Disappointed!
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He is the labor and brains and provides finances for this project. I am only allowed to ask questions here on the forum and share with him interesting and useful information. Sometimes I am allowed to ask him questions about the decisions he makesSo I assume you are the brains of the operation and he is the labor?
.Ohio Bob
Senior Member
He is the labor and brains and provides finances for this project. I am only allowed to ask questions here on the forum and share with him interesting and useful information. Sometimes I am allowed to ask him questions about the decisions he makes
So kind of similar to my wife, borderline interest but definitely holds veto power.
Nope. That's not correct. I had 230lbs (23 gallons) of fresh Cab Sauv grapes and yeilded 13 gallons. You got a good yeild from what you had.
Thank you, good to know that everything is fine.
I agree with Ohio Bob - too much headspace. I also think your airlocks are overfilled. There should be a max fill line on the side of the airlock to tell you when to stop adding liquid.
On the subject of yield, the normal expectation for Cabernet grapes is 60% conversion. If you have 5 gallons of must, you can expect 3 gallons of wine. Rhone and Zin yields are higher - around 70%. So 11.5 is much higher than expected - the traditional metrics suggest 9 gallons.
On the subject of yield, the normal expectation for Cabernet grapes is 60% conversion. If you have 5 gallons of must, you can expect 3 gallons of wine. Rhone and Zin yields are higher - around 70%. So 11.5 is much higher than expected - the traditional metrics suggest 9 gallons.
I'm the outlier on this one.
During the first few weeks, post-pressing, the headspace is not a problem. The wine is heavily outgassing so the headspace is full of CO2. While the emitted CO2 mixes quickly with the air in the headspace, the air at the top of the headspace is pushed out by simple displacement. Over the course of a few days, the headspace is primarily CO2.
How long does this situation hold true? I have no certain answer. I typically do no more than 3 weeks.
However, folks on this forum doing EM have wine setting for 6+ weeks with no problems, so I'm probably overly cautious. At the same time, once oxidation starts, it's too late to fix, so I'll stick with my personal comfort zone.
In a normal carboy, I typically go with the wine 2" to 3" below the bung. I've tried smaller spaces and had the wine blow through the airlock when I had a temperature increase in the cellar.
I also consider the volume of the headspace vs the volume of the wine. I add K-meta at each racking and every 3 months during bulk aging, and that addresses O2.
Thank you, my husband recalculated and now he thinks he got just the right amount of liquid. He forgot to call me and tell the good news while I was at work. I will tell him about the amount of whiskey in the airlocks. He is wasting good thing!
Thank you so much for all this information. My husband didn't want the wine to escape in case the fermentation is still going on. Tomorrow he will make the headspace smaller.
I recieved my grapes after not hearing a word from them for several weeks and filing a chargeback with my bank. Got 7 5 gallon buckets of frozen must with 2024 stickers all over them on top of 2023 stickers. The must is perfect. 24.2 brix with a PH of 3.45. These should make great wine. Not fresh grapes like I ordered but thats ok. I should still get a really good batch of Petite Syrah wine from them. I'm happy. Just wish communication was better. A+ for the grapes, F for communication. I ordered some Merlot from then now for snother batch and I know what to expect.
Thank you for letting us know about your own experience. I am glad you are happy and expecting your wine to be great. We will try for find fresh grapes for next year as well as learn how to properly prune our existing vines in order to increase harvest.
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