Fall Crush 2016

[Steve_M]

Third year making wine, 1st was all juice last year we crushed. Today we picked up 20 lugs, our first thought was 5 of each of the following;
Cabernet Sauvignon, OVZ, Syrah and Petite Syrah. The proprietor asked what type of blend we were looking for? She advised us to the following and I am glad she took the time to spend discussing it with us even with the line behind us growing long. So we ended up with 3 lugs of OVZ and 8 lugs of Petite Syrah. Field blended these into two 32 gallon Brutes.
Second style will consist of;
5 Merlot, 3 Cabernet Suavignon and 2 Cabernet Franc, again field blended.
Right now brix on the Petite/OVZ is 26 ph3.9 TA 6g/l. This will need some work but we recheck numbers tomorrow before pitching yeast.
Brix on Merlot/Cab is 23 ph 3.89 and TA 7.2 g/l so this too will need some tweaking I assume.

 

[Steve_M]

This morning here are my numbers;
The PS/OVZ PH 3.93, TA 7g/l Brix 26.2
The Merlot/Cab PH 3.95, TA 5.4g/l Brix 22.8
I am going to lower the Brix on the PS/OVZ but what should I do e PH TA?

 

[Johnd]

This morning here are my numbers;
The PS/OVZ PH 3.93, TA 7g/l Brix 26.2
The Merlot/Cab PH 3.95, TA 5.4g/l Brix 22.8
I am going to lower the Brix on the PS/OVZ but what should I do e PH TA?

From short term stability, to long term aging and storage, 3.93 and 3.95 are a tad high, and will go up during fermentation and MLF. If it were me, I'd try to get those down a bit. It may increase your TA on the PS/OVZ into the "higher than I'd like it to be range", but you can handle that later. If the Lord smiles, adding some tartaric acid to lower the M / C could leave your TA right in the sweet spot!!

 

[Steve_M]

Pitched BM4X4 on the PS/OVZ and RC-212 on the Merlot/CS/CF yesterday nice cap this morning!
This Brute is the one we have 6 lugs in.

 

[Johnd]

Looks awesome!!! Did you decide to mess with the pH / TA numbers or just wait until after fermentation?

 

[Steve_M]

Looks awesome!!! Did you decide to mess with the pH / TA numbers or just wait until after fermentation?

John,
I did add Tartaric acid to the Merlot/cab blend. Just a little, did not want to overshoot.
Same with the PS/OVZ blend acidulated the Brix down some, was my first time in doing that so here too I left it a bit high. This will end up a big wine as the Brix was at 25.2.

 

[Johnd]

John,
I did add Tartaric acid to the Merlot/cab blend. Just a little, did not want to overshoot.
Same with the PS/OVZ blend acidulated the Brix down some, was my first time in doing that so here too I left it a bit high. This will end up a big wine as the Brix was at 25.2.

Did the same on my last batch, little adjustments before, little adjustments afterwards. I feel a bit more confident afterwards, after the skins are out of the equation, knowing exactly what volume of liquid I'm dealing with.

 

[Steve_M]

I think the ferment is going a little fast?
pitched yeast Sunday morning, readings this morning are;
Merlot blend Brute #1 Brix 9 S.G. 0.999
Merlot blend Brute #2 Brix11 S.G. 1.012
PS Blend Brute #1 Brix 11 S.G. 1.005
PS blend Brute #2 Brix 12 S.G. 1.011
Air temp has been low 80's humid
Must temps have been in low to mid 80's
I'm worried for a fast ferment and not spending enough time on the skins? What should I attempt to lower? Frozen water jugs in must?

 

[Boatboy24]

Wow!!!

I think at this point, frozen water jugs might buy you a day. All of your wines could be pressed now.

 

[ceeaton]

Merlot blend Brute #1 Brix 9 S.G. 0.999

Are you saying the Brix is 9? If so I get a SG equivalent of 1.036 out of FermCalc.

 

[Boatboy24]

Are you saying the Brix is 9? If so I get a SG equivalent of 1.036 out of FermCalc.

Good catch. I didn't even look at the brix, just the SG.

 

[Steve_M]

Yeah not sure why my Brix adjustment gives me that S.G. Equivalent?
I will take hydrometer reading later today. Nonetheless, wish the ferment was going slower.

 

[Johnd]

Yeah not sure why my Brix adjustment gives me that S.G. Equivalent?
I will take hydrometer reading later today. Nonetheless, wish the ferment was going slower.

Did you use a refractometer to take your Brix readings? If so, the presence of alcohol will distort your readings........

 

[Steve_M]

Did you use a refractometer to take your Brix readings? If so, the presence of alcohol will distort your readings........

Used refractometer, using Morewine calc to convert to S.G.
Ferment has slowed considerably, will pull samples to test with hydrometer tomorrow.

 

[Johnd]

Used refractometer, using Morewine calc to convert to S.G.
Ferment has slowed considerably, will pull samples to test with hydrometer tomorrow.

Bet you did the conversion math correctly, the Brix readings were probably off. I trust my hydrometer alone after fermentation gets going.

 

[Steve_M]

A very fast ferment. Pitched yeast Sunday, we pressed last night. All wines finished dry. We have 26 gallons of Merlot blend and 31 gallons ofPS/OVZ. I will rack off gross lees on Sunday and begin MLF.

 

[Steve_M]

Pitched MLB on 9/25, ran a chromatography test here are the results.

 

[Steve_M]

How should I interpret the results? The first picture shows the third and last one not done, but second picture I'm not sure.

 

[Steve_M]

MLF is now complete, racked wine into clean carboys and......