My plan for 2017 wine from California grapes

[jgmann67]

I looked up Porkolt (can't find the alt character on my keyboard) - it looks like awesome, hearty food. Wiki says the main ingredient is "meat" (any kind, really). Cool.

Checked my ferment last night and the Cab is down to 1.024 and the other two are 1.034. Temps @ 78* for all three. I'll be pressing something (at least the Cab) this weekend, I think.

All three wines still look and smell great.

Question on rehydrating the MLB. I have 2.5g of the VP-41, 5g of acti-ML, and some ML nutrient from LB Carlson. I'm a week away from starting an ML, at least, so I can order something different if needed.

Any suggestions on dosage and mixture for rehydration?

 

[JohnT]

I think it would be easier to get the keys to Fort Knox than getting a Pörkölt recipe from a Hungarian woman, where her domestic pride comes from the accolades she gets from the men at her table for her cooking. She is not going to share that.

AMEN BROTHER!! OMG, THAT DESCRIBES MY NAGIMAMA to a TEE!

She was famous for leaving out an ingredient or, perhaps, switching something!

One example is that she left out small shot of vanilla extract in her Kolache (nut roll) recipe. Try as I might, my nut roll came out fine, just like Nagimama's, but for some reason, her's was always better. My wife figured it out (she likes to bake) which did not make her very popular with Nagimama.

.. And now you may have broken another one of her secrets! Marjoram! She had me using thyme! I can't wait to try that out.

 

[JohnT]

I looked up Porkolt (can't find the alt character on my keyboard) - it looks like awesome, hearty food. Wiki says the main ingredient is "meat" (any kind, really). Cool.

As far as comfort food goes, Porkolt is like the afterwards hug (giggidy).

 

[jgmann67]

The PV and Merlot seem to have caught up to the Cab. They're all coming in around the 1.015 range @ 77* F. Tomorrow evening might be a good day to press.

 

[jgmann67]

All three are now at 1.006 or lower. Setting up for a good night of pressing.

 

[jgmann67]

The PV is pressed. Very dark. There was a big pile of seeds at the bottom of the fermenter. Struck my kinda funny.

Merlot is next.

 

[jgmann67]

All three wines are pressed. About 26 gallons total. All equipment is rinsed and drying and the wine room is clean.

I'm a couple airlocks short, unfortunately. Will get them on Tuesday. Till then, Saran Wrap and rubber bands will do.



I was surprised to find a handful of fruit flies in my basement. After 8 days of fermenting and only seeing one (that I promptly squashed), there were about 4 or 5 buzzing around the basement while I pressed my grapes. I have a fan system in my basement (from when it was a bar, to remove smoke), and I flipped that on. By the time cleanup was done, they were gone again.

 

[jgmann67]

So here’s a little lesson I learned tonight... lots of pressure can build up in a sealed jug. Bad things will happen when you open them. That is all.

 

[Boatboy24]

So here’s a little lesson I learned tonight... lots of pressure can build up in a sealed jug. Bad things will happen when you open them. That is all.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SKjjvGoeJM[/ame]

 

[jgmann67]

It was terrible... wine on the ceiling... wine everywhere. Soaked a good suit that may or may not be salvageable.

Took me an hour to clean it up.

So, after that, I swapped out the airlocks on my other wines for Saran Wrap. Seriously, why didn't I think of that on Sunday? Just glad I got to the other two and did a controlled release before they exploded.

 

[mainshipfred]

I was out of air locks as well and used baggies and rubber bands. They are still on and there are no signs of any pressure build up. There was a post I read that someone only used baggies on his aging wines as a regular habit.

 

[Boatboy24]

I have plastic wrap and a twist tie on a half gallon jug of my Merlot right now. Still bubbling, so I'm not worried.

 

[jgmann67]

Been a long few days at work. I haven't gotten home before 10:00 p.m. yet. Hoping to check and rack the wines tonight.

 

[jgmann67]

Racked and inoculated with vp41 and nutrient. Hope it kicks off. Will stir twice a week.

I mixed 250ml of spring water with dissolved nutrient and the VP41 @70-ish degrees for about 15 minutes, stirred and added approximately equal amounts of the liquid to each of the 4 carboys. Hoping I did that right.

 

[jgmann67]

We'll be at +36 hours since dropping MLB. Going to give it a stir this morning before work. Hope to see some sign of life.

 

[jgmann67]

Gave all four wines a good stir this morning. No real signs of active MLF. But, it's still early. No need to panic just yet.

I do have one concern though. I gave each carboy a good sniff and they all had the same sour-nose to them. The more I think about it, the more I worry.

Is this something I should be concerned about and if so, what should I do about it?

 

[cmason1957]

My latest MLF took almost a month to really kick off where I could see any activity, so don't even think about worrying for quite a while, would be my suggestion. As far as off smell, I have often thought I had a minor off smell at this point, but by the end of MLF it seems to be gone. If it were really noticeable and offensive, I would probably try to do something about it, but faint off smells right now, probably don't mean much.

 

[jgmann67]

My latest MLF took almost a month to really kick off where I could see any activity, so don't even think about worrying for quite a while, would be my suggestion. As far as off smell, I have often thought I had a minor off smell at this point, but by the end of MLF it seems to be gone. If it were really noticeable and offensive, I would probably try to do something about it, but faint off smells right now, probably don't mean much.

Thanks.

Unless someone can guide me to do otherwise, I’ll keep track of it; monitor for active fermentation; and test it in a couple weeks to see where I am. If the smell gets worse or the taste gets funky, I’m willing to pull the plug on the MLF if necessary.

 

[terroirdejeroir]

Interesting stuff. I did an experiment this year and inoculated with MLB at the same time as I pitched yeast. I was very careful about adding all the right nutrients for MLB and for the yeasties. All grapes are pressed and finishing up alcoholic fermentation to one degree or another, but I do have one batch that is totally complete and I can see the MLF perking along. If this ends well it will be my new SOP. Anyone have any experience with co-inoculation that would like to add anything?

 

[Johnd]

My latest MLF took almost a month to really kick off where I could see any activity, so don't even think about worrying for quite a while, would be my suggestion. As far as off smell, I have often thought I had a minor off smell at this point, but by the end of MLF it seems to be gone. If it were really noticeable and offensive, I would probably try to do something about it, but faint off smells right now, probably don't mean much.

Don't fret too much right now about small, off smells, it just finished fermenting, still some funkiness still in there.

If you're worried about MLF, clean and dry the glass of your carboy from the shoulders all of the way to the neck, turn the lights off in the room, and shine a flashlight into the wine between the shoulders and the neck. Look for super tiny bubbles moving slowly upward. They can be hard to see with the naked eye in ambient light, but a flashlight in the dark helps out a lot.

If you don't see any, don't get worried, it doesn't always show up this way. I have 8 carboys right now, 3 came out of the same fermenter, two show bubbles, one doesn't.........Your chromo tests will tell the real tale.