Fall Wine Plans! A Storm is brewing....

[sour_grapes]

Hmmmm, you did a winery tour, and you liked the winery that you visited last the best, huh? Hmmmmm.....

 

[seth8530]

Lol, you might be on to something.... Or perhaps not... The only way to know for sure would be to drink some wine... Life is hard.

 

[ibglowin]

If their is interest, I might go through the wines i brought back from Oregon and give my tasting notes on them.

Being an ambassador of sorts for the WA/OR wine country I would love to know where you stopped and what you liked and didn't like so much.

We did 10 days last Summer in Seattle (Woodinville), Walla Walla, and McMinville, OR. We brought back 3 cases of wine. Guess you could say we liked what we tasted!

 

[seth8530]

Hmm, I could try and reconstruct where we went. I will likely open one of the bottles tonight and write my thoughts on it up in a separate thread.

 

[ibglowin]

That's what the "what's in your glass tonight" thread is all about!

 

[seth8530]

So, I played around with my new SC-300 and the SC-50 MLF attachment. I gimped the procedure up a bit at the end, so I will not be able to provide exact numbers in g/l of malic acid for all the wines. But it appears that MLF is complete on all the wines except one of the Chardonnays. When, I get a chance I will either retest or deduce which one it is by testing ph, ta and so2 to weed out which one would be inhibitive to MLB. Afterwords, I will adjust them with a base and warm the carboy to encourage MLF to finish.

Having a tool like the vinmetrica is really quite nice. I am still waiting for buyers regret, but it is taking its time coming.

 

[seth8530]

So, just finaly got to checking the vitals on these guys.

Hot Pinot Noir PH=3.8 TA= 4.8 g/l
Cold Pinot Noir PH= 3.84 TA=3.8 g/l
Hot Chard PH= 3.29 TA 6.9 g/l
Cold Chard PH= 3.31 TA 5.6 g/l
Pinot Rose ( mead 2nd run) PH= 3.3 TA= 5.6 g/l

Both the chards are above the minimum PH for MBR 31 (3.1) The cold chard and warm chard has an ABV of around 13.6% I think I will end up blending the chards and pinot noirs together 50 50 so, I think that might be enough to get it moving back along. Plus, in previous test, I really liked the blended result.

The readings were taken with an SC-300. I did not have DI water so I used tap water. So, if the TA readings are a bit wonky that might be why.. But, the PH readings should be good regardless.

 

[ShawnDTurner]

Wow. How come you did not adjust before starting fermentation?

 

[oregondabbler]

Seth, I don't understand what your point is about pH and the MLB. The spec sheet for MBR-31 reads "pH>3.1", which your chard seems to fit nicely.

I've been reading your thread with a lot of interest. The experiment comparing warm and cool fermentation temperatures is really good. So, thanks for putting the effort into writing down your results and getting them out there.

 

[seth8530]

Wow. How come you did not adjust before starting fermentation?

Eh, for which wines? I did not have good PH readings prior to ferment due to equipment reasons. But, I did try adjust the TA on the Chards.

Seth, I don't understand what your point is about pH and the MLB. The spec sheet for MBR-31 reads "pH>3.1", which your chard seems to fit nicely.

I've been reading your thread with a lot of interest. The experiment comparing warm and cool fermentation temperatures is really good. So, thanks for putting the effort into writing down your results and getting them out there.

Correct, but if the ABV hit a little bit too high, or if the sulfites are a bit over what that MLB strain can take, it could have caused it to stall out. However, I tested earlier and one of the chards did not finish MLF, not sure which off the top of my head, but I think it is the cold fermented one. However, I am not 100% on that. Why it did not complete, I am not 100% on. But, I think blending them might help level things out a bit.

 

[seth8530]

I went ahead and added VP=41 MLB to the chardonnays. The dose was enough for 66 gallons, and the wine is well within the tollerence of the strain.. So, I am optimistic that this should help finish of MLF in these guys.

 

[seth8530]

Chardonnay is still quite cloudy after all this time. I am going to treat with around 15-16 grams per each 5-6 gallon carboy. Hopefully this will help it clear on out.

 

[seth8530]

So the pinot noirs were at 5 pm and near 0 ppm so2 respectivly. I added 50 ppm so2 to each of them since I did not feel like checking the pH. However, I figured this should be good enough to keep them safe and stable until I get to checking them again.

The chardonnays were at 12 and 7 ppm so2 each and kinda bubbely, I wonder if I got some kind of prolonged MLF going on... Well, I guess not for much longer since I added 50 ppm so2 to this guy as well. I also added the betonite like discussed earlier.

 

[seth8530]

The wines are all coming up on 20 months old.... I need to work up the nerve (and patience) to blend and bottle these guys up... 10 cases should do the trick.

 

[seth8530]

It is done.... 8 hours of time and 20 gallons of wine later, the chardonnay got blended 50/50 with the cold and warm fermented portions, and the pinot noir got blended 50/50 with the cold and warm portions.. All has been bottled. Detailed tasting notes and photos with a comparison against a commercial example will follow.

Pinot Noir

OG 1.098 (23 brix I decided to go with the labeled value since I did not have a refractometer)

FG .994

ABV 13.6%

pH 3.8 ( a little high)

TA=?


Chardonnay

OG 1.096

FG .992

ABV = 13.6%

pH 3.1

TA=?