Petite Sirah

[pgentile]

Hey all, feeling cocky after many batches of fruit wine, two Chilean juice buckets(aging nicely) and several kits(also aging nicely), I purchased yesterday a lug of Petite Sirah grapes and a juice bucket of the same.

Tasted the grapes, delicious, tasted the juice bucket juice, good but not the same. But I guess it shouldn't being the juice is most definitely from a different source or a blend(Regina).

Anyway I de-stemmed and crushed the grapes last night added the juice bucket to it. Tested sugar 1.092, TA .60. Temp was 60f. PH meter on order, too late for this batch. Liked the taste. Then added potassium metabisulfite(6 campden tablets) planning to pitch in the am or afternoon today.

Got up this morning and took off the towel to pitch yeast and found a thick cap and fermenting activity already under way. Pitched the RC212 anyway.

So question is what is most likely the cause? Wild yeast? From the grapes? Yeast existing in my basement? Something unwanted? I sanitized all buckets and utensils prior to use.

 

[ibglowin]

How many gallons of must do you have? If you are using a Brute or similar trash can you can calculate the approx amount using the formula for a cylinder and measuring your height and other dimensions. More than likely not enough SO2 and the possibility that the bucket may have been pre-inocculated etc.

 

[NorCal]

You just got a running start from yeast that was present somewhere, samet Hing happened with a ton of grapes I just crushed. Pitched the yeast I wanted, which will crowd out the native yeast anyway. It's rocking and rolling now.

 

[pgentile]

ibglowin: I have a little over 8.5 gallons of must. Probably needed a few more tablets. According to source the bucket wasn't pre-inocculated.

NorCal: I hope I can crowd out whatever started before I pitched. thanks

 

[ibglowin]

That should have been enough. Did you crush the tablets?

 

[pgentile]

Yes crushed the tablets and dissolved in small amount of warm water before adding.

But after racking my brains out about this, I think I got this cross contaminated with yeast from another batch that's about 4 days in the primary. Thinking back on it I used the same stirring paddle that was rinsed off but not sanitized. Should have used another one or sanitized in between use of different batches. The other batch has ec-1118.

So this got started with ec-1118 from stirring paddle of another batch and was re-pitched with RC212 this morning. May the best yeast win, but I think the ec-1118 might have had too much of a head start.

 

[NorCal]

I had a conversation with the best winemaker in our area, MS degree from UC Davis. I was all proud that I'm trying to take my wine to the next level and I split batches and used two different yeasts. I told him how different they tasted and was really good when blended. His response was that after 6 months it's usually difficult to tell the difference in taste of the wine, just with a different yeast.

 

[pgentile]

Interesting info NorCal.

One thing so far that I'm surprised at is how good the Petite Sirah grapes smell fermenting. Nothing I have fermented with so far, fruit and juice and kits, has smelled this good.

Question to all: Should I put this through MLF?

 

[Boatboy24]

Question to all: Should I put this through MLF?

Answer: Yep.

 

[ibglowin]

I would for sure.

 

[pgentile]

I'm going to order White Labs WLP675 today. But I'm reading some conflicting things on when to add the culture. Some say at 5 brix, some say at 0, some say before press and others say after press? And another says 24 hours after pressing rack off of gross lees then add the MLF culture?

 

[ibglowin]

Ask 4 winemakers the same question you will likely get four different answers…..

Everybody has their own preferences. I have sat in several talks in winemaking conferences with industry folks talking up "coinnoculation" and swearing by it. Others swear by adding MLB after the gross lees are racked off.

Main thing is to make sure that whatever you use, you know your wines numbers. pH, SO2 levels, ABV and make sure your MLB can tolerate those starting conditions. If this is your first time with MLF you may wish to go with a dried strain of something tried and true like Lalvin VP41 or Viniflora CH16. Most folks usually have better luck with a dried strain than a liquid strain. Also quite a few people order that strain as it is cheap but it also seems to have a high failure rate. You get what you pay for.

 

[pgentile]

Thanks, I will take the advice.

 

[NorCal]

I take it one step at a time. Go dry, press, let settle 24/48, rack to barrel, mlf, rack and start SO2 regiment when mlf completed.

 

[Boatboy24]

I take it one step at a time. Go dry, press, let settle 24/48, rack to barrel, mlf, rack and start SO2 regiment when mlf completed.

Same, except I do MLF in a carboy and move to barrel later.

 

[ibglowin]

+1, Like the safety and cleanliness of glass until MLF is finished then into the barrel.

Like I said, ask four winemakers……

 

[pgentile]

Pressed the petite sirah late saturday, going to rack off the gross lees today and add mlb. My LHBS only had liquid malo from Wyeast-4007 Blend (blend of ER1A and EY2d cultures). The package and website says to keep refrigerated but doesn't say anything about temp when pitching. Is it ok to pitch this at 34-40°F? Or does it need to be warmed up?

 

[pgentile]

Oh and by the way, this wine tastes pretty darn good already.

 

[Enologo]

Petite Syrah is becoming my favorite and I just had a similar experience. Picked up my juice pails and usually wait 24 hours while they come up to room temp before I start my process. Well got home about 7PM from the supplier and brought my buckets down into the basement to get ready for the next day. When I went down the next morning to start getting things ready the buckets were already going so much that they overflowed onto the floor so rather than wait I had to batch and pitch and feed in a frenzy. undergoing MLF as we speak.

 

[heatherd]

You'll need some way of knowing when it is done with MLF, and you'll need to avoid adding any more kmeta until the MLF is done.

To know when it's done you can get testing supplies or you can taste test it.

Good luck!