One wheel in hand and eight on the ground...2022 Wine Making Season

[crushday]

Mr. Crushday,
I have to say I love your posts.
Informative
Instructional
Inspiring
Motivating!
Especially for a newbie. Lots of knowledge provided. I Especially like how you list your numbers. It's like a home study project as I follow along imagining what the $÷@##&* I would do if faced with the varying scenarios.

Overall what is your opinion of the Harmony yeast so far if I may inquire?

@SCAndy Thanks for the very kind words. Most of what I have learned about winemaking has been from this site, experience and a few other seasoned winemakers whom I've developed relationship with through this site - and, in that order. I suspect you're (or will be) the same.

Overall, I'm pleased with the Harmony yeast. The jury is still in chambers though as not enough time has elapsed to really appreciate all the yeast provides for the wine. I did learn something about how to step feed the yeast. Because I've used Avante so much, I assumed that Harmony (although a different company of manufacture) wouldn't produce ANY H2S. Boy was I wrong and the description is clear had I simply read and not jumped to some really poor conclusions. All is rectified now but if you use the yeast, just be aware. PM your address and I'll send you some...

Initial taste and sensory profile was favorable.

 

[crushday]

Update:

You can see from the test that Malic Acid is clogging up the middle. Actually, this is VERY instructive for me in future ferments.

All of these represented wines had the MLB added after alcoholic fermentation was complete. ALL my other wines I have co-inoculated the bacteria after the first solid cap had formed.

I added the bacteria to the Cab and the Merlot on August 8th. If I had added the bacteria as per my normal, I'd be done now. I'm sure of that.

Because some will ask why I changed my protocol, I'll tell you now. At the time of these ferments, I was looking ahead and my travel schedule was unfavorable to making wine. When you add the bacteria to the must a day or two after the yeast, I've experienced total ferments of 20-25 days. By breaking from protocol, I was hoping to have a shorter AF that would allow me to press before I was scheduled to be on the road. It didn't actually work that way and I had to task Mrs. Crushday to punching down twice daily.

In short, I'm a fan of adding the bacteria at the formation of the first cap.

 

[winemaker81]

@crushday, it only takes one brush with H2S to make a believer, eh? I'll NEVER skip nutrient protocol again, and I don't believe you will, either!

 

[crushday]

Update:

Racked my CF Rose’ today! -2 Brix and about 5 gallons. Taste is savory…. Like a strawberry daiquiri. Fermented at 60 degrees ambient - yeast dropped on August 28th.

 

[SCAndy]

@SCAndy Thanks for the very kind words. Most of what I have learned about winemaking has been from this site, experience and a few other seasoned winemakers whom I've developed relationship with through this site - and, in that order. I suspect you're (or will be) the same.

Overall, I'm pleased with the Harmony yeast. The jury is still in chambers though as not enough time has elapsed to really appreciate all the yeast provides for the wine. I did learn something about how to step feed the yeast. Because I've used Avante so much, I assumed that Harmony (although a different company of manufacture) wouldn't produce ANY H2S. Boy was I wrong and the description is clear had I simply read and not jumped to some really poor conclusions. All is rectified now but if you use the yeast, just be aware. PM your address and I'll send you some...

Initial taste and sensory profile was favorable.

Thanks for the yeast offer Mr. Crush. I am heavily laden with D21 which is supposed to be a winner for Cab sauv????
My hope is that I can find time to ferment a batch of frozen CS this year. Work is conspiring to ruin my life lately.
But I the pics and stories here keep me motivated.......

 

[crushday]

Update: Malic Acid Conversion

I performed a chromatography test overnight. On the test sheet:

O is the Orange Wine - this was co-inoculated and is clearly complete.
CF2 is a 50 gallon FlexTank which is a 50/50 mix of the previously labeled free run CF1 and free run CF2. If you recall, I erroneously added KMeta instead of nutrient to previously labeled CF2. This was prior to adding MLB. It appears to be complete.
CF1 is a six gallon carboy and is also a 50/50 mix of the previously labeled free run CF1 and free run CF2 and suffered the same KMeta error. Surprisingly, not complete.
PS1 is free run Petite Sirah and does not appear complete.
PV1 is free run Petit Verdot and appears complete.
PSP1 and PSP2 are press run Petite Sirah and are not complete.
PVP is press run Petit Verdot and is not complete.

A discovery, and a couple observations and questions:

1. Discovery: I have been attempting to discover the best time for me to add MLB to wines I want the Malic converted to Lactic. On this test sheet, "O" is the Orange Wine started five weeks later annd the only wine I added the bacteria to after the first solid cap during AF. It's the clear winner and solidifies that co-inoculation is the way forward.
2. Observation on CF2: Looks like I dodged a pretty significant bullet by blending an otherwise good batch of Cab Franc with a tainted one and proved to be a good idea - although risky.
3. Observation: The only differences between CF2 and CF1 is the volume of wine and proximity of the volume to the floor. CF1 is a carboy and sitting on a wheeled platform six inches off the floor. Question: Why hasn't MLF completed?
4. Observations: All conditions of PS1 and PV1 are matched. Yet, one is complete and one is not. If you recall, the PS1 was the highly raisined must that came out of the must pump looking like cake batter. The resulting wine tasted great, smelled amazing and had an extremely stout mouthfeel (which I like). Also, the initial pH of the Sirah was 3.67 while the Verdot was 3.59. Post MLF Sirah 3.92 while the Verdot is 3.65. Question: Why hasn't the Sirah completed? The current pH and ABV hasn't exceeded the operating specs of the bacteria.
5. Question: Why haven't the press wines finished MLF?
6. Question: For the ones not complete, what do I do now? If I'm satisfied with the taste, I'll likely leave them alone. If not, satisfied I could re-inoculate or use as a blender. What would you do?

Here's the test medium:

 

[BarrelMonkey]

Interesting. Maybe not as much in the way of ML nutrients in your press wine?

I just posted another thread on my recent MLF attempts with elderberry. I'm wondering if the middle bands of your chromatogram may be malic (upper) and citric (lower). I know citric acid isn't usually prominent in wine grapes, but it's there and is an important precursor for diacetyl production (if you're going for creamy/buttery notes from your MLF).

[Edit: diacety = diacetyl]

 

[stickman]

The main differences between CF1 and CF2:
The layer of lees in the 50 gal tank is thicker and under greater pressure. This will increase the rate of yeast breaking down providing additional nutrients to the MLB.
The temperature may be a bit warmer in the larger tank.
The Flextank also allows micro oxygenation and the carboy does not.
Take a carboy out of the flextank and replace with the CF1 carboy.

The press wine being slower to complete ML may be related to the sugar content after pressing; press wine is often higher in sugar than the free run. Yeast fermentation will tend to dominate, and the press wine may continue to ferment sugar for several days or weeks before the ML really takes off. I would probably wait a while to see if the ML completes.

 

[crushday]

Overall what is your opinion of the Harmony yeast so far if I may inquire?

@SCAndy - So far, I'm really liking Harmony yeast. I'll really know in about 3 years, lol. I used it almost exclusively on all my red wines this year - sans a Syrah that I inoculated with Muse. I didn't watch my nutrients very closely and I had a Cab Franc that developed H2S but I was able to rectify that with a couple splash rackings. Overall, I'm very pleased with the results.

Looking at the Chr. Hansen site and seeing it not listed could only mean they discontinued it. Total bummer. I liked how it combined three different yeasts. I can only find it one place - bosogrape in B.C. I ordered another brick to use in my 2023 wines. Not sure yet if it's available as I ordered it this morning. They'll call either today or tomorrow and arrange shipping if it's available.