Broad Run Cellars 2016 Fall Crush
- Thread starter Boatboy24
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Boatboy24
No longer a newbie, but still clueless.
Yep, these were Lanza as well. I'll be interested to see what the acid is like when I measure tomorrow.
Boatboy24
No longer a newbie, but still clueless.
Well, along with my very high Brix, came very high pH (not shocking). The syrah started out with a Brix of 27+. With acidulated water, I brought it down to 24.6-24.8. pH started out at a whopping 4.18!!! I adjusted to a targeted 3.7, thinking I don't want to do much more than that. We'll see where we end up after fermentation and MLF. They Viognier started at 1.100, which I adjusted down to 1.096. pH started at 3.82, which I adjusted down to 3.5. Got starters going - QA23 for the Viognier and RP15 for the Syrah. Both were doing well, but the QA23 really took off. I let them go for about 30 minutes and pitched. Went down and checked on them about 30 minutes later - the Viogner was already humming along. The Syrah was showing good signs of fermentation (surface bubbles and movement), but obviously no cap just yet.
Tomorrow, I'll press the cab and use the spent skins in my 3 Country Cabernet LR from Kenridge.
Tomorrow, I'll press the cab and use the spent skins in my 3 Country Cabernet LR from Kenridge.
I love the QA23 also, just would like to try the BA11. Everytime I go to order it from MoreWinemaking, it's out of stock. I did two Pinot Grigio buckets this Spring and wanted to use QA23 and BA11 for a side by side comparison (trying to keep everything else the same), but I couldn't get the BA11 in time, so I used D47. Hoping to keep enough bottles to give one of each to @Boatboy24 and @jgmann67 in about 3 years to test the theory that eventually the flavor profile that each yeast imparts on a must converges to an indistinguishable flavor profile (ie. like musts fermented with different yeasts taste the same if given enough aging time).
Boatboy24
No longer a newbie, but still clueless.
It's really cooking. And the Viognier smells incredible.
Busy afternoon here. Got the Lanza Cabernet pressed. I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't even taste it. Didn't have my 'apprentice' here, so the hands were not as free as they have been for the last few presses. Oh well, there will be plenty of time for that. When that was done, I took about 2 gallons worth of the skins and started my Kenridge Passport LR 3 Country Cabernet on top of them. Didn't pitch any yeast. I'm hoping the MT from the skins will kick things off. If I don't see any activity by morning, I'll pitch the RC212 that came w/ the kit. The Lanza Syrah is in full swing now with punchdowns beginning this afternoon. All is cleaned up and I'm relaxing now.
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Boatboy24
No longer a newbie, but still clueless.
Well, the Viognier was racked to secondary on Thursday evening - it was already at 1.002. Measured the Syrah this morning and its still sitting at 1.020. Thought I might be pressing by today, but its taking its time. Looks like Monday will be the day.
Boatboy24
No longer a newbie, but still clueless.
Got the Syrah pressed today. In an emergency, I had to go to Total Wine to fetch a half gallon glass growler. With the exception of 1 5 and 1 6 gallon carboy to rack stuff into, I'm out of container space in the winery. Added bonus: I had a good excuse to grab a couple bottles of wine and a small supply of fall themed beer. Coming home from my son's baseball game tonight, I breathed a small sigh of relief knowing I didn't have any punchdowns to do. This harvest has been spread out, with my 4 wines coming in over a three week period. So after 3 weeks of 2-3x daily punchdowns and 3 different pressing sessions, I'm happy for the break. In a couple days, I'll rack and pitch MLB on all 4 batches.
Sounds like you're out of the woods. Just heard today that my must is all frozen solid and ready to ship in a week or ten days. Least I'll get all mine done in the same time frame.
I noticed that this morning when I was looking for an airlock. Luckily I have one left. If I make the Malbec kit I have to get rid of skins that don't fit into my freezer, I have to bottle a batch to open up a carboy (other than my 6 gallon transfer carboy - I always keep one empty one). Then every time I have to rack, I rack to the open 6 gallon one, clean the carboy that I just moved it from, then move it back to the original one. I'd buy more carboys but I'm running out of room unless I start putting random carboys in the kids rooms. Somehow I think my wife's cheery demeanor, when it comes to my wine making addiction, may turn south on me if I do that.
Boatboy24
No longer a newbie, but still clueless.
I ran out of airlocks last week. Had to order more (got a few stoppers as well) and pay for expedited shipping.
dcbrown73
Clueless Winemaker
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I ran out of airlocks last week. Had to order more (got a few stoppers as well) and pay for expedited shipping.
I had to do the same thing. Though I've now switched to the silicon airlock bungs after secondary fermentation completes. Now I just use the standard S airlocks for secondary fermentation and no airlocks during primary.
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They cost about $2. Why not order a dozen of them????
Some of us like to live dangerously!
Boatboy24
No longer a newbie, but still clueless.
Boatboy24
No longer a newbie, but still clueless.
OK, finally got the MLB pitched on Friday night. Went down yesterday to stir. The Syrah (in both the 6gal and 1gal containers) is showing a 'gajillion' tiny bubbles rising to the top - great visual evidence that things are progressing. The other three are showing nothing at all. I realized that visual evidence is no indication of anything actually going on, but I'm concerned that I'm going to re-live my Chilean MLF fiasco. Fingers crossed. Interesting note: I still haven't added sulfite to the Carmenere and Merlot from spring. The Carm is showing 'some' small bubbles rising. May simply be degassing, but who knows.
I'll do a chromatography in a week or so to see how things are going. If the Cab, Zin and Petite Sirah aren't showing any signs of progress, I'll repitch.
I'll do a chromatography in a week or so to see how things are going. If the Cab, Zin and Petite Sirah aren't showing any signs of progress, I'll repitch.
FWIW, I sulfited my Chileans this past weekend and moved them into the wine room at 55 degrees, after 4 months with no sulfite and no progress, and after two separate VP41 additions. We're in the same boat there.
Hoping your Lanza stuff goes through MLF well, my pallet of pails is on a truck right now headed down here from M&M, Koch Cab, Clone 169 Cab, Petit Syrah, and Merlot. Using VP41 again.................
You are much braver than me, that's for sure....
Boatboy24
No longer a newbie, but still clueless.
I'll run another chromatography here in the next several days. If I don't notice any progress, I'm going to stabilize. This has gone on much beyond my comfort level already.
I'm feeling bad that mine have worked so far, there has to be some reason why yours got stuck, just how do we figure it out, that is what is bugging me.
