Mosti Mondiale Meglioli Cab Question

[Brad Simmons]

I am so excited to be making this special wine - of course, I am a little nervous - want to make sure I am doing it right.

So I pitch the yeast and wait a week (instructions say 3-5 days) and test the SG. the instructions say it should be 1.040-1.050 --- it was 1.020.

So I figured let's go ahead, rack it, add Yeast Nutrients and oak it.

the wine wasn't as "dead" as it usually is - it wasn't fizzing - well, yeas, it was a little tiny bit.

I had a volcano. it is still bubbling and foaming 2 hours later.

I hope i didn't hump the monkey here.

Any tips? Advise? place i can send the wine I just messed up?

 

[Goodfella]

It is fine. If it is at 1.020 it still has a ways to go. check the SG in a couple days... it should be about .996.




It's a great wine

 

[Brad Simmons]

thank you so much! So (to be really stupid here) the lower the number, the less the sugar, right? So it wanted me to be at 1.040-1.050 - and it was at 1.020, so I was "past" where I should have been?

So the foaming and crazy belching is normal?

I am SO looking forward to this wine.

 

[ibglowin]

Do a search on "wine volcano" and you will see that most of us have gone to a modified fermentation with the mosti kits. We just leave it in the primary and take it all the way down to ~1.000. We add the nutrient to the primary at ~1.03 and oak if any and let it stay in the primary. You can snap the lid an add the airlock when the foaming settles down. With the large surface area in the primary the foaming dissipates without shooting out the top like you experienced in the carboy.

Most of us have made this mistake once, but usually not twice!

 

[Goodfella]

thank you so much! So (to be really stupid here) the lower the number, the less the sugar, right? So it wanted me to be at 1.040-1.050 - and it was at 1.020, so I was "past" where I should have been?

So the foaming and crazy belching is normal?

I am SO looking forward to this wine.

You are correct. The lower the number, the less sugar. So you were past the time you were supposed to rack. No big deal... it will be fine.

 

[v1rotate]

Any tips? Advise? place i can send the wine I just messed up?

Not much harm in going to step 2, transfer to carboy, a day or 2 early. For the remaining steps it is a bad idea to do the next step earlier than the instructions indicate. Day 20 is a good time to stabilize and then maybe day 40 or so for a racking to further clarify the wine.

After that, time in the carboy "bulk aging" is a good thing. Anywhere from 3 months to a year will be great.

Take your time degassing this wine! Spend a couple of days if necessary until there is no more tingly taste on your tongue while sampling. Wine which is not properly degassed will be disappointing.

Ultra premium kits really start to shine between 1 and 2 years of age. Save most of the bottles until after 2 years if you can.

I haven't made the Meglioli Cab, but I hear it is outstanding. Enjoy.

 

[uavwmn]

v1, degassing is so important. But the end result makes it all worthwhile.

 

[Brad Simmons]

Thank you all for the tips and the encouragement. I feel MUCH better now.

I didn't think it was to be degassed to later on

I just go by the desctructions. Got to start getting a feel here.

 

[Brad Simmons]

Some posts suggest putting in chips while fermenting - is that a god idea to start doing? More activity, more surface area to oak?

 

[uavwmn]

Foaming and belching is a good thing.

 

[v1rotate]

I didn't think it was to be degassed to later on

Degassing should be done after fermentation is complete and after the specified number of days has elapsed, or perhaps a few days more. I like to wait until around day 20 to degas. This is in your destructions

 

[JimCook]

I'm not sure that the sinking of the chips/cubes is a good measure of oaking depletion. The wood can sink when it gets saturated with liquid, but that doesn't mean that the wood has nothing left to provide. I know that when I have used cubes in a white wine, for instance, they sank after perhaps a week but continued to provide oaking effect for two months and would have easily provided more after that. I'll have more information on the length of time that chips (mulch) provide oaking after I run a test on two kits over the next month or so.


- Jim

 

[grapeman]

I have to agree with Jim on this one. I have had oak more than once continue to provide it's goodies long after 7 days. A lot depends on the type and toast of the oak, the pH of the wine and other factors. I am not a chemist, but I do know this happens through experience. In particular, I had two carboys (well actually 3, but I only oaked two). I put one spriral in each of them. I pulled the spiral from one after 10 days- It imparted a plywood flavor to the winbe- hardly what I was after. I kept it out for a while. Meanwhile the second one I left the spiral in for an addition month in the end. After that time, it imparted vanilla characteristics and helped the mouthfeel. I then took it out. At that point I put another fresh spiral in the first one and left it there for two weeks.


Result- Silver medal in the Winemaker this year.


Sometimes we need to rely more on experience and taste than pure chemistry.

 

[Goodfella]

Taste taste taste












 
 
Congrats on another medal Appleman
 
 
 

 

[Bartman]

Goodfella,

What do you do if everyone keeps telling you that you have bad taste (e.g., in clothing, jokes, etc)?

At least they don't criticize my taste in wine...