Our First Crush

[Buttercup]

Pulled a half ton of Alicante Buschet from the local vineyard yesterday and my wife and I crushed / destemmed it into our fermentation bin. We will be inocculating it tonight and we'll see where it goes from there. We are also waiting for the call to pick up another half ton of Merlot from some freinds in Paso Robles. Probably next week.

The Alicante was wet from rain and brix came out to 20. It was 24.5 last Friday before the rain. Hoping it doesn't cause any trouble. Wish us luck as this is our first time making wine.

Bob

 

[robie]

I am so jealous! I was in Paso Robles earlier this year.

Good luck on your 2010 wine production.

 

[mxsteve625]

Where is Paso Robles?

 

[Rock]

Good old california one of my favorites,i buy paso grapes very year.

 

[Daisy]

Hi Bob,

According to me its not create any problem for you ,anyways hope for the best.
Good Luck !!!!

 

[robie]

Where is Paso Robles?

Central Coast but a little more inland. It is between Sacramento and Santa Barbara, about 30 miles north of San Luis Obespo.

It has over 100 wineries in and around the town. Very hot area! Small town with several wine festivals each year. Fun place to visit. My wife and I are going back soon.

 

[Buttercup]

Paso Robles is on the California coast half way between San Francisco and LA. We started wine touring there 20 years ago when there were about 50 wineries. Now there are close to 200. There are a lot of folks raising wine grapes and selling to winemakers.

We got the phone call yesterday that our Merlot grapes will be ready to pick up on Saturday. We'll get them crushed and inocculated over the weekend.

Last night we inocculated the Alicante and this morning those yeast cells had already started making pink foam. My wife is at home so she will be punching down during the day.

Bob

 

[robie]

I really like the merlot from that region.
Good luck!

 

[Buttercup]

Picked up the Merlot on Saturday and had it crushed into a bin that afternoon. Inocculated it Sunday and it's been gurgling along all week. Yesterday we had it down to 3 brix so it looks like we will be pressing it on Sunday. We pressed the Alicante Bouschet this past Monday and have a 59 gal barrel full plus about 30 gal in stainless.

This being our first crush, it's been interesting. Found out some interesting things.

- Uncrushed grapes will squirt all over you from the press when you get close to finishing. Learned to place a plastic garbage bag over the press to reel it in.

- The Alicante fermented in just 4 days and the Merlot is taking a little longer.

- Wine stains concrete.

- Cows really like the left over grapes from the crusher that fall to the ground when cleaning. Must be the sugar.

- Don't forget about the vineyard. We found limp tendrils which told us to turn on the drip!

 

[JohnT]

Picked up the Merlot on Saturday and had it crushed into a bin that afternoon. Inocculated it Sunday and it's been gurgling along all week. Yesterday we had it down to 3 brix so it looks like we will be pressing it on Sunday. We pressed the Alicante Bouschet this past Monday and have a 59 gal barrel full plus about 30 gal in stainless.

This being our first crush, it's been interesting. Found out some interesting things.

- Uncrushed grapes will squirt all over you from the press when you get close to finishing. Learned to place a plastic garbage bag over the press to reel it in.

- The Alicante fermented in just 4 days and the Merlot is taking a little longer.

- Wine stains concrete.

- Cows really like the left over grapes from the crusher that fall to the ground when cleaning. Must be the sugar.

- Don't forget about the vineyard. We found limp tendrils which told us to turn on the drip!

For concrete stains, use a presure washer or you can use oxy-clean.

If the grapes start to burst, lower the pressure on your press (why rush it?)

Deer also love grape skins. Last year they ate them all up. BTW, they are very funny when drunk!

 

[Wade E]

Be caerful about throwing out the remains from the crush in the near backyard as raccoons and skunks love this stuff also. The next night my dog got sprayed from throwing them back there as I opened the door. saw the skunk there biut the dog did to and shot riught through my legs and then heard the yelp and then saw the dog come running bck sliding his face across the yard and then BAMMMMMMMM, the smell hit us! The next night I looked around good I though but there was a racoon hiding and my dog just missed getting into a scrap with him. After that Guess who got to have to walk out there with the leash. From now on its all goes into a garbage bag and gets thrown out at the dump!

 

[Bruce53]

Sugar...

Pulled a half ton of Alicante Buschet from the local vineyard yesterday and my wife and I crushed / destemmed it into our fermentation bin. We will be inocculating it tonight and we'll see where it goes from there. We are also waiting for the call to pick up another half ton of Merlot from some freinds in Paso Robles. Probably next week.

The Alicante was wet from rain and brix came out to 20. It was 24.5 last Friday before the rain. Hoping it doesn't cause any trouble. Wish us luck as this is our first time making wine.

Bob

Very interesting!! How could wine start with a 24 Brix and drop to 20. Where did the sugar go?

 

[robie]

The water from the rain is soaked up into the grapes, adding to the liquid volume and diluting the sugar inside. Last minute rains can sometime case problems. As you can imagine, the amount of rain during the growing season has a drastic effect on the sugar level.

As red must cold soaks/settles, the BRIX level can actually increase. It is more because of everything getting better integrated than anything else; that higher BRIX was there all along.

 

[Bruce53]

I am learning! How do you go from 24.5 to 20? Where did the sugar go?

 

[Bruce53]

Thanks Robie. Got it, finally...

 

[sevenal]

Skins?

Wonder if my buddies goats would like the skins after the press?

 

[Rocky]

Wonder if my buddies goats would like the skins after the press?

I would recommend caution in this area. Grapes and raisins are toxic to dogs, causing renal failure and in many cases, death. May do something similar to goats.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grape_and_raisin_toxicity_in_dogs

 

[sevenal]

Gotya

Probably just till them into the garden

 

[JohnT]

Another thought..

Water not only drops your sugar%, but also drops the acid level. For these grapes, I would make it a point to test and adjust your acid.