2018 Grape Season Underway

[mainshipfred]

So would you do it again?
I assume you chapitalized as well.
Did you add any tannin or color enhancing agents?

 

[Boatboy24]

Thanks @sour_grapes . What was your volume of grapes in the first run batch? I'm guessing around 300lbs.

 

[Johnd]

Best use I’ve found so far for once pressed skins, is as an adjunct to a kit wine, and did so with the last three kits produced. IMHO, the results were pleasantly surprising, nice boost in all the things we try to boost in kits.

 

[mainshipfred]

Well if the tiny bubbles are a true indicator of MLF my all grape SA CS and Chilean Merlot are very actively going through it naturally. Funny the juice buckets of SA CS with used skins and the Malbec with the CS skins and 2 lugs of grapes are not. The Merlot juice bucket has the used skins from the CS and Malbecand no Merlot grapes and was the last one I did.

 

[pgentile]

Best use I’ve found so far for once pressed skins, is as an adjunct to a kit wine, and did so with the last three kits produced. IMHO, the results were pleasantly surprising, nice boost in all the things we try to boost in kits.

And juice buckets.

 

[Ajmassa]

Best use I’ve found so far for once pressed skins, is as an adjunct to a kit wine, and did so with the last three kits produced. IMHO, the results were pleasantly surprising, nice boost in all the things we try to boost in kits.

Hoping for similar results for my ‘Syrah juice pail with once used skins’ mud ferment. But I’m calling it “Syrah Ripasso de Malbec”. — fancy name sounds legit. Actually, after proper barrel time I can call it:
‘Syrah Ripasso de Malbec Superiore’
Likely 6.5 gal after racking today.
But I’m takin a tip from @JohnT and now giving the pomace to the garden. Ashes to ashes dust to dust. N-P-K nutes are typically nitrogen heavy for spring vegetation growth anyway so should serve well.

 

[Ajmassa]

Well if the tiny bubbles are a true indicator of MLF my all grape SA CS and Chilean Merlot are very actively going through it naturally. Funny the juice buckets of SA CS with used skins and the Malbec with the CS skins and 2 lugs of grapes are not. The Merlot juice bucket has the used skins from the CS and Malbecand no Merlot grapes and was the last one I did.

‘Naturally’ meaning after adding commercial mlb? Lol
Some carboys I have look active while nothing from others - and of the same wine. Which is becoming par for the course. I pay “visual signs” no mind now since the tests never seem to correlate with visible signs.
I will however be giving everything a shot in the arm today. Just an extra 1/2 dose of opti malo to light a fire under the mlb’s ***. I’ve done that to every MLF so far and results haven’t given me a reason to change that. Plus I was flirting with alpha’s ph tolerance at crush.

 

[Johnd]

And juice buckets.

Never done a juice bucket, other than frozen white juice, but I’d imagine that the results would be similarly positive.

 

[mainshipfred]

‘Naturally’ meaning after adding commercial mlb? Lol
Some carboys I have look active while nothing from others - and of the same wine. Which is becoming par for the course. I pay “visual signs” no mind now since the tests never seem to correlate with visible signs.
I will however be giving everything a shot in the arm today. Just an extra 1/2 dose of opti malo to light a fire under the mlb’s ***. I’ve done that to every MLF so far and results haven’t given me a reason to change that. Plus I was flirting with alpha’s ph tolerance at crush.

Nope, nothing added yet. Was holding off till tomorrow or Tuesday.

 

[sour_grapes]

So would you do it again?
I assume you chapitalized as well.
Did you add any tannin or color enhancing agents?

Thanks @sour_grapes . What was your volume of grapes in the first run batch? I'm guessing around 300lbs.

Fred, I am not sure, really, if I would do it again. I agree with @Johnd , it would have been better to use them with a kit or juice bucket. But, even in absence of a kit/bucket, I think my answer is "yes, probably I would." Yes, I chaptalized up to ~1.090 (if memory serves) and added

Jim, this was from 200 lbs of grapes. I got very good yield from that, as I got ~15 gallons.

 

[heatherd]

So it looks like my spring wine production this year will be approximately 64 gallons. Never thought I'd make that much.

200 lbs Pinotage
3 SA juice buckets cab/syrah on pinotage skins
200 lbs carmenere/malbec
3 chilean juice buckets carmenere/malbec on carmenere/malbec skins that I will press tomorrow or monday

One thing I ended up today with is 2+ gls of sangiovese/barbera from last fall and 2+ gls of cab/syrah and 1/2 gl of elderberry orphans that I mixed into a 5 gl carboy with oak. So it's a sangio/barbera/cab/syrah/elderberry. Taste is pretty darn good.

