2020 Fall Grape Season Coming Up

[mainshipfred]

Make sure to keep an extra eye on that petite sirah with fermentis 135 so we can compare notes. Curious about Lag phase and max temp.

I had visible activity overnight but took 2 days for the 1st strong cap to punch. Didn’t know if was from yeast or from not hydrating.
And temp couldn’t quite breach 80°. (rarely I’m able). Think it peaked at 77° or 78°but oddly wasn’t until after the most vigorous portion was already passed

At 5am about 16 hours after pitching of the 7 ferments the 135 had the largest cap by far. About 6-7" thick in a 10 gallon brute with about 6 gallons of must. R56 was next with about 4" and the rest 2-3" Temps in all of them 71-73 and the shop temp 69. I'll start tracking the SG progress this evening.

 

[mainshipfred]

Our Cab Franc numbers aren't far apart, but interesting about the Cab Sauv. I had a similarly high pH (4.02), but only read 23.2 Brix.

Similarly our Zin numbers are quite different. Don't know if it makes any difference but before taking the readings yesterday I transferred the must back and forth to try to get a more homogenous mixture for the readings.

 

[jgmann67]

Did your Merlot have Cab mixed in?

Yes, mixed the two.

 

[Boatboy24]

Similarly our Zin numbers are quite different. Don't know if it makes any difference but before taking the readings yesterday I transferred the must back and forth to try to get a more homogenous mixture for the readings.

I thought they were reasonably close, but attributed the difference to the fact that we probably mixed differently. In the future, I may take 3 or 4 measurements and average them. On a couple of the wines yesterday, I did take a second. But they were the same in both cases.

I will say that using the SC-300 is pure joy. I hadn't used it in a while (it's been stored in solution), so I dunked it into some 4.01 calibration standard before I got started. It locked right in at 4.01.

 

[Boatboy24]

Yes, mixed the two.

Well, that explains it.

 

[jgmann67]

Well, that explains it.

it does??

 

[Boatboy24]

it does??

Were the numbers you posted for your Merlot only, or the mix of the two?

 

[jgmann67]

Were the numbers you posted for your Merlot only, or the mix of the two?

A mix - i crushed them together into the same fermenter.

 

[Boatboy24]

A mix - i crushed them together into the same fermenter.

And mine was Merlot only.

 

[Cynewulf]

Checked this morning about 17 hours after inoculating with the pied de cuve and had about a 3-4” cap and sg at 1.08 down from 1.096.

 

[mainshipfred]

Checked this morning about 17 hours after inoculating with the pied de cuve and had about a 3-4” cap and sg at 1.08 down from 1.096. View attachment 66696

What's your punch down tool?

 

[Cynewulf]

What's your punch down tool?

It’s a 6” piece of oak baseboard molding screwed to a 36” oak dowel. I think it cost me $7 in parts from Home Depot.

 

[Boatboy24]

Just finished my first punchdowns and added a half dose of Fermaid O. Off to the races! Tomorrow, I'll pitch MLB.

 

[jgmann67]

Yesterday was a busy day in the garage. Fed the wines some Fermaid O before dinner. Then pitched my MLB last night before bed. Caps are solid.

Will need to do an SG test to see where we are, but things are moving along nicely. Using the cool garage was a great idea.

I’ll need to revisit the pH when active fermentation is done I guess.

 

[Boatboy24]

Rehydrated my VP41 with Acti-ML after work and while that was gearing up, I added Opti-Malo to each batch. Caps are big this evening. I'll start to measure SG daily tomorrow and will also add the remainder of the nutrient. Weekend plans and the potential arrival of hurricane remnants are forcing me to keep my head on a swivel regarding when to press. Originally scheduled for Sunday, but it might just happen on Saturday.

 

[franc1969]

I have to say- rehydrating with Go-Ferm has really wowed me. The yeasts had what seemed to be no lag time at all. Three of my juices are 2/3 done at under 48 hours. Even the Zinfandel/Assmanhausen is moving fast, over 50%. I added the nutrients at the start, missed the 1/3 break completely on all to add any more. I expected the QA23 might move faster than I could get home Tuesday, but wow.

 

[mainshipfred]

Make sure to keep an extra eye on that petite sirah with fermentis 135 so we can compare notes. Curious about Lag phase and max temp.

I had visible activity overnight but took 2 days for the 1st strong cap to punch. Didn’t know if was from yeast or from not hydrating.
And temp couldn’t quite breach 80°. (rarely I’m able). Think it peaked at 77° or 78°but oddly wasn’t until after the most vigorous portion was already passed

I started this spreadsheet for the progress of the different yeasts I'm using. Kind of interesting seeing the progressions. The starting gravity is based on brix readings which are not as accurate so there may be a little contradiction between the initial and first reading. They were all re-hydrated using Go-Ferm. I'll take another set of readings this evening and again tomorrow morning.

 

[jgmann67]

Checked my SG last night. The Sangiovese is really cooking along. All three wines were in the 1.04 to 1.05 range. Going to feed the wine this morning.

I’ll have to recheck pH after I clear the wines. Hopefully my readings were close.

I might keep the wines on the skins until next weekend.

 

[mainshipfred]

Morning readings, snapped the lids on the OVZ and Carignan with air locks. The PS is in 10 gallon brutes so nothing I can do except them covered. A little concerned with the BA11 Viognier in the cooler, however it is slowly but steadily dropping. Depending what it reads this evening I may take it out of the cooler to finish.

 

[Boatboy24]

Fed last night and things are really rolling this morning. You could hear all 5 fermenters rumbling. I still haven't measured SG, but will today at some point. Like @jgmann67 , my Sangiovese seems to be winning the race so far.

Looks like things will fall into place for a press on Sunday, though still not certain.