Operation Massa Family Red - Muscat-Alicante-Zinfandel

[Ajmassa]

Transferred and pressed the other night. Final gravity is ~.996. I used my pvc ‘gajillion hole’r’ within a zip-tied nylon bag. Fastened a better base to the pipe this time. Could not have went any smoother. Got about 16gal pumping w/o needing to shift or adjust anything. Filled the demi and 1/4 of the 6.5gal carboy. Loaded skins. Couple more gal of free run. And about 1gal of press. *what was once a huge struggle, separating skins from wine, is now a cakewalk. Love that little DIY tool.
Much lighter color than expected. But as I finished working the demi had started to settle showing the color I anticipated. Looks like it will be higher than average lees loss too. We’ll see. Racking off in a couple days.
Everybody digs pictures. So here’s a few from pressing.
-1st pic is all the cleaning and prep work. Regardless of making an ideal sink setup- cleaning and prepping is still a huge pain in the ***!

-A couple pics of the ‘gajillion hole’r’ at work.



-couple action shots of my press



-the yield

 

[Ajmassa]

Noteworthy :

When i loaded the crusher I just had each lug resting on top. Sorting as I loaded. One of the nails from the lids had fallen into one lug. I did not catch it in time. Sucker ping panged thru the c/d. Stopped and inspected everything. Machine? Check Must? Check. Single nail on floor? Check.
Back to work. Well guess what I found at the bottom of my ferment? Lol. Yep. Hoping the 6d nail will add a little somethin somethin to the wine!


Also, while pressing I caught a whiff of what I thought was my dog Ozzy farting- which can be brutal. And I kept catching it. I smelled the press, demijohn, brute - but I couldn’t locate the origin. It lingered all night long and I apologized to Ozzy after ultimately realizing I popped my h2s cherry! It didn’t overtake the wine, but it’s there. 100%. I’ve got some reduless ready for when I rack off the lees. Sorry Ozzy.

 

[mainshipfred]

You're lucky that nail didn't cause any damage to the C/D. It seem you're fermentation when pretty well. Some yeasts are labeled as higher producers of H2S. Do you think some of the native yeasts could have had that trait?

 

[Johnd]

I know you debated yourself about adding the nutrients, and didn't see anywhere in the thread where you decided to do it, any second thoughts in light of the H2S? Asking because I'm planning to do a little native yeast experiment myself, though adding nutrients is definitely part of my plan at present.

 

[Ajmassa]

I truly believe it stemmed from waiting too long before pressing. It was way dry and done dropping for almost a full day. If I had time to press Sunday instead of Tuesday night I think it woulda been cool.
Or if I added nutrients i probably could’ve gotten away with the extra dry pressing.
But like I said it’s not so strong that I’m overly concerned. In fact, this might sound crazy to many, but I’m not even disappointed. I always hear about the dreaded h2s and I finally have an opportunity to troubleshoot it. Will finally have some 1st hand experience. I also intentionally pushed the envelope with this one. Sorta toeing the line and seeing how lazy you can actually get and still end up without issues.
I’m confident that a healthy and vigorous splash rack will blow off a lot. And then the reduless if needed.
Definitely don’t wanna hang out on the lees too long tho. So I’ll be racking tonight and doing the cooper pipe test. I’ll be sure to post the results tonight. First gotta swing by my grandmothers and play plumber this afternoon.

**unless it really was Ozzy farting all along

 

[Johnd]

I truly believe it stemmed from waiting too long before pressing. It was way dry and done dropping for almost a full day. If I had time to press Sunday instead of Tuesday night I think it woulda been cool.
Or if I added nutrients i probably could’ve gotten away with the extra dry pressing.
But like I said it’s not so strong that I’m overly concerned. In fact, this might sound crazy to many, but I’m not even disappointed. I always hear about the dreaded h2s and I finally have an opportunity to troubleshoot it. Will finally have some 1st hand experience. I also intentionally pushed the envelope with this one. Sorta toeing the line and seeing how lazy you can actually get and still end up without issues.
I’m confident that a healthy and vigorous splash rack will blow off a lot. And then the reduless if needed.
Definitely don’t wanna hang out on the lees too long tho. So I’ll be racking tonight and doing the cooper pipe test. I’ll be sure to post the results tonight. First gotta swing by my grandmothers and play plumber this afternoon.

