Other FWK Experiment with WGD grapes

[Cap Puncher]

So I decided to clear out the Freezer and had 2 buckets of Livermore Cab Sav 2019 to ferment out.

Usually, I do a cheap kit for a second run on the skins after pressing. I thought a Finer Wine Kit, their Petite Syrah Forte (petite sirah) would be a nice pairing with the cab sav skins.

I used Prelude to start the Cab Sav after 48 cold soak after being thawed. (I bought a 500gm pack so if anyone wants some Prelude , PM me. I broke them down into 25, 50, and 100gm vacuum sealed packs and are in my fridge).

I then started the FWK petite sirah 3 days after. I planned to co-ferment alpha malolactic, so I adjusted the FWK with tartaric acid and didn’t use the packet A. I I started with a pH of 3.78 and TA of 6.325 g/L before adjusting. I added 12 gm of tartaric and ended up at pH of 3.67 and TA ~6.75 g/l. I added other goodies of EX enzyme , Optired and a bit of noblesse, fermaid O and a bit of DAP. Brix was adjusted to 25.2 (6.25 gallons). Would’ve been 26 ish if kept at 6 gallons.

I took about 5 lbs of fermenting cab skins and added to the skins/seed packs provided. I used a large brew bag to combine it all. I’m fermenting in a stainless steel 84 quart pot.


Fermentation started within 6 hrs on the FWK and went fast. I pinched Avante yeast deep into the ferment with Prelude at a Brix drop of 9. Alpha malo was added 12 hrs after Avante (same time I was adding it to the Wine grapes direct cab Sav).

Yeast fermentation just finished and I added the skins bag of the cab Sav/ provided skin mix bag to a 6.5 gal bigmouth bubbler. I siphoned off 1 gallon to make room for the skins. I plan to do a 30 day EM (total skin time) while ML finishes. Smells great and tastes decent right now. I’ll report back the TA and PH once ML finishes.

I did Prelude then Bravo yeast with Alpha ML coferment on the Livermore cab Sav which is coming along nicely. Plan to do an EM while tasting every other day to determine when to press that one.

The below pics show the cab mostly. The Bravo (high glycerol) yeast culture foams like crazy while acclimating. My little winemaker in training (5 yo) helps with punch downs

 

[Cap Puncher]

ML is going nicely on the FWK Petite Sirah in the big mouth bubbler! Going for the EM of 30 days. Hopefully ML will be complete by then.

 

[Laserwine]

Hi how do you like the big mouth bubbler? I just bought the 6.5 glass bubbler to use in kits.

 

[Cap Puncher]

I ferment in SS and then rack into the BMB once the fermentation slows down.

I siphon off 1/2-gallon, otherwise it maybe too much with the 2 skin packs in theFWK. It works well for this purpose.

They work great for straight white wine fermentor too.

 

[Cap Puncher]

Just an update on the ML of the Petite Sirah FWK. I ended up with a pH of 3.88 (I had added 12gm tartaric prefermetation knowing I would be doing ML on the kit) . I haven't tested the TA but it tastes balanced with lots of dark fruit in the aroma. I honesty thought I had a Brett problem for a bit because I did a 28-day EM. I had a funky aftertaste that lingered that I couldn't really describe. I pressed racked off gross lees and sulfited to 72 free ppm of SO2 (0.65 molecular). I racked about a month later and it smells great and that weird aftertaste is gone.

Very happy with it so far! Even with the high free SO2, the color is still nice and dark. Plan to oak and barrel age soon. I used some Chitosan powder (same stuff as No Brett Inside) as insurance against Brett just in case (due to the previous after taste and high pH).