2020 Fall Grape Season Coming Up

[Boatboy24]

This will be the last post of my numbers since I'm pressing today. For me it was an interesting exercise seeing the progression of the different yeasts.

Wow! Huge difference on your two Viognier batches. Are they both still in the cooler?

 

[mainshipfred]

Wow! Huge difference on your two Viognier batches. Are they both still in the cooler?

They are, didn't check today too busy pressing.

 

[franc1969]

That plus I have a finish hydrometer which reads more accurately.

I'd like to see this, for reference. I don't know if you have posted a photo before. Where did you buy this?

 

[mainshipfred]

There are many to choose from, here is one example. I would recommend the polycarbonate ones though since the neck is so thin. I broke 2 glass ones before going to the poly.

https://www.amazon.com/E-C-Kraus-Precision-Finished-Hydrometer/dp/B00838XR1K

 

[franc1969]

Thanks, I must have never really looked before.

There are many to choose from, here is one example. I would recommend the polycarbonate ones though since the neck is so thin. I broke 2 glass ones before going to the poly.

https://www.amazon.com/E-C-Kraus-Precision-Finished-Hydrometer/dp/B00838XR1K

 

[Boatboy24]

Did the final punchdowns this morning and now can't get this out of my head:

 

[Boatboy24]

Well, the 2020 Crush/Press is in the record books. Things are moving along very well and for where they are in the process, the wines are tasting and smelling pretty darn good. Tried something a little different this year for press. Prior to Dad showing up, I vacuum racked all the free run out of the wines using the GHT and AI1. So when he got here, all we had to do was load the press and then, well, press. (And of course, clean up). Since I wasn't busy vacuum racking and multi-tasking while dad was loading the press, I was able to clean the fermenters while he was doing that. We pressed ~a quarter ton of grapes, split into 5 batches in just over two hours - all with my 18L press. I'm still worn out, but feel that we continue to find ways to shave time off the process every time. As I said when we finished: "The hard work is done now and we can sort of relax". I'll have some racking to do in a few days, but that's relatively easy.

BTW: Thanks @mainshipfred for the loaner carboys at the last minute. As it turns out, I did have enough - I had moved two 6 gallon carboys to an out-of-the-way spot in the basement to make room for the fermenters and press process and 'found' them shortly after I got back from seeing you. As my grandmother always said: "Too much efficiency causes inefficiency.". But your 7 gallon carboys came in very handy and helped to reduce the number of containers needed.

When we finished, we sampled the 2019 Old Vine Zin and Touriga Nacional. Super pleased with them so far. Also tried the 2018's (Zin, Cab Sauv, Syrah and Petit Sirah) and really looking forward to the blending trials in a few weeks.

 

[jgmann67]

Punched the grapes late last night and will hit them again this morning. Planning on pressing them around 10:00 ish. My buddy and my daughter’s fiancé are coming over to help with the process.

After I punch the grapes I’ll start staging equipment - the press, buckets, etc. this is the first time using a real press. I should probably go watch a few videos on YouTube before the day gets away from me.

I haven’t used my GHT in a few years because of the way the butt press is setup. I always get a clean, junk free, press with it.

 

[mainshipfred]

Punched the grapes late last night and will hit them again this morning. Planning on pressing them around 10:00 ish. My buddy and my daughter’s fiancé are coming over to help with the process.

After I punch the grapes I’ll start staging equipment - the press, buckets, etc. this is the first time using a real press. I should probably go watch a few videos on YouTube before the day gets away from me.

I haven’t used my GHT in a few years because of the way the butt press is setup. I always get a clean, junk free, press with it.

Have fun, nice when you get help.

 

[jgmann67]

Started my day by clearing out a work area in the garage. It was going to rain pretty much all day. Set up my work table and starting bringing equipment up from the basement - press, buckets, carboys, AIO, etc.

Didn’t get any more bottling done unfortunately... and the LHBS is closed on Mondays, so I didn’t have the selection of carboys I was hoping to have. I had enough, sure. But my 3 gallon carboys were unavailable.

My buddy Burns showed up to help out. My daughter and her fiancé couldn’t make it because of work meetings (they came over for dinner later).

I started with the Sangiovese because it was going to give me the greatest yield... it did. About 11.5 gallons. The Cab/Merlot and the Malbec each gave up around 10 gallons.

