Hi, everyone. Brand new member...recent vineyard owner/manager...experienced with brewing, but new to winemaking. As a newbie, I don't mind asking stupid questions, and I have a couple such questions. But they are unrelated, so I will ask them in two separate threads.
Here's the first: Are there any reasons not to add additional juice or must to an active fermenter within a reasonable amount of time? Obviously, you have to be mindful of sanitary practices and make sure it all happens in primary fermentation. But I can think of two scenarios (that we happen to be facing) where this might be practical. First, let's say your harvest crew is small, and you can't harvest a full block in a single session. You harvest and press, let's say a third, and inoculate. Then you come back the next day, harvest and press another third, and add it to the active fermentation. Then a couple days later, you finish the rest.
The other scenario would be if you have uneven ripeness in your vineyard, maybe because the sun hits more in one area, or you didn't get to shoot thinning/hedging in time. So you do a pass to get the really ripe grapes one day, then do a second pass a week later, after the others have had a chance to come along, adding the second pass to the fermenter.
I could see this might be more complicated with red wines. But for whites not fermenting on the skins, is there anything wrong with adding fresh sugar to active yeast in this way before they floc out? I know breweries sometimes mash half a batch one day and pitch yeast, then brew another half the next day and add it to the fermenter. They do it because their fermenters are larger than their brewhouses, but the bonus is that the first day's fermentation acts like a big yeast starter for the second day, and they don't have to pitch as much yeast. They wouldn't spread it out over several days or weeks, because the fermentation schedule is pretty short. But for wine, that is going to age for months anyway, would it cause any issues?
Thanks!
Chris
Here's the first: Are there any reasons not to add additional juice or must to an active fermenter within a reasonable amount of time? Obviously, you have to be mindful of sanitary practices and make sure it all happens in primary fermentation. But I can think of two scenarios (that we happen to be facing) where this might be practical. First, let's say your harvest crew is small, and you can't harvest a full block in a single session. You harvest and press, let's say a third, and inoculate. Then you come back the next day, harvest and press another third, and add it to the active fermentation. Then a couple days later, you finish the rest.
The other scenario would be if you have uneven ripeness in your vineyard, maybe because the sun hits more in one area, or you didn't get to shoot thinning/hedging in time. So you do a pass to get the really ripe grapes one day, then do a second pass a week later, after the others have had a chance to come along, adding the second pass to the fermenter.
I could see this might be more complicated with red wines. But for whites not fermenting on the skins, is there anything wrong with adding fresh sugar to active yeast in this way before they floc out? I know breweries sometimes mash half a batch one day and pitch yeast, then brew another half the next day and add it to the fermenter. They do it because their fermenters are larger than their brewhouses, but the bonus is that the first day's fermentation acts like a big yeast starter for the second day, and they don't have to pitch as much yeast. They wouldn't spread it out over several days or weeks, because the fermentation schedule is pretty short. But for wine, that is going to age for months anyway, would it cause any issues?
Thanks!
Chris
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