!
Stabilized the first 2 (of the 7) wines that showed the most signs of MLF completion via chromatography test. The Malbec and the Cab Franc. Racked the fines once more and sulfited finally. Moved them both into barrels (23L Vadai) I had a left over glass of Cab Franc that had nowhere to go and it sure as heck wasn't goin down the drain so gave it a go....
All I can say is wow! This has no oak still and the taste is fantastic and its only 3 months old. It has a slight green pepper hint but its not to the point of being obtrusive by any means. I think the oak will put that firmly into the back ground even further. These will stay for at least 4 months in the barrel.
I may need to pick up a 3rd Vadai to get all 7 through the process by next year's crush.
Darn, I just hate it when I have to order another Vadia barrel!