First time harvesting and fermenting fresh grapes

[Johnd]

Alright, All of the wine is still under airlock. I will rack the reds in November and but them under solid bung assuming MLF is finished or mostly finished. The whites will all go under Solid bung the next time I go to the LHBS.


In about a week, once the malo has started to run I will give the reds about 20-30PPM dose of sulfites, they have not been sulfited since the onset of fermentation. Hopefully this will be enough to protect the wine and still allow malo to continue.

Thank you for quelling my fears.

If you sulfite while your mlb hasn’t finished it’s job, you run the risk of killing it off. Most folks avoid sulfites until MLF is confirmed complete.

 

[BenK]

Can do!

 

[BenK]

I will be racking tomorrow or next weekend. I opted for medium toast spirals, directions say 1 spiral per 3 gallons with full extraction in 6 weeks. The package came with 2 spirals. I might do 3/4 spiral in the marquette and foch and 1/2 spiral in the saint croix. I have only ever used the oak powder in this project and premeasured chips in wine kits so I dont have a frame of reference as to what the extraction will be. Opinions?

 

[BenK]

The room I am storing the wine in sits in the low 60s for temperature, and im not seeing the wine dropping more sediment. I havent added any clearing agents and the wine is now a little over two months old. I dont have a chromatography test, so i am thinking of waiting until december to sulfite the reds. I started MLF on 9/30

 

[Ajmassa]

I will be racking tomorrow or next weekend. I opted for medium toast spirals, directions say 1 spiral per 3 gallons with full extraction in 6 weeks. The package came with 2 spirals. I might do 3/4 spiral in the marquette and foch and 1/2 spiral in the saint croix. I have only ever used the oak powder in this project and premeasured chips in wine kits so I dont have a frame of reference as to what the extraction will be. Opinions?

I’m actually in the middle of some oak management right now too!
Your plan sounds good to me. Don’t go by the packaging instructions. It really depends on many variables. But I like to give em a full 3 month racking interval to extract.
1 full American medium spiral on 6gal of a big red can go a long way. I don’t do more than that at one time anymore for American oak. (Learned the threshold the hard way).
I’ve got 2 French light spirals and handful of stave segments going in 15gals right now. Hoping for the best.
Also little tip- I use fishing line up through the bung to suspend the spirals. And makes more simple removal too.

 

[Newine]

The room I am storing the wine in sits in the low 60s for temperature, and im not seeing the wine dropping more sediment. I havent added any clearing agents and the wine is now a little over two months old. I dont have a chromatography test, so i am thinking of waiting until december to sulfite the reds. I started MLF on 9/30

I started MLF a week ahead if you. One of four is complete according to chromatogram. Another just started to show MLF activity. I would not be comfortable with out testing, maybe you can get the testing kit for Xmas? Easy to use and lasts a long time. BTW, I am growing and making Frontenac, Foch, Noiret and Seyval blanc. I taste a little every two weeks to see how the oak is progressing. Curious if you've tested titrable acid or if you're only checking pH?

 

[BenK]

I started MLF a week ahead if you. One of four is complete according to chromatogram. Another just started to show MLF activity. I would not be comfortable with out testing, maybe you can get the testing kit for Xmas? Easy to use and lasts a long time. BTW, I am growing and making Frontenac, Foch, Noiret and Seyval blanc. I taste a little every two weeks to see how the oak is progressing. Curious if you've tested titrable acid or if you're only checking pH?

Ill take another look online, Im trying to stagger out my purchases over time so Im not dropping a huge chunk of change on a few carboys of wine right away. I did not get anything to test TA.

Should I freeze my additives like the yeast nutrient and opti red/malo?

 

[Newine]

Ill take another look online, Im trying to stagger out my purchases over time so Im not dropping a huge chunk of change on a few carboys of wine right away. I did not get anything to test TA.

Should I freeze my additives like the yeast nutrient and opti red/malo?

I keep everything refrigerated, I have a frig for cold stabilizing my wines that I keep near freezing, so that's where I store stuff like that.

 

[BenK]

Racked the lacrescent yesterday and had 1.5 bottles worth that did not fit in a carboy. I swirled them a bit to help degas before sampling them.

They are a little thin, but not necesarilly in a bad way.

I realize my swirling did not degas in the way 12 months of bulk storage would. They tasted a little tart but not unpleasantly so. Ill do another PH test once i have purchased more of the calibrating solutions.

The lees were basically crystalized to the bottom of the carboy and not the light fluffy stuff im used to. I only added yeast and nutrients to this batch. When i mixed in hot water to rinse it out before cleaning and sanitizing it broke down easilly. Storage temps are around 60 degrees give or take. And the wine appears basically clear and is a light straw color.

The nose of the wine screams honey, but the flavors or leaning a little more towards tropical fruit or citrus possibly due to the tartness

Will the wine degas with a solid bung in?

Im going to add a half dose of kmeta, I have no way of testing free so2.

Going to try to work on the reds next weekend, I've been a busy boy.

 

[sour_grapes]

Will the wine degas with a solid bung in?

I'd say not. I would use either an airlock or a bung with a one-way valve.

Everything else in your post sounds favorable!

 

[BenK]

Some bad news guys, We have had some large bills crop up this week and getting an acid testing kit is going to be out of the cards for the foreseeable future. Im evaluating my options and doing some research.

Should I re-test the PH of the reds and compare it to the anticipated swing that happens during MLF and if I'm there rack it and sulphite it under the sulfite tolerance of the bacteria to try to balence safety while giving the bacteria some room to work if there is still some malic acid left?

 

[BenK]

Talked to the guy at the lhbs and he talked me into not touching the reds until january before racking and sulfiting.

 

[BenK]

The La Crescent has been in a carboy for over two months with no sediment dropping. Can I bottle this to free up the carboy and finish aging in the bottle? I want to power through a couple kits as my wine rack is looking sad.