First time using real grapes

[SLM]

Your pressed wine is surprisingly foamy. What variety is that?

That's the cab franc. The cab sauv is also foamy but less so. After a couple hours in carboys the foam is increasing. I pressed at 0. What do you figure?

And, secondary question: Are you planning on blending?

Yes I bought these grapes with the intention of blending them. Subject to change.

 

[SLM]

Foam=still fermenting

 

[CDrew]

That's outstanding. How is the Merlot coming along?

Your amount looks good too as when you rack again, you may be able to consolidate in 1 carboy with minimal head space.

I have found red wine will finish around -1 to -1.5 brix or so, so if you are at 0 brix, you still have a bit of fermentation to go.

 

[SLM]

Merlot is still moving. Day 8, 11 brix

 

[Cap Puncher]

Merlot is still moving. Day 8, 11 brix

Out of curiosity, what nutrients did you end up adding to the Merlot? Any off smells in any of the ferments? Lastly is that a 6 gallon carboy you blended the CS and CF in?

 

[SLM]

Oops I screwed my cab sauv.
I misread instructions for OptiMaloPlus. Calls for 1g/gal, I added 5g/gal! Any suggestions?

 

[Cap Puncher]

I think you’ll just help out the malolactic fermentation a bit more. After your malolactic is done, your may want to be on the higher end of sulfites for your pH just in case you have nutrients left over. You could call Scott’s Labs for better direction.

Also, once malo gets going and if you were planning on blending the whole batch anyway, one option might be to blend the merlot and CS/CF half and half between 2 six gallon carboys. That would dilute the extra nutrients by half (still not perfect) Also, merlot is notoriously difficult to complete malolactic, so it could be an accident in disguise.

You do have to be careful exposing malolactic to air though.

 

[SLM]

Cap Puncher, I'll get those details to you soon. Right now I'm kicking myself for making such an error.

 

[SLM]

Merlot
At 20 brix I added 5g Fermaid O
17 brix, add 5g Fermaid K
14, add 5g Fermaid K
Brix was dropping 3/day until today, day 10. It's at 6, just one down from yesterday.
Smells good
Too late to add more nutrients?

 

[CDrew]

I likely would stop adding nutrients at this point. Just keep it warm (75-80F) and stirred up 2-3 times per day. It's moving just fine. In 5 days you've gone from 20 Brix to 6 Brix. I'm thinking that's pretty good for a winter fermentation.

And while I don't know for sure, I do not anticipate any problems from the extra OptiMalo, but when your Merlot finishes up, blend them together right then to both jumpstart the Merlot MLF, and lower the concentration of OptiMalo. If you are worried, the OpitMalo is just autolyzed yeast and will settle out just like other spent yeast bits. So if you're worried, wait a couple of days and then rack off the sediment.

 

[Cap Puncher]

I likely would stop adding nutrients at this point. Just keep it warm (75-80F) and stirred up 2-3 times per day. It's moving just fine. In 5 days you've gone from 20 Brix to 6 Brix. I'm thinking that's pretty good for a winter fermentation.

And while I don't know for sure, I do not anticipate any problems from the extra OptiMalo, but when your Merlot finishes up, blend them together right then to both jumpstart the Merlot MLF, and lower the concentration of OptiMalo. If you are worried, the OpitMalo is just autolyzed yeast and will settle out just like other spent yeast bits. So if you're worried, wait a couple of days and then rack off the sediment.

I totally agree with CDrew, no more nutrients, and blend the merlot into the other batch to jumpstart malolactic on the merlot.

 

[SLM]

If you are worried, the OpitMalo is just autolyzed yeast and will settle out just like other spent yeast bits. So if you're worried, wait a couple of days and then rack off the sediment.

Funny, I saw how quickly the solids settled and did exactly that. I didn't want to ask permission though in case it was a bad idea!

 

[SLM]

Any off smells in any of the ferments? Lastly is that a 6 gallon carboy you blended the CS and CF in?

After racking off gross lees I detected a slight rotten egg smell in the CF. Asked my wife's opinion and she didn't smell it. From what I read on this forum it could be anything from a normal ferment funky smell to a serious problem needing immediate attention. Not sure where to draw that line. A couple days later it is no worse.

I have not blended them yet. They are in separate 3's as I was hoping to follow each progression before blending. But if I keep making mistakes I may have to do that.

 

[Ajmassa]

After racking off gross lees I detected a slight rotten egg smell in the CF. Asked my wife's opinion and she didn't smell it. From what I read on this forum it could be anything from a normal ferment funky smell to a serious problem needing immediate attention. Not sure where to draw that line. A couple days later it is no worse.

I have not blended them yet. They are in separate 3's as I was hoping to follow each progression before blending. But if I keep making mistakes I may have to do that.

Rotten eggy odor directly after fermentation is an extremely common issue. caused by h2s.
A good splash racking will blow off the smell. Always has for me. Bad cases require a little more TLC with copper products but this sounds like splash racking will take care of it.

Btw your merlot timeline is sounding exactly like my cab from october. Red Mt as well. Was slow to start. fermentation went slow but steady—- till the end. those last few ticks took forever.
from 1.010 to 1.000 normally would be a day max but this one was multiple days. i think i pressed around 1.000 SG and it didn’t go fully dry for another week. (ended at .995sg). As long as you see a drop each day then your good. Btw what are you using to measure your brix —hydrometer?

 

[Cap Puncher]

After racking off gross lees I detected a slight rotten egg smell in the CF. Asked my wife's opinion and she didn't smell it. From what I read on this forum it could be anything from a normal ferment funky smell to a serious problem needing immediate attention. Not sure where to draw that line. A couple days later it is no worse.

I have not blended them yet. They are in separate 3's as I was hoping to follow each progression before blending. But if I keep making mistakes I may have to do that.

I would look at the Scott Labs protocol. Preventing Sulfur Off-Odors in Red Wines | Scott Laboratories. I have had problems in the past in which I used noblesse. It works decent for sulfer smells. Ive used it during malolactic without issues. (It is and inactivated yeast product). After malo, you could splash rack when sulfiting and consider reduless if still having issues.

 

[CDrew]

Another argument for the Renaissance family of H2S preventing yeasts. Totally takes it off the table. Avante, Bravo or Allegro all make the H2S smell a thing of the past. That's the best way to deal with this in my opinion..

I agree though, that an early splash rack is the thing to do.

 

[SLM]

Thanks all, this is helpful. Just one more point of clarification. I did splash rack into carboys before MLF a few days ago, can do again after MLF completes. Would you suggest I try to splash rack again now? Or would I be introducing too much oxygen?

 

[CDrew]

Thanks all, this is helpful. Just one more point of clarification. I did splash rack into carboys before MLF a few days ago, can do again after MLF completes. Would you suggest I try to splash rack again now? Or would I be introducing too much oxygen?

If it still smells like H2S then splash rack. You have nothing to loose. Better yet, splash rack under vacuum.

If it smells clean, leave it alone.

I think some H2S is normal even during perfect fermentations, and I've detected just a funky hint, that's gone by the end of fermentation. But with the Renaissance yeasts, I don't even get that. Always totally clean out of the gate.

 

[winemaker81]

Asked my wife's opinion and she didn't smell it.

If your wife didn't smell it, it probably isn't H2S. My experience is most women have a more sensitive sense of smell and H2S is VERY distinctive. Not in a good way.

Just in case, check it daily for a few days, and if you even suspect you have H2S, follow @CDrew's advice.

 

[tullamore]

u can also try putting a copper wire in your carboy - let it hang - make sure u sanitize it - and make sure its 100 percent copper - works very well - smell will be gone in no time