Black Grapes

[David Violante]

I have a colleague who is giving me a bunch of mixed black grapes and I want to make sure I’m doing the math right. I usually make 5-6 gallons at a time and so this is my first ‘large’ batch as a home winemaker.

I have 23 lugs that are 36 pounders each. I know this is a bit of a sliding scale depending on the grape type and size, but if it’s 3 lugs per 10 gallons, that’s roughly 77 gallons of must and then around 50-ish gallons of wine?

As a follow-up, I’m concerned about fermenting that much in the house because of the CO2 production and so am thinking of fermenting in the shed. The outside temperature should be 45-60.

I will use two 40 gallon and one 30 gallon brute containers. I’ll also do a saignee of 10%. I’m thinking of using RC212 unless there’s something specifically better for these.

Does this all sound right and any suggestions as I move forward?

Thank you tons…

 

[Hazelemere]

leave the window open where you ferment if you ferment indoors. How warm is your shed?

 

[winemaker81]

I checked my notes from last fall, the Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot. We grossed about 11.3 gallons each from five 4 lug batches.

• Grossed 9 gallons from each batch with "medium" press. It's a basket press so there are no gauges.
• Grossed another 11.5 gallons total when pressing the pomace hard.

I didn't measure it together, but it add up to a gross of 57 US gallons from twenty 36 lb lugs.

4 lugs fills a 32 gallon brute a bit over half full. 5 lugs is as much as I'm comfortable doing in one batch, due to difficulty in moving it and concern that the pressure may be more than the plastic can handle.

I had the above plus 260 lbs of other grapes fermenting in my cellar. CO2 wasn't a problem.

If you shed varies much in temperature, that could stick the fermentation. Fermenting at 60 F is not a problem, but if the temperature dips 10-15 degrees at night? That may be a problem.