**unless it really was Ozzy farting all along

Dog flatulence aside, and having had some minor H2S bouts in the past as well, I'm betting it'll blow off with a couple of good splash rackings, as mine have in the past. Good luck!!

 

[Ajmassa]

Fred- the c/d is a beast. And already looks like it’s been thru both world wars. So much so that I even try to not post closeup pics to avoid hearing how “technically ‘this’ can be bad. And ‘that’ can cause negative ‘this’ ......etc...”. It handled the nail like the seasoned vet it is.
This whole batch is like one big experiment anyway. A last minute add-on decision to recreate the old family red with cheap grapes. Perfect opportunity to tinker around a bit.
But when the Paso Robles grapes come in you can bet your *** I’ll back to standard practices. Getting the cocktail of nutrients/yeast/tartaric*/enzyme/malo/opti. Back to mad scientist role. Instead of “wreckless Uncle Tony’s garage wine” style. It’s been real. But looking forward to getting back in the saddle.

 

[porkchopmessiah]

Just an aside, when you all are making your wines, what makes an early drinker vs one that gets better over a few years...even the wines ive made at my winemaking for dummies local place probably would have improved with age had I not drank them all...are some grapes better for aging than others?

 

[CK55]

Just an aside, when you all are making your wines, what makes an early drinker vs one that gets better over a few years...even the wines ive made at my winemaking for dummies local place probably would have improved with age had I not drank them all...are some grapes better for aging than others?

Yes some grapes are most definitely better for aging than others. Typically wines that will age a extremely long amount of time have high acidity and high tannins like Nebbiolo which really is the king of aging. Some well made Bordeaux blends can last easily 50 years.

 

[Ajmassa]

Just an aside, when you all are making your wines, what makes an early drinker vs one that gets better over a few years...even the wines ive made at my winemaking for dummies local place probably would have improved with age had I not drank them all...are some grapes better for aging than others?

Big bold reds I was assume. I’m no expert. But the more extraction of tannins on a bold red, especially the types with high abv, high acid and high tannin, (think Napa cabs) need some time to fall into place. Even the juice buckets your making- at 1 year they are good. At 3 yrs they can be impressive.
I just started putting actual effort into aging. It’s tough. Long commitments. Especially when a wine is already good. My plan has been to not bottle it. Lol. Working so far.

 

[CK55]

Big bold reds I was assume. I’m no expert. But the more extraction of tannins on a bold red, especially the types with high abv, high acid and high tannin, (think Napa cabs) need some time to fall into place. Even the juice buckets your making- at 1 year they are good. At 3 yrs they can be impressive.
I just started putting actual effort into aging. It’s tough. Long commitments. Especially when a wine is already good. My plan has been to not bottle it. Lol. Working so far.

Thats what i do when i want to fight drinking a wine because i know it would benefit from aging.

 

[Ajmassa]

Update on this wine.

H2s issue
So like I said, at pressing I noticed waves of an unpleasant odor. When I racked off the lees the smell had dissipated a lot. Hard to describe it tho. And I haven’t had h2s before. Brought in Heather for a 2nd opinion. I asked “rotten egg”?
She said “definitely not. Not ‘rotten’ egg at all. ‘Eggy’ maybe. But not rotten”
I’ll probably rack again in a week or so and add a pinch of reduless if needed. But so far so good with that.

Numbers
Ended up with a full 54L demi and 6 gal carboy plus change. 20+ gal from 282lbs. Coulda been more if I pressed harder.
3.5ph. 6.5TA. .995 final gravity - rock n roll! Natural ferment sans nutrients a success in spite of upping the ante with an SG bump.

