Chilean Crush

[JohnT]

Well, The Chilean grapes have arrived at my supplier. It was real "touch and go" if we would get them this weekend, but they arrived Friday night and I was there to get the very first crates as they were being unloaded.

Since Chilean grapes are expensive, we only did a small amount (about 350 liters). Started pulling the equipment out at noon and had all of my equipment cleaned and put away by 2pm.

I only had 9 people at this "Mini Crush". I did not go all out as I would for the fall crush. It was just simple burgers and dogs on the deck for dinner. We did manage to have a lot of fun doing some sippin and laughing. The party didn't really break up until 1pm (some decided to simply spend the night).

Yesterday was awesome! finished cleaning up, did the analytics on the wine, adjusted, and pitched yeast. I then just parked myself out on my deck and relaxed in perfect weather. Times like that really make you love life.

Here are my test results, has anybody else have similar findings??

Carmenere - Brix: 25, TA: .44 (tested twice), PH 3.87
Cabernet - Brix: 25, TA: .525, PH 3.71

 

[Boatboy24]

Are you going with those for now, or did you adjust?

I'm leaving in about an hour to pick mine up. A friend of mine picked up his Carm and Cab on Saturday and had similar numbers to yours. Acid a little low. The blended must was 3.97 pH and .48 TA. I'll post mine up tonight or tomorrow once everything is settled and I've measured. I'm doing cab and Merlot - field blend.

 

[JohnT]

Are you going with those for now, or did you adjust?

I'm leaving in about an hour to pick mine up. A friend of mine picked up his Carm and Cab on Saturday and had similar numbers to yours. Acid a little low. The blended must was 3.97 pH and .48 TA. I'll post mine up tonight or tomorrow once everything is settled and I've measured. I'm doing cab and Merlot - field blend.

I adjusted to about .58 ta. I will adjust again once fermentation is complete (before MLF).

 

[whackfol]

Would you share label information from you lugs (Area, packer, pick dates)? Mine will be here later this week. Not sure how many packers do this for export in Chile. Ours may be from the same source. Knowing what you received is helpful to my plan.
From memory, Last year ours were from Curico Valley and the label was a dark blue with white writing.
Thanks and happy vinting!

 

[Boatboy24]

Produced and packaged by Sebastian Astaburuaga Y Cia S.A.
Township: Sagrada Familia
Province: Curico

 

[Boatboy24]

My initial measurements are below. I was not getting anywhere near 8.2 pH when trying to get the TA. I must have been doing something wrong and I'm going to try again tomorrow. The grape must is still at 51 degrees and the Viognier is at 54. I'm going to try and hold off on pitching until tomorrow evening.

Viognier Bucket: pH 3.62, SG 1.090
Cabernet Sauvignon: pH 3.81, SG 1.092
Merlot: pH 3.23, SG 1.092

 

[seth8530]

Wow your PH and TA seem a little sub optimal and the Brix seems high. I assume a little bit of acid and some love and care down the line will take it a long way though!

 

[JohnT]

Wow your PH and TA seem a little sub optimal and the Brix seems high. I assume a little bit of acid and some love and care down the line will take it a long way though!

It's the old balance scale at work here. High sugar = low acid and high acid = low sugar.

Punched down last night and temps were all about 64 degrees F. Got the winery temp up to 75 and will turn the heat off once I get above 70 degrees. Already getting some great color on the carmenere.

Yeast is well into the lag phase and blooming quite nicely.

 

[Boatboy24]

TA on the Viognier came in at .45 using the color change method and .465 titrating to 8.2 pH.

 

[Boatboy24]

After another 24 hours soaking, I tested the red again last night before pitching. I went ahead and "field blended" the Cab and Merlot the night before. The blended must had a pH of 3.51, TA of .63 and SG had risen to 1.096. Temp was at 64 when I pitched the RC212 around 7:00 last night. A little activity this morning, but no cap yet. I think it is on it's way though. Since nobody else was having their grapes crushed/destemmed on Monday, the winery did mine on Sunday and added 45ppm of KMeta. I figure this was my way to get a cold soak in.