The Malbec was a very clean press.

The wines tasted pretty damned good, too. Very happy with this year’s wines. From first scoop to clean up, with a lunch break in between, we were done in 4 hours. Just in time for me to shower, go get an MRI and come home to butcher a tenderloin into filets. We had the 2017 Meritage, a 2016 Petite Sirah and a Rose with dinner.

My shoulders are sore. Didn’t expect that. But, I’m happy with the new press. I’ll get to moving the wines around and doing some testing in the next day or two.

slept like a stone.

 

[Johnd]

Nice looking batch @jgmann67 !! Four hours isn’t bad at all, you really got some nice colors out of your grapes. Just curious since we both started making wine from kits and progressed to grapes, how are you enjoying the wine from grape side of winemaking, and how you feel the final product will measure up.

 

[jgmann67]

Nice looking batch @jgmann67 !! Four hours isn’t bad at all, you really got some nice colors out of your grapes. Just curious since we both started making wine from kits and progressed to grapes, how are you enjoying the wine from grape side of winemaking, and how you feel the final product will measure up.

i still feel like I have a long way to go before my wines from grapes are where I want them to be. The wines from kits are predictably better so far.

The petite sirah I made in 2016 is just starting to drink the way it should. And the meritage from 2017 isn’t what I was hoping it would be (terrible time with MLF).

The 2018 OVZ is going in the bottle this fall. It tastes a little flat - going to check pH again and maybe adjust itand sit on it another month or so before bottling.

The 2019 Cab-Syrah blend is actually very good. The best yet. I may bottle that this winter after a couple weeks in the barrel.

These grapes have been trouble free so far (knock wood). The extraction of color, especially in the Malbec, is phenomenal.

I need to see if my MLF took off and recheck pH. But they tasted pretty good out of the press. So, fingers crossed.

 

[Boatboy24]

Looking good, Jim!

My Sangiovese was the best yield of the bunch as well. From 3 lugs each:

Zin: 7.5 gallons
Cab Sauv: 7.75
Cab Franc: 7.25
Sangio: 8.25
Merlot: 7.75

 

[Chuck E]

@jgmann67
I have the same press as you. The spacer blocks tend to move around when I press. Do you put any sort of slippery spacer under the ratchet to keep the blocks aligned?

 

[jgmann67]

@jgmann67
I have the same press as you. The spacer blocks tend to move around when I press. Do you put any sort of slippery spacer under the ratchet to keep the blocks aligned?

this was our first time using the press and we had the same issues as you did. The extra set of hands helped a lot. But, we’re already talking about ways to engineer around the slippage (maybe making half moon top plates, and adding washers to the ratchet mechanism).

 

[jgmann67]

Chromo is back. I think it looks great. Will leave the wine sit on the fine lees, and stirring every couple of days for the next few weeks.

 

[Boatboy24]

Chromo is back. I think it looks great. Will leave the wine sit on the fine lees, and stirring every couple of days for the next few weeks.

Moving along rather nicely.

 

[stickman]

@Chuck E @jgmann67 I have a basket press and found that the spacer blocks have to be wet, if dry they will slip around. I didn't get a good look at your ratchet so I'm not sure if it is significantly different than mine.

 

[Boatboy24]

Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to introduce the Class of Two Thousand Twenty:



Finally got everything racked this morning. Will probably do the Sangiovese one more time, as I pulled in some sediment. All in all, pretty good yield. Things are smelling and tasting great. Tiny bubbles present in all carboys. I did a co-inoculation on the 6th, so I'll likely run chromatography Halloween weekend.

 

[Ajmassa]

Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to introduce the Class of Two Thousand Twenty:

View attachment 67149

Finally got everything racked this morning. Will probably do the Sangiovese one more time, as I pulled in some sediment. All in all, pretty good yield. Things are smelling and tasting great. Tiny bubbles present in all carboys. I did a co-inoculation on the 6th, so I'll likely run chromatography Halloween weekend.

As my fam would say— that’s beauTEEful !

I think I see 11gal yields for the merlot and sangio
And 7gal yields for Zin, CS, & CF- correct?

What was the starting amount? 5lugs for merlot and sangio? And the rest 3lugs ea.?