DeChaunac Recipe

[David Violante]

A friend of mine from a local vineyard has some DeChaunac for me this coming weekend and I was wondering if anyone has any recipe and or yeast suggestions. Morewine suggests BDX, SYR, MT, BM45 and RC212. I have some RC212 and D254. Any suggestions?

 

[David Violante]

OK here goes! I received three lugs of grapes, a combination of mostly DeChaunac, some Concord, and a few other red varieties thrown in. I destemmed and crushed them it looks like 8 gallons total. I added pectic enzyme and kmeta, and am waiting until tomorrow to get some readings, to give everything some time to mix together. Whew! That was only three lugs and already I’m thinking crusher destemmer...

Tomorrow I’ll take some readings, stabilize for SG first, then pH right? I’m aiming for an SG of 1.080 and a pH of 3.4 I believe.

 

[David Violante]

So I checked the pH and SG today... 3.4 and 1.080...! Wahoo! So since I have to break up the must into two different fermenters (I only have 8 gallon buckets) I thought, what the heck... let me try two different yeasts. I’m pitching them tomorrow. One will be D254 and the other RC212.

 

[VinesnBines]

Keep us posted. I will have De Chaunce next year. I’ve read it is a good blending grape.

 

[David Violante]

So I added yeast nutrient last night and mixed well, then this morning mixed again, and then divided the 8 gallons equally into two fermenters and pitched the yeasts. The must was at 1.080 with a pH of 3.5 at 71F. I have Fermaid-O ready to go when it comes down a third.

 

[David Violante]

Here's the picture with RC212:


Here's the picture with D254:


I mixed them both, stirring down the forming cap of the D254. Temp is 71F on both.

I do have a question. Is 1.080 too low? And if so, can I add sugar to move it to 20 or 22 or 24 Brix? I believe it's 1.5 oz per gallon per point increase. I'm curious about what other people might be thinking.

 

[David Violante]

This morning both versions had nice thick caps and were chugging along with lots of foam after stirring and punching down the caps.

Both were at 1.070 and the RC212 was at 71F while the D254 was at 73F.

This is now day two. Any thoughts on the SG and moving it up at all? Also, would adding Bentonite on day three be beneficial to clearing?

Thanks much!

 

[David Violante]

Updates!

Both have been fermenting well. Fearful of being too dry, I added sugar last night based on the above equation, but only half the amount. If they are too dry, I’ll back sweeten. I don’t want to stress the yeast out too much. The move from 18 Brix to 24 Brix called for 36oz of sugar. I added 18oz to each one.

I also added Fermaid-O to both yesterday.

Pre-sugar SG on the RC212 batch was 1.055 and post was 1.070.
Pre-sugar SG on the D254 batch was 1.055 and post was 1.075.

Today:
The RC212 batch numbers are 1.045, 3.4 pH, 71.6F


The D254 batch numbers are 1.040, 3.3 pH, 72.0F

 

[David Violante]

We‘re down to 1.030 on the RC212 and 1.025 on the D254. They both taste a little tangy... the D254 more so.

 

[AaronSC]

I'm a bit late to this rodeo but I made a ton of deChaunac back when I lived in Ithaca, NY. At that time (the 90's) I found that Pasteur Red made the wine people judged best, but D254 didn't exist then and I didn't evaluate RC212. Too late in any case

One word of warning -too much time on the skins from deChaunac can start to give you a lot of weedy character... DeChaunac is also a great basis for a blend of hybrids like Baco, Marechal Foch and Chambourcin, as you probably are aware.

Good luck!

-Aaron

 

[David Violante]

Aaron thank you for the tip~ I went to school up in Ithaca and my wife a lake over at Keuka. What a great area.

I’m going to press and move to a carboy tomorrow... today is our anniversary and were headed out for a hike and then dinner later on.

So... I’ve been testing the must by refractometer since there is so little (4 gallons each type) and this morning decided to test by pulling enough out by a thief and using a hydrometer. Wow... both are at 0.996! The tangy-ness is also less.

I’ve looked at the calibration of the refractometer and it seems to be straight on, would LED light, the color of the must, or any pulp on the glass affect reading? The temperature has also been pretty constant.

Great lesson to just use a hydrometer. I’m also going to add bentonite to start clearing...

 

[sour_grapes]

I’ve looked at the calibration of the refractometer and it seems to be straight on, would LED light, the color of the must, or any pulp on the glass affect reading? The temperature has also been pretty constant.

Great lesson to just use a hydrometer. I’m also going to add bentonite to start clearing...

Alcohol has a different index of refraction than water. That is why you cannot (easily) use a refractometer after fermentation starts.

This page describes how to use a refractometer to monitor fermentation, but I don't recommend it: - ValleyVintner Main Page

 

[David Violante]

Paul,
Thank you... another great lesson... thank you for the link! I’ll be using my hydrometer from now on...

 

[David Violante]

Pressed... and in carboys...

 

[David Violante]

Ok so here they are... RC212 on the left, and D254 on the right.



I’ll say up front that these are merely my hardly-qualified descriptions about how I perceive their tastes.

So, here goes... There is a very fruit forward aroma of cherries and vanilla, and they are both quite young of course. I can feel the D254 more on the sides of my tongue, and the RC212 more at the back. It’s more of a ‘tanginess’ than an astringency. It’s not sweet and not too dry so I can taste a nice flavor without too much alcohol masking anything. I have the urge to say the D254 is slightly more mellow. The color of both is great, I believe that’s the DeChaunac grapes. I can‘t wait to see how they are in another 6 months to a year.

The fermentation between the two was fairly parallel, although I would say the cap of the D254 was thicker (twice as much) than the RC212. Merely an observation.

So that’s about it... I’m happy with either and will probably use the D254 absent other characteristics necessary based on grape type.

 

[VinesnBines]

Thanks for the updates. I hope to have a crop next year and expect to be using to blend with my Baco, Foch and Chambourcin. Incidentally the DeChaunac vines root really well. I’m hoping to increase my vines by rooting cuttings. Please continue with updates.