Hey all.
Just so you all know my experience, I have been making wine for a coupme of years so far. Started with wineexpert and vineco kits which turmed out great. Then tried frozen grape must from Wine Grapes Direct. This also turned out great! Found Label peelers Finer Wine kits these were also great.
This year I am embarking in using fresh grapes for the first time. Found a farmer close by that had Zinfandel grapes nearby. We had to pick them. My wife diaghter and I picked grapes for the first time. This vineyard is not a pro vineyard so the vines were not trimmed (canopy trimming) and the grapes were not trellaced. So we had to dig in a grape bush to pick grapes. Well we took bunches of grapes that were not fully ripe as we didn't know better and there was a lot of greenies in the bunches as well.
After picking, destemming and crushing at the vineyard (sulfite was added then as well). I brought them home and checked the brix. 17 brix. Yuck. Added sugar to get them to 24.
Here is where things went terribly wrong. Ph was 3.2. thought I would try to raise the PH to the 3.3-3.5 area so Instesd of adding potassium Carbonate, I added tartic Acid. Yep, PH dropped to 3.0. Figured I would let it ferment and see where it end. Really strong fermentation. Ending PH was 3.12. need to raise it to over 3.2 in order to do malo. ferm. added potassium Carbonate. Waited 24 hours and now its at 3.8 (oh crap!).
Pressed grapes and now letting things settle for 24-48 hours and will rack and check Ph again. Hoping to get it down to 3.3 or so and then try cold stabilizing to see what happens. Pretty much assuming its a dumper. Which is fine because I learned alot.
What did I learn -
1) make sure the grapes you pick are super ripe with a PH of at least.22 brix.
2) if the PH is 3.2 leave it alone! 3.2 is fine and a stable PH and you can always raise it in the carboy later in smaller quantities.
3) Cold Maceration is your friend. I now have a garage fridge for Cold maceration before fermentation.
4). Don't sweat the small stuff. Drink some wine and chill the F out..lol
Well worth the $300 I spent on these grapes. Looking forward to the next batch of grapes later this month.
Cheers!
Just so you all know my experience, I have been making wine for a coupme of years so far. Started with wineexpert and vineco kits which turmed out great. Then tried frozen grape must from Wine Grapes Direct. This also turned out great! Found Label peelers Finer Wine kits these were also great.
This year I am embarking in using fresh grapes for the first time. Found a farmer close by that had Zinfandel grapes nearby. We had to pick them. My wife diaghter and I picked grapes for the first time. This vineyard is not a pro vineyard so the vines were not trimmed (canopy trimming) and the grapes were not trellaced. So we had to dig in a grape bush to pick grapes. Well we took bunches of grapes that were not fully ripe as we didn't know better and there was a lot of greenies in the bunches as well.
After picking, destemming and crushing at the vineyard (sulfite was added then as well). I brought them home and checked the brix. 17 brix. Yuck. Added sugar to get them to 24.
Here is where things went terribly wrong. Ph was 3.2. thought I would try to raise the PH to the 3.3-3.5 area so Instesd of adding potassium Carbonate, I added tartic Acid. Yep, PH dropped to 3.0. Figured I would let it ferment and see where it end. Really strong fermentation. Ending PH was 3.12. need to raise it to over 3.2 in order to do malo. ferm. added potassium Carbonate. Waited 24 hours and now its at 3.8 (oh crap!).
Pressed grapes and now letting things settle for 24-48 hours and will rack and check Ph again. Hoping to get it down to 3.3 or so and then try cold stabilizing to see what happens. Pretty much assuming its a dumper. Which is fine because I learned alot.
What did I learn -
1) make sure the grapes you pick are super ripe with a PH of at least.22 brix.
2) if the PH is 3.2 leave it alone! 3.2 is fine and a stable PH and you can always raise it in the carboy later in smaller quantities.
3) Cold Maceration is your friend. I now have a garage fridge for Cold maceration before fermentation.
4). Don't sweat the small stuff. Drink some wine and chill the F out..lol
Well worth the $300 I spent on these grapes. Looking forward to the next batch of grapes later this month.
Cheers!
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