I adjusted the Viognier to about .65 and will deal with it later if I need to. It's cooking away right now and has some very nice aromatics. I hope I can retain them.

 

[JohnT]

Punched down last night. Last night, the must was definitely heading out of lag phase with definite tell-tale cap, so I hit my must with nutrient dose #2. Temp was on all primaries was 74 degrees F, but I did not bother to check SG (bad john).

Punched down this morning. Temp was at 82. Really cooking now. MAN THE COLOR!!! good firm cap now. Will take SG reading tonight.

Boatboy, do you find that you get better tannins and color extraction from your cold soak??

 

[Boatboy24]

Boatboy, do you find that you get better tannins and color extraction from your cold soak??

The theory is yes. But this is only my second all grape batch, and my first cold soak. So honestly, I have no clue. I hadn't planned to do it, but didn't want to put my supplier through the hassle of setting up, cleaning and putting away all the equipment just for my 8 lugs. I will say that I've got pretty great color right now. But I've also used Lallezyme EX and Opti Red. So they could be contributing.

 

[JohnT]

The theory is yes. But this is only my second all grape batch, and my first cold soak. So honestly, I have no clue. I hadn't planned to do it, but didn't want to put my supplier through the hassle of setting up, cleaning and putting away all the equipment just for my 8 lugs. I will say that I've got pretty great color right now. But I've also used Lallezyme EX and Opti Red. So they could be contributing.

WOW! you are going to have some terrific color. Can't wait to hear how it turns out.

 

[Boatboy24]

My wife just called to complain that the house reeks of fermentation.

Sounds like I'll have a cap to punch down when I get home.

 

[Boatboy24]

I got home last night and there were no signs of fermentation on the Cab/Merlot. I was getting pretty nervous, as they had been crushed on Sunday and had been out of cold storage since Monday. Even though I had pitched only 24 hours earlier, I rehydrated another batch of RC212 and pitched it. Had a nice cap this morning.

The Viognier is cruising along. I've been lazy and haven't measured SG yet, but will tonight. I pitched on Tuesday morning - what are thoughts on adding some Bentonite to it today?

 

[JohnT]

Punched down when I got home last night. Cab and Carm temps were both 82 degrees. Good solid cap. Took brix reading. 16% sugar remaining.

Punched down this morning. Still has solid cap. Temp of carm is 86 and temp of cab is not 92. Really cookin now!!!!

AHHHHHHH, I love the smell of fermentation in the morning!

 

[seth8530]

Phew, man you like them hot ferments, I am so glad I am doing a side by side with a hot and cold right now. I did a cold soak on mine so I think it should be kind of cool to see how it turns out. Hopefully before too long I will be able to decide if I like hot or cold or perhaps a blend of the two.

 

[JohnT]

Well, I am on the downward slope of that population curve.

Punched down last night. temps for cab/carm was 90/82, brix was down to 6%/8%.

Punched down again this morning. Still can't get over that color. took temps only cab was 88 and carm was 80. still cooking, but definitely on that "back slope" of the population curve.

Pressing Saturday morning.

 

[JohnT]

well, just got done with pressing. whew, a bit of work this time (i only had 4 helpers today). my total yeild was 48 cases and the wine was like blood. fantastic color.

my niece took some great pictures. i will post them as soon as she sends them to me.

had lamb and london broil on the grill for dinner and went to town on the 2012 cab..

the moral to this story..... life is good.

 

[Boatboy24]

I'm torn. Viognier is at 1.002, and I'll rack this afternoon. But my cab/Merlot is at 1.040. Crush was a week ago, with a ~24 hour cold soak. I will not be able to press until Wednesday if I don't do it today. I suspect I'll be fine, and the extra 2+ days on the skins would be good. So I could press today and leave it in a fermenter until Wed, or just wait and hope it doesn't go dry before that. What say ye?