My plan for 2017 wine from California grapes

[pgentile]

I think I’m gonna have some frozen bottles on the ready just in case for Chile grapes. Last fall my ferment was HOT and FAST! For cars and women? Sign me up. But hot and fast may have been a contributing factor of the ferment coming up a hair short of dry.
On smaller ferments I’ve done cold water baths to have control, but in brutes frozen bottles seem ideal if she starts to get out of line.

Luckily for me I have a hot woman who visits me regularly in the winery. One of these days I'll get a fast car again.

What I finds works best is to have two or more frozen 1 gallon water jugs in rotation as they thaw. And of course sanitize them.

 

[mainshipfred]

Lesson from last night: don't post after cocktails, a bottle wine and appetizers.[/QUOTE]

My vote is for you to keep doing it, had way to much fun reading the posts.

 

[JohnT]

I make a straight PS all the time. I have never made a PS that failed to medal in competition. Awesome grape.

Yes, cab by itself can be rather thin IMHO. I have blended it with either PS or Merlot (depending on the year) to very favorable results.

 

[Ajmassa]

Well you guys planted the seed and now my impulses are off and runnin!
I was ready to throw on some lugs of PS to toss in with the Malbec tomorrow at crush. Ain’t no spring PS tho! No grapes available that weren’t pre-ordered anyway.
(Tho they may have some SA Syrah available she said. Either way I doubt I’ll leave without some sort of impulse buy)
Gonna need to invest in a trailer to hitch one of these days.

 

[Johnd]

Lesson from last night: don't post after cocktails, a bottle wine and appetizers.

My vote is for you to keep doing it, had way to much fun reading the posts.[/QUOTE]

Glad that I could be of service...............

 

[Venatorscribe]

How so? Why are you messing with my head now? Lol. I was all pumped for a Super Tuscan.
The blend has basically no rules. With Sangiovese merlot cabsav or syrah. My biggest concern was when to blend. Blending right at crush would just be easier and less to stress over I figured. What's the common screw ups with it?

Really like your bio line. I experience that feeling once of twice a year. Haha

 

[jgmann67]

Think I'll spend some time in the shop today. Gotta rack the SE Amarone that I did the EM. Smells great, though.

I'm also going to try an MLF again. This will be the third (and last) time with this wine.

SO2 levels are low, pH's and TA' are good. Nothing on my calendar till later today... going to do a little ready, then it's go time.

 

[jgmann67]

So, I first dropped a little more than 4g of rehydrated yeast hulls in each of the three wines. Then followed the instructions to rehydrate the Beta with 50g of Acti-ML in 250ml of water for 15 minutes. Stirred, separated the cocktail into three even doses and hit each wine... now we wait.

The wines are a solid 70*. I'm hoping to see some real MLF activity in the next day or two. After this third try, I can't see doing a 4th.

 

[jgmann67]

Tiny bubbles are most visible in the Cab with the lowest SO2. But all three seem to be doing something. Will stir every three days over the next month and see where we land.

 

[Johnd]

Tiny bubbles are most visible in the Cab with the lowest SO2. But all three seem to be doing something. Will stir every three days over the next month and see where we land.

Interesting, what’s the ambient temp in the MLF area today compared to your previous efforts?

 

[jgmann67]

Interesting, what’s the ambient temp in the MLF area today compared to your previous efforts?

It was cool in the wine room this morning - about 68*.

 

[jgmann67]

I went down to do my three-day stir this morning, Cab 1 is showing more signs of MLF while Cab 2 and the Merlot are substantially less so. Part of me wants to go and buy two more packets of Beta and "give 'em the beans" (dosing them both with an additional 2.5g of MLB). But, I'm waiting - it's only 6 days in and, while they're not 'active,' there is something going on...

 

[cmason1957]

Just a reminder, I (and I am pretty sure others) have had successful MLF's with never a sign of bubbles or nothing going on. At least none that I ever saw. Give it time, wait a few weeks and test, only way to really know if something is going on or not.

 

[Ajmassa]

Just a reminder, I (and I am pretty sure others) have had successful MLF's with never a sign of bubbles or nothing going on. At least none that I ever saw. Give it time, wait a few weeks and test, only way to really know if something is going on or not.

100%. I learned that 1st hand last year on my first time doing MLF. Did 2 batches. One showed lots of visible activity. The other? None. Zilch. Zero.
Ran the chroma test and both had progressed equally well. Few more weeks and chroma showed completion. No sign of any malic spots at all.
And another friendly reminder about MLF. After chroma showed completion I had some test strips I bought before I got the chroma kit. They read malic acid in g/L. One read ~20g/L and the other about 100g/L. Reaffirming that when chroma shows comlplete- wait another 2-4 weeks.

 

[ceeaton]

I went down to do my three-day stir this morning, Cab 1 is showing more signs of MLF while Cab 2 and the Merlot are substantially less so. Part of me wants to go and buy two more packets of Beta and "give 'em the beans" (dosing them both with an additional 2.5g of MLB). But, I'm waiting - it's only 6 days in and, while they're not 'active,' there is something going on...

I'm about to kick of an MLF with my Cab Sauv/Merlot, so I have room on a test sheet, how about a test in about a week or two or three? I'm planning on pitching some CH16 on Saturday if I have time to rack it off the gross lees.

 

[jgmann67]

I'm about to kick of an MLF with my Cab Sauv/Merlot, so I have room on a test sheet, how about a test in about a week or two or three? I'm planning on pitching some CH16 on Saturday if I have time to rack it off the gross lees.

Since I just pitched last week, three weeks from now sounds great.

I’m really hopeful. Cab1 is cooking along from the looks of it...

 

[jgmann67]

Since I just pitched last week, three weeks from now sounds great.

I’m really hopeful. Cab1 is cooking along from the looks of it...

Oh - and when you come over, maybe bring some sludge with active mlb in it from your Chileans..: just in case.

[emoji51][emoji51]

 

[ceeaton]

Oh - and when you come over, maybe bring some sludge with active mlb in it from your Chileans..: just in case.

[emoji51][emoji51]

Let's see how active mine gets first! Maybe I can keep some of my MLB and food save it and put in the fridge. I am only doing one batch, so pitching the whole package is way overkill. Hopefully I'll rack that batch off of the gross lees today or tomorrow and rehydrate and pitch the MLB (using CH16). It's still blurping along at a slower pace, just haven't tested the SG since I racked it the other day.

 

[jgmann67]

Three day stir yesterday. Cab1 still the only one showing signs of life.

 

[jgmann67]

Three weeks in, now. Status the same. I hesitate to say anything good about it (almost as bad as asking 'what else can go wrong?').