Gameplan
No sulphites yet. Gonna wait and see if the demi goes thru MLF naturally. I’m gonna inoculate the carboy when I do another batch soon. Potentially having some w/ and w/o MLf to note differences.
If all goes to plan I’ll start a batch this weekend. Which means I’m about 2-3 wks from a baseline chroma test. At that point if the demi hasn’t shown any natural malo progress I’ll sulphite and put her to bed with some staves cut to fit in the demijohn.
Planning to bottle this spring. And drinking our old Massa Vino by the summer.

 

[mainshipfred]

Update on this wine.

H2s issue
So like I said, at pressing I noticed waves of an unpleasant odor. When I racked off the lees the smell had dissipated a lot. Hard to describe it tho. And I haven’t had h2s before. Brought in Heather for a 2nd opinion. I asked “rotten egg”?
She said “definitely not. Not ‘rotten’ egg at all. ‘Eggy’ maybe. But not rotten”
I’ll probably rack again in a week or so and add a pinch of reduless if needed. But so far so good with that.

Numbers
Ended up with a full 54L demi and 6 gal carboy plus change. 20+ gal from 282lbs. Coulda been more if I pressed harder.
3.5ph. 6.5TA. .995 final gravity - rock n roll! Natural ferment sans nutrients a success in spite of upping the ante with an SG bump.

Gameplan
No sulphites yet. Gonna wait and see if the demi goes thru MLF naturally. I’m gonna inoculate the carboy when I do another batch soon. Potentially having some w/ and w/o MLf to note differences.
If all goes to plan I’ll start a batch this weekend. Which means I’m about 2-3 wks from a baseline chroma test. At that point if the demi hasn’t shown any natural malo progress I’ll sulphite and put her to bed with some staves cut to fit in the demijohn.
Planning to bottle this spring. And drinking our old Massa Vino by the summer.
View attachment 51565

Will Uncle Carlo be OK with you oaking it or will you just not tell him?

 

[Ajmassa]

Will Uncle Carlo be OK with you oaking it or will you just not tell him?

Lol. Na. He’d probably smack me on the back of the head and call me a ‘stunad’ for not using a barrel out the gate- even if it just for 9 months.
(Btw Uncle Carlo is just the old head Massa winemakers all rolled up into one fictional guy- “uncle Carlo”)

 

[Ajmassa]

he’s not alive anymore anyway to disapprove! The only one left who made wine is my old man. But he never got too deep. He had the family’s old equipment and made grapes a handful of time but mostly juice. In the 80’s was when we had 3 generations working together with my grandfather and his brothers. Me and my brothers were stompers a couple years. But usually our role was just getting cracked for trashing the basement after having our annual “grapeskin war” when they pressed.
Family was in 4 different rowhomes on the same block growing up in northeast Philly. ...... the good ol’ days.

 

[heatherd]

@Ajmassa5983 I am really digging your stainless steel work table and sink!

 

[Ajmassa]

@Ajmassa5983 I am really digging your stainless steel work table and sink!

Thanks. That’s the one section that’s definitely not temporary. I wanted to get that area knocked out first. Makes working much more comfortable. The rest is just slapped together. I’ll finish it itnin stages eventually. But for now it’s more than functional.

 

[Ajmassa]

New batch just detailing here as well.
Finally picked up grapes Saturday late morning. I got 8 lugs of Cab Sauv clone#8 from Paso Robles. I also grabbed a juice bucket of Sauv Blanc.
Wasn’t sure what to expect with the extra hangtime this year. Right away I noticed the stems and seeds were much more green than brown still. And the berries were tiny. Had some doubts there for a min......that is, until I sorted.
These grapes were hands down the cleanest healthiest grapes I’ve ever gotten. Chilean fruit has been really great for me, yet no match to these. I’m not exaggerating at all when I say there was absolutely ZERO bad clusters. No raisins. No mold. No random undergrown clusters. None. Quite impressive. Good job Paso Robles mystery vineyard.
I had to work quick because we had an all girls 11th birthday party/haunted hayride/sleepover to host.
#’s directly after crush:
29gal of must from 288lbs of grapes
24 Brix
3.5 ph
6.3 TA
20 ppm free so2
Numbers seemed perfect. Figured Brix may climb some too. Added the enzymes (EX-V)’and an 8g leftover packet of booster rouge for the hell of it. Next day I caught a curve ball from wine gods.
Ph 3.8
TA 7.65
24 °Brix
They cant make it too easy now. Nod bad tho. Both days the numbers and meter were double checked.
Adjusted acid with a touch of tartaric mindful of TA. (Adjustment based on TA to 8. Didn’t wanna go higher. Ph barely budged) Was pitching Avante yeast with goFerm by Sunday night. Avante eats up 30% malic so ph should drop some more. Ambient temp is 64° which is great- allowed some extra work time. Opened the heat registers down there and called it a night. Early this morning cap starting to form. Pitching VP41 tonight. And we’re makin wine again!

