2019 Foch wine

[BenK]

Picked 230 Lbs of foch yesterday and will update this thread more later but had a quick question about TA testing. In the attached photo does it look like I have achieved the dramatic color change described? Must was diluted with distilled water and the original sample is also pictured. At this point I am at 1.1% TA/11cc of reagent used. I appologize for the poor picture quality.

SG 1.08.
yeast rc212
Malo Vp41

Questions:
Does my sample look correct?

Would you try to reduce acid further before fermentation/malo?

Would you chaptalize this to the 1.09 range if it were your wine?

 

[user 36973]

I really like foch. Solid wine grape. If you haven't made it yourself before, the biggest tip I can offer is to keep the skin contact to 3 days or less. Otherwise your wine will develop an increasingly strong earthy aroma that is characteristic of foch. I did 4 days last time and it is on the edge of too much.

At this point I am at 1.1% TA/11cc of reagent used.

That seems high even for foch. I'll look back and see what I got for my previous runs.

Does my sample look correct?

Would you try to reduce acid further before fermentation/malo?

Would you chaptalize this to the 1.09 range if it were your wine?

It is very difficult to discern the color change in a red wine. The dilution trick can work but it is subtle at best. It would definitely be worth the investment to get a pH meter and calibration standards. You'll need to know pH anyway and the strips of paper are worthless.

It is best make acid adjustments before fermentation.

Up to you if you want to up the sugar some. I would top up the sugar to 21 brix if it were me.

 

[BenK]

I really like foch. Solid wine grape. If you haven't made it yourself before, the biggest tip I can offer is to keep the skin contact to 3 days or less. Otherwise your wine will develop an increasingly strong earthy aroma that is characteristic of foch. I did 4 days last time and it is on the edge of too much.


That seems high even for foch. I'll look back and see what I got for my previous runs.


It is very difficult to discern the color change in a red wine. The dilution trick can work but it is subtle at best. It would definitely be worth the investment to get a pH meter and calibration standards. You'll need to know pH anyway and the strips of paper are worthless.

It is best make acid adjustments before fermentation.

Up to you if you want to up the sugar some. I would top up the sugar to 21 brix if it were me.

I did 3 gallons of foch last year and it was a bit acidic. I fermented on untoasted oak powder and skins until dry and did not have issues with an earthy nose. The wine was quite fruity and jammy but a bit acidic.

Today I am going to treat with 6grams/gallon of potassium bicarb to reduce TA down to the 0.9 range and sugar as well.

I'm ordering a new PH meter tonight I'm having issues with mine so I won't have a PH reading until after fermentation.

 

[BenK]

I really like foch. Solid wine grape. If you haven't made it yourself before, the biggest tip I can offer is to keep the skin contact to 3 days or less. Otherwise your wine will develop an increasingly strong earthy aroma that is characteristic of foch. I did 4 days last time and it is on the edge of too much.


That seems high even for foch. I'll look back and see what I got for my previous runs.


It is very difficult to discern the color change in a red wine. The dilution trick can work but it is subtle at best. It would definitely be worth the investment to get a pH meter and calibration standards. You'll need to know pH anyway and the strips of paper are worthless.

It is best make acid adjustments before fermentation.

Up to you if you want to up the sugar some. I would top up the sugar to 21 brix if it were me.

I did 3 gallons of foch last year and it was a bit acidic. I fermented on untoasted oak powder and skins until dry and did not have issues with an earthy nose. The wine was quite fruity and jammy but a bit acidic.

Today I am going to treat with 6grams/gallon of potassium bicarb to reduce TA down to the 0.9 range and sugar as well.

I'm ordering a new PH meter tonight I'm having issues with mine so I won't have a PH reading until after fermentation.

 

[BenK]

I really like foch. Solid wine grape. If you haven't made it yourself before, the biggest tip I can offer is to keep the skin contact to 3 days or less. Otherwise your wine will develop an increasingly strong earthy aroma that is characteristic of foch. I did 4 days last time and it is on the edge of too much.


That seems high even for foch. I'll look back and see what I got for my previous runs.


It is very difficult to discern the color change in a red wine. The dilution trick can work but it is subtle at best. It would definitely be worth the investment to get a pH meter and calibration standards. You'll need to know pH anyway and the strips of paper are worthless.

It is best make acid adjustments before fermentation.

Up to you if you want to up the sugar some. I would top up the sugar to 21 brix if it were me.

I did 3 gallons of foch last year and it was a bit acidic. I fermented on untoasted oak powder and skins until dry and did not have issues with an earthy nose. The wine was quite fruity and jammy but a bit acidic.

Today I am going to treat with 6grams/gallon of potassium bicarb to reduce TA down to the 0.9 range and sugar as well.

I'm ordering a new PH meter tonight I'm having issues with mine so I won't have a PH reading until after fermentation.

 

[Stressbaby]

I got 200# Foch this year from my vines and making Foch for the first time. I chaptalized to 1.090 and dropped TA to 0.9 as well. Did 3 day cold soak and got off skins at 3 days, which was a protocol I got from a winery in Michigan where we had a nice sample at a tasting.