Livermore Cabernet and Merlot Frozen Must

[crushday]

Update: I’m overall really pleased with how this ferment is going. Temps this morning have reached their peak at 77 degrees. I’d be concerned if I haven’t already gotten good color extraction. I can only assume all the other goodies needing extracted are helped along by the EX-V. I’ve been keeping my ferment room at 70 degrees. Since it’s been raining here all week, we’ve had high temps in the low 60’s. It’s projected to continue this cooling trend.

 

[Johnd]

Point well taken, @Johnd ... I just punched down, I’m certain that any H2S is coming from the Merlot with the RP15. Has anyone else had this show up with RP15? The blend, where I first got a whiff is not giving me that report now. But, the Merlot is so I added 10gm more nutrients and punched 3x longer than normal. Any thing else?

Nope, good punches to aerate well, and additional nutrients should serve well. It’s hard to predict whether you need the “recommended dose” or not when you don’t have YAN numbers. RP 15 has low to moderate nutrient needs, so the Merlot was probably a low YAN must. Just keep up with it like you have been, and consider adding a tad more MLB nutrients to keep the two from competing.

 

[CDrew]

I had some possible issues with RP15 as well. Not sure what conclusions to draw though. Details here:

Vintage 2019 Starting at #34

In the end, I tossed 10 gallons of wine, but I'm still not sure if it was me, the particular grapes, the RP15 or some other problem. I'm going to try the RP15 again just to prove things to myself one way or the other in the future.

 

[Ajmassa]

I must confess, I also keep an emergency stash of Reduless! You are not alone my friend! (Plus a piece of copper pipe to stir a sample for confirming h2s—- like a first aid kit—though I never had to use them).
For guys like us still learning the ropes having it around just gives a little sense of comfort. Does for me at least.
But Dirty Harry status does sounds kinda awesome. And look forward to reaching that point one day!
I’ve been using Renascence Avante yeast recently which was designed for 100% h2s prevention—-quite an amazing quality for a yeast culture if ya ask me. (Also has high tolerances, & eats ~30% malic acid)

 

[Boatboy24]

FWIW, I've used RP15 several times and had no issues.

 

[sour_grapes]

Count me as a Reduless-dose-in-reserve person, as well. I wouldn't be surprised if Dirty Harry had a first-aid kit in the glovebox of that Ford Custom 500.

 

[crushday]

FWIW, I've used RP15 several times and had no issues.

I wonder... after I added the TA, the pH jumped to 3.92...

 

[Ajmassa]

Count me as a Reduless-dose-in-reserve person, as well. I wouldn't be surprised if Dirty Harry had a first-aid kit in the glovebox of that Ford Custom 500.

Blasphemy! At most maybe a needle & thread with a bottle of whisky.

 

[crushday]

Update: SG on Cabernet is 1.029 and on the Merlot, 1.034. The blend is 1.017. I’m estimating that the gravity will dip below 1.000 by Tuesday morning for the blend and the Cab and Merlot on Wednesday evening.

I don’t really want to press until Saturday. I could do it earlier but I’d really like to wait. Can anyone speak out of their experience if it will be damaging to stay in primary for a few extra days? It’s going to be throwing CO2 and the skins will sink as the fermentation lessens.

If I have to, I can carve out the time but don’t want to...

 

[sour_grapes]

I cannot answer your question. However, I comment that you could slow down the fermentation with frozen water jugs to try to match your desired timing.

 

[Rusty Nesmith]

I used to live in Livermore. A lot of good wineries there.

 

[Johnd]

Count me as a Reduless-dose-in-reserve person, as well. I wouldn't be surprised if Dirty Harry had a first-aid kit in the glovebox of that Ford Custom 500.

No Paul. No, he did not.

 

[Johnd]

Update: SG on Cabernet is 1.029 and on the Merlot, 1.034. The blend is 1.017. I’m estimating that the gravity will dip below 1.000 by Tuesday morning for the blend and the Cab and Merlot on Wednesday evening.

I don’t really want to press until Saturday. I could do it earlier but I’d really like to wait. Can anyone speak out of their experience if it will be damaging to stay in primary for a few extra days? It’s going to be throwing CO2 and the skins will sink as the fermentation lessens.

If I have to, I can carve out the time but don’t want to...

For the same reasons we rack our wine off of the gross lees 3 days after pressing, I’d think you would want to leave the skins behind after AF has ended. If AF is still dribbling along on Wednesday, doesn’t seem like an issue to wait til Saturday.
That said, very few times in its existence will wine punish you for not being timely, and they’re all in the first weeks of its life, harvest, and fermentation. Most of the time, if you don’t mess with it, it improves, this isn’t one of those times. Don’t foul up a beautiful batch of wine by making it fit your plan, press when it’s ready, not you.

 

[crushday]

Don’t foul up a beautiful batch of wine by making it fit your plan, press when it’s ready, not you.

@Johnd Stellar advice.

 

[crushday]

Update: it’s been the mid ferment grind, punching twice daily and chasing off foul scents...

Here’s a pic of the Merlot gravity. I didn’t temp adjust, but at 77 degrees it’s at .996

The blend is matching the Merlot but the Cab is behind and at 1.010.

I’m sure I’ll be pressing tomorrow after work. Could be a late night getting everything out, sanitized, moved to secondary and cleaned up.

 

[CDrew]

What's the word on the H2S? Crossing my fingers it's all gone.

 

[crushday]

@CDrew - it’s gone but it’s been a struggle. I burned through my nutrients and have been aerating like a mad man. I checked myself in the mirror and there’s a noticeable difference in my biceps and forearm muscle as a result. I think I’ve lost weight too...lol.

I’ll taste test tomorrow too...

 

[crushday]

Update: Everything is pressed and is now in secondary for the next couple of weeks. Right now I’m looking for advice on how to extract the free run wine. Here’s how I’ve been doing it: I have a hops mesh cone that I push down in to the must. I then insert a racking cane in the cone and pump using a self priming pump. The hops cone clogs easily as I believe it’s 100 microns. I’m only able to get a few gallons before I have to fidget with the cone to get more liquid flowing into it. There’s got to be an easier way.

I was able to get 23 gallons of Merlot, 23 gallons of Cab and 8 gallons 50/50 blend.

Here’s a pic of the Merlot getting pumped:




And, the cab...

 

[sour_grapes]

Sounds like you need a "Gajillion Hole Pipe": Racking From Large Fermenter

 

[crushday]

Sounds like you need a "Gajillion Hole Pipe": Racking From Large Fermenter

Brilliant - I’ll make one soon...

thanks!