2017 Harford Vineyard Chilean Grape/Juice Pickup

[mainshipfred]

From what I gather it will be both reds and whites from the 90's with food pairings. Cost $25.00

 

[Boatboy24]

From what I gather it will be both reds and whites from the 90's with food pairings. Cost $25.00

Awesome. Where is that being held?

 

[mainshipfred]

Pearmund, do you want to go?

 

[Boatboy24]

Pearmund, do you want to go?

Absolutely. However, it is Mother's Day. My wife just left on a trip with her Mom for a couple days and I need to pick them up at National on Sunday, then pamper darling wife for the remainder of the day.

 

[mainshipfred]

Absolutely. However, it is Mother's Day. My wife just left on a trip with her Mom for a couple days and I need to pick them up at National on Sunday, then pamper darling wife for the remainder of the day.

so I think I'm taking that as a no.

 

[Boatboy24]

so I think I'm taking that as a no.

Sadly, it is. Sounds like it would be very informative. Keep me posted on other similar events though.

 

[mainshipfred]

Sadly, it is. Sounds like it would be very informative. Keep me posted on other similar events though.

Ends up I probably won't be going. We had tickets to the cancelled Nats game last night and the make up is Sunday at 7.

 

[mainshipfred]

I got my TA test kit yesterday. I'm reading to dilute the wine with water and getting differing comments as to how much. Does the percent of added water change the outcome. I did it with equal parts but it is still dark and hard to tell when the color stops changing.

Just researched this: Since water is neutral and your measuring the moles of acid, the amount of water doesn't affect the reading. So I diluted 3 to 1 so I could see the change better and got a TA of around 6, twice.

 

[Boatboy24]

Ends up I probably won't be going. We had tickets to the cancelled Nats game last night and the make up is Sunday at 7.

That would be a toss up for me.

 

[mainshipfred]

That would be a toss up for me.

I know she's not my mother but it is Mother's Day and I thought I ought to be nice. My wife is the real baseball fan in the family.

 

[ceeaton]

So I diluted 3 to 1 so I could see the change better and got a TA of around 6, twice.

I'm hoping I did something wrong when I measured, I like a TA of 6 much better! I'll be retesting again tonight or tomorrow after I rack the wine, freeze the leftover skins and degass a sample for testing.

 

[mainshipfred]

I'm hoping I did something wrong when I measured, I like a TA of 6 much better! I'll be retesting again tonight or tomorrow after I rack the wine, freeze the leftover skins and degass a sample for testing.

I need to get a 10 ml syringe to get a more accurate reading. the 20 is not calibrated enough. I added 8 0z of sugar and 15g of acid blend. 2 hours later It went from 1.037 to 1.043 SG and the TA was a little over 6 so I added another 12g of acid blend. Take more readings tomorrow morning. Oh, plus I added one cup of a secret ingredient.

 

[ceeaton]

I need to get a 10 ml syringe to get a more accurate reading. the 20 is not calibrated enough. I added 8 0z of sugar and 15g of acid blend. 2 hours later It went from 1.037 to 1.043 SG and the TA was a little over 6 so I added another 12g of acid blend. Take more readings tomorrow morning. Oh, plus I added one cup of a secret ingredient.

Remind me if we try to meet in the fall. I have a few extra 3 ml syringes that come with the reservoirs that I use for the kids pumps, which are really nice to use for testing.

 

[mainshipfred]

Remind me if we try to meet in the fall. I have a few extra 3 ml syringes that come with the reservoirs that I use for the kids pumps, which are really nice to use for testing.

Thanks, I think the smaller the calibration the better. I was looking at a set of 10 or so of different sizes for around 10 bucks. I'll wait until I get a longer list to offset the shipping cost. I need to buy a few finish hydrometers I already broke 2.

 

[Johnd]

I need to get a 10 ml syringe to get a more accurate reading. the 20 is not calibrated enough. I added 8 0z of sugar and 15g of acid blend. 2 hours later It went from 1.037 to 1.043 SG and the TA was a little over 6 so I added another 12g of acid blend. Take more readings tomorrow morning. Oh, plus I added one cup of a secret ingredient.

You should make your adjustments to grape musts with tartaric acid, not acid blend. Blend contains malic and citric acids in addition to tartaric.

 

[mainshipfred]

You should make your adjustments to grape musts with tartaric acid, not acid blend. Blend contains malic and citric acids in addition to tartaric.

I had both but the TA kit came with blend. What would you use the blend for?

 

[Johnd]

I had both but the TA kit came with blend. What would you use the blend for?

Mostly for fruit wines where all of the acids are already present. Grapes have very, very little citric acid. The general rule is blend for fruit wines and straight tartaric for grape wines.

 

[ceeaton]

Just squeezed my Syrah grapes for the last time (SG down to .997) and removed them from the bag. Always amazes me what 18 lbs of grapes ends up looking like after having a run-in with some yeast. I know the stems account for a small portion of the weight, but the final grape "paste" weighed in at a whopping 2 lbs 6 oz. Will freeze these in this plastic container and then food save to hopefully keep until Fall, though I have a low end blush kit to make for my wife (she doesn't know I'm doing it at this point) that I might add these to for some nose. My wife commented at the nice aroma when I was removing them from the bag and putting them in the plastic container. Good sign.

 

[Bodenski]

My buckets have been slowly chugging along, which I guess is good for the Pinot Grigio, maybe not as good for the Cab. They are both sitting in my kitchen, and the temps have been mid 60s in the house. I just added a heating belt to the Cab bucket that has the grapes in it. (The SG was higher in that one, so I figured it needed the heat the most. After a day or so I'll put the belt around the other bucket. The SG in that bucket is 1.038 5 days after pitching the yeast.

 

[ceeaton]

My buckets have been slowly chugging along, which I guess is good for the Pinot Grigio, maybe not as good for the Cab. They are both sitting in my kitchen, and the temps have been mid 60s in the house. I just added a heating belt to the Cab bucket that has the grapes in it. (The SG was higher in that one, so I figured it needed the heat the most. After a day or so I'll put the belt around the other bucket. The SG in that bucket is 1.038 5 days after pitching the yeast.

A longer ferment on the Cab is not a bad thing. It's hard to get a rip-roaring hot ferment going in the Spring in our area, so I wouldn't be too concerned. I try and treat each ferment as it's own thing and as I learn to make wine will adjust what I do to them to try and get the best out of the raw materials that I'm buying. I think that is our main mission as a winemaker, let the raw materials best express themselves (ie. don't get in the way by overthinking things).