Made it through all ferments so far with no h2s odors like last years malbec. Thanks to @heatherd 's pinotage story I went with bm 4x4 in mine. All other ferments were rc212 with two ferments having a bit of h2s odor but vanished after racking off gross lees. Might be my last ferments with rc212.

Also like say to thanks everyone on this website for all your help and info.

Good for you!! Glad you took my post as a way to adapt your process for a better result.

 

[vacuumpumpman]

I personally like doing 2nd pressings - I do not press very hard or at all on the first run. I take the initial first run volume and divide by 2 and that is how much water I use to start the 2nd batch,and add sugar,and pectic enzyme . I will typically make this a little more sweeter as the wife enjoys it more - it is also a great topper for next years first run

 

[mainshipfred]

I personally like doing 2nd pressings - I do not press very hard or at all on the first run. I take the initial first run volume and divide by 2 and that is how much water I use to start the 2nd batch,and add sugar,and pectic enzyme . I will typically make this a little more sweeter as the wife enjoys it more - it is also a great topper for next years first run

Thanks Steve, our first run yielded about 20 gallons with a light to moderate pressing. I did reuse the skins with a juice bucket for a second batch and again lightly pressed. We only want to make 6 finished gallons. To extract more color I can keep it in my freezer for an extended amount of time while giving it regular punch downs. Would you not recommend using extra tannin?

 

[Boatboy24]

Racked off the gross lees tonight. A hint of H2S, but just shy of 11.5 gallons when I was done. Happy with the yield and the racking seems to have blown off at least some of the H2S.

 

[vacuumpumpman]

Thanks Steve, our first run yielded about 20 gallons with a light to moderate pressing. I did reuse the skins with a juice bucket for a second batch and again lightly pressed. We only want to make 6 finished gallons. To extract more color I can keep it in my freezer for an extended amount of time while giving it regular punch downs. Would you not recommend using extra tannin?

I'm a bit confused ?
you used the 2nd run skins into your Juice buckets and then pressed it again = corect ?

If that is the case - there is nothing left of the skins for extraction

 

[JohnT]

I personally like doing 2nd pressings - I do not press very hard or at all on the first run. I take the initial first run volume and divide by 2 and that is how much water I use to start the 2nd batch,and add sugar,and pectic enzyme . I will typically make this a little more sweeter as the wife enjoys it more - it is also a great topper for next years first run

Have you ever considered pressing the first run for all it's worth? The thought is that what little bit of real wine left behind will not drastically impact your second run.

You could always blend in a little first run later.

HMMMM, this might make for a good experiment.

 

[cmason1957]

Have you ever considered pressing the first run for all it's worth? The thought is that what little bit of real wine left behind will not drastically impact your second run.

You could always blend in a little first run later.

HMMMM, this might make for a good experiment.

I made a norton chocolate cherry second run port out of pressings that were treated that way. I was helping press at a friend's commercial winery. It made an okay port, but not a lot of norton notes to it, mostly the chocolate and cherry show through and not really enough body for a port.

 

[vacuumpumpman]

Have you ever considered pressing the first run for all it's worth? The thought is that what little bit of real wine left behind will not drastically impact your second run.

You could always blend in a little first run later.

HMMMM, this might make for a good experiment.

@JohnT - I have tried it many different ways - This is the way I personally like doing it.
you do loose a little bit of your first run , but you definitely make up for it in the 2nd run.

I find that most people over press the 1st run and get alot of unwanted tannins and such because of their pressing soo hard.

 

[mainshipfred]

Well the Spring 2018 season crush and press is done. Started MLF and a Chromotography test today. Real curious to see if they were indeed going through spontaneous MLF. Can't wait until tomorrow to see the esults.

 

[pgentile]

Well the Spring 2018 season crush and press is done. Started MLF and a Chromotography test today. Real curious to see if they were indeed going through spontaneous MLF. Can't wait until tomorrow to see the esults.

Just ordered a new Chromotography test kit today. My old one was lost in an unfortunate accident.

Looking good in your winery/warehouse. 20 foot ceilings?

I have the last batch off of gross lees today. The Pinotage is now almost 60 days. No batch has been hit with kmeta yet. I'll wait until after the Chromo test this coming week.

In contrast to yours here is my 100 year old basement/winery