newbie

[hoodich]

4 th wine season . this year a ss fermerator 5 ft long x 3 ft wide 34 in h
looks like a u shaped through--1000 litre plus. I live in Sudbury ontario.
I purchase 55 csases of california grapes PIA label 1980 lbs. 27 cases of zin. 20 cases of cab sav and 8 cases of alicante. cab was very moldy all 20 cases.
After pressing ,I added 50 grams(pot met sulphite) in a 500 ml sln and 40 gr in a 500 ml sln so I think this works out to 80 ppm. I hope this will save the wine from all the mold . I added 15 gr of Pectin, I crushed on the sept 22 and temp 8.30 pm on the 23 is 56 deg f. I will pitch VBR yeast in a couple days. My ph is 3.9 so I will use tartartic acid tommorrow the 24 hoping to get to 3.6. I am getting to 220 litre new canadian oak barrels even the heads are toasted.
I was hoping someone could comment on the mold and if I did the proper thing to save the wine

 

[Arne]

Welcome to the forum. CAn't help you much with the mold problem, I personally have not had any experience with it. Somebody will jump on and help you, though. Good luck with it, Arne.

 

[Rocky]

Hoodich, welcome to the forum.

Did you blend all three grape varieties in your primary fermenter? Sorry I can't help with the mold problem. When you say there was mold in all 20 cases of Cabernet Sauvignon, was it extensive or just a few clusters in each box? I am not certain (my Grandfather used to have us pull any cluster with mold when we were stripping the grapes and set them aside) but if it was not too extensive, the k-meta solution you added should help. I don't remember what Poppy did with the moldy grapes but I don't think they went into the wine. What is happening at this point? Has fermentation begun?

Keep us up to date. There are some winery owners on the site and you will get a lot of help. Good luck.

 

[hoodich]

Thank you all for the warm welcome!
There was a lot of mold in all 20 cases of cab sav. I added them anyways since I could not exchange. I had the last grapes that the supplier had. The must now has been cold soaking for 5 days(Sat crush it Thrus now). Temp today is 53 f. I was told by the Pia rep from Ottawa canada, the my wine will be fine and I did not have to sulphite? She been in the bus since 1954. She told that it was noble rot ans petite syarh is known to have this alot of the time. My ph was at 3.99 on Saturday. I added 250 grams of tartaric on Tuesday. Tested on Wed 3.91 added 136g more tested 9 hrs later ph 3.79 So I added another 100 g of tartaric.. Thrus 11.00 am sg 1.110(23.5 brix) tds 1590ppm temp 58.6 f, ph 3.87 done it twice??. Does the length of cold soak give a rise in potassium thus increase ph? I thought ph would around 3.6. So I added another 100 g Tartatic. I mix it in with about a litre of juice then i pour all over the vat and then did a good punch down. I would like to ph to get to 3.6 then I will heat up and pitch yeast around 65 f. I have about 320 grams of yeast for 750 litre of must. I crushed all three grape types in one fermenter.