Truck loaded. Didn’t secure the juice. Got home bucket on side. Lost maybe 1/2 gal. Coulda been worse tho.


Grapes before sorting


Crush setup. The vinyl gutter “must chute” to the basement idea was ditched after wasting 30 min trying to rig it up. Lugging down the ol’ fashioned way. Will revisit Next year.


Post sorting. I did em all together. Gorgeous fruit. Even the leaves were minimal. And zero waste!


So2 check. High enough for me to comfortably not add any more. (Actually 20. Overshot the titret to be sure)


In its new home for the next week. 64°


Full day of macerating with enzymes 64°


Signs of cap starting this morning—10 hours after yeast. 67°

 

[mainshipfred]

New batch just detailing here as well.
Finally picked up grapes Saturday late morning. I got 8 lugs of Cab Sauv clone#8 from Paso Robles. I also grabbed a juice bucket of Sauv Blanc.
Wasn’t sure what to expect with the extra hangtime this year. Right away I noticed the stems and seeds were much more green than brown still. And the berries were tiny. Had some doubts there for a min......that is, until I sorted.
These grapes were hands down the cleanest healthiest grapes I’ve ever gotten. Chilean fruit has been really great for me, yet no match to these. I’m not exaggerating at all when I say there was absolutely ZERO bad clusters. No raisins. No mold. No random undergrown clusters. None. Quite impressive. Good job Paso Robles mystery vineyard.
I had to work quick because we had an all girls 11th birthday party/haunted hayride/sleepover to host.
#’s directly after crush:
29gal of must from 288lbs of grapes
24 Brix
3.5 ph
6.3 TA
20 ppm free so2
Numbers seemed perfect. Figured Brix may climb some too. Added the enzymes (EX-V)’and an 8g leftover packet of booster rouge for the hell of it. Next day I caught a curve ball from wine gods.
Ph 3.8
TA 7.65
24 °Brix
They cant make it too easy now. Nod bad tho. Both days the numbers and meter were double checked.
Adjusted acid with a touch of tartaric mindful of TA. (Adjustment based on TA to 8. Didn’t wanna go higher. Ph barely budged) Was pitching Avante yeast with goFerm by Sunday night. Avante eats up 30% malic so ph should drop some more. Ambient temp is 64° which is great- allowed some extra work time. Opened the heat registers down there and called it a night. Early this morning cap starting to form. Pitching VP41 tonight. And we’re makin wine again!
View attachment 51674
Truck loaded. Didn’t secure the juice. Got home bucket on side. Lost maybe 1/2 gal. Coulda been worse tho.

View attachment 51675
Grapes before sorting

View attachment 51676
Crush setup. The vinyl gutter “must chute” to the basement idea was ditched after wasting 30 min trying to rig it up. Lugging down the ol’ fashioned way. Will revisit Next year.

View attachment 51677
Post sorting. I did em all together. Gorgeous fruit. Even the leaves were minimal. And zero waste!

View attachment 51678
So2 check. High enough for me to comfortably not add any more. (Actually 20. Overshot the titret to be sure)

View attachment 51679
In its new home for the next week. 64°

View attachment 51680
Full day of macerating with enzymes 64°

View attachment 51681
Signs of cap starting this morning—10 hours after yeast. 67°

First pic you ever posted of your lab, I think.

 

[CDrew]

Great post. The pics of the wine gutter looks interesting. Too bad it didn’t work out.