Petite Syrah - Brix numbers

[geek]

Went by the place I will be picking up my grapes.
The guy did a quick brix test and holy how the brix seems to be high in all grapes this year....I guess no surprises.

We will check again this Saturday, but if the brix is around close to 30, for a 3 lugs crush I'd like to have a rough idea of how much acidulated water I may need to use to bring the brix down to earth.

Again, just looking for a rough idea of how many liters or gallons.

@ibglowin Thanks Mike for the other help...

 

[Treeman]

At 30 brix you might want to think about fermenting some or all to port.

 

[ibglowin]

There is a formula but you have to know. Your volume of must to solve the equation.

 

[TXWineDuo]

Here is a link to water dilution,
http://vinoenology.com/calculators/chaptalization-and-water-dilution/

 

[TXWineDuo]

Here is a link to Tank Volume calculators change to vertical tank,
http://www.calculatorsoup.com/calculators/construction/tank.php

Be careful the Brutes are not a perfect cylinder a 20 Gal is something like 16" at the base and 19 1/2" at the top and around 22" tall. If you average the diameter to 17.75" and 22" tall the calculator will end up with 23.5 gallons but at the bottom of every Brute is another vertical cylinder for the dolly that must be subtracted.
I think that I might make the outside markings by putting in 1 gallon of water make a mark then add another gallon another mark and so on.

 

[geek]

There is a formula but you have to know. Your volume of must to solve the equation.

Just looking for a rough estimate, I assume 3 lugs would provide around 10 to 12 gallons of must.

 

[geek]

Here is a link to water dilution,
http://vinoenology.com/calculators/chaptalization-and-water-dilution/

Thanks, let me try, just don't know the SG yet, got the quick brix reading from the guy in the truck unloading and then left to get my grapes tomorrow when they crush.

Here is a link to Tank Volume calculators change to vertical tank,
http://www.calculatorsoup.com/calculators/construction/tank.php

Be careful the Brutes are not a perfect cylinder a 20 Gal is something like 16" at the base and 19 1/2" at the top and around 22" tall. If you average the diameter to 17.75" and 22" tall the calculator will end up with 23.5 gallons but at the bottom of every Brute is another vertical cylinder for the dolly that must be subtracted.
I think that I might make the outside markings by putting in 1 gallon of water make a mark then add another gallon another mark and so on.

I will bring a couple 6gal juice buckets which I marked with 5 and 6 gal lines.

 

[geek]

So looking at the formula in the link above, roughly 3 gallons??? That is a LOT of water if I consider 11 gallons of must at roughly 29.5~30 brix.

Does this sound accurate?

 

[NorCal]

I always do 1/2 of what's calculated, be it dilution, acid adds, measure again before doing the other 1/2. Easyt I add more, hard to undo.

 

[TXWineDuo]

Geek,
I was thinking the same thing. I really messed up a couple of years ago, about 6 gal down the drain So I have been researching as much as possible trying to collect all this information that I can find to be able to contribute back. Good Luck!

I agree with NorCal easy to add hard to take out !!

If I recall @ibglowin had a Sangiovese that he added allot of water to, don't remember if he said how it turned out.

 

[ibglowin]

I looked at that and thought the same thing (way too much water). I had Brix levels from 26-29 this year and I used a refractometer to take my starting and ending (after dilution) Brix levels. At MOST I only needed one (1) gallon to get things down to ~24.5 Brix which is like 14.5% ABV. I would do like other have said and go slow. I would guess you will only need about a gallon or 1.25 if indeed you are at 30 Brix.

So looking at the formula in the link above, roughly 3 gallons??? That is a LOT of water if I consider 11 gallons of must at roughly 29.5~30 brix.

Does this sound accurate?

 

[geek]

Thanks guys, sounds like a plan. Will mix 23 gr of tartaric acid in a gallon of water and will see where I get.
The plan is to crush 3 lugs, mix up really good, take a Brix reading, mix again and add 1/2 gallon of acidulated water, mix well and take another Brix reading.
Quickly continue until about my target 24 Brix.

 

[ibglowin]

You need to test TA first to check acid levels. If they should be high then you may be able to dilute them down without the need for more Tartaric acid. You gots to know your numbers first!

 

[geek]

I thought about TA Mike, but was then was thinking to only go by the PH as I can easily measure with my PH55 while on site, but for checking TA I may need to do everything back at home using my PH55 and NaOH at 0.2N.

But thinking about it, sounds a good idea, I will just bring my stuff (acidulated water to dilute brix, syringe, 0.2N solution and PH55 meter) on site and test everything there.

According to my notes to check TA with a PH meter, I'd need to use 15ml of must liquid (when not using water) and then slowly add my 0.2N solution with 0.5ml first and then go slow until I reach a PH reading of 8.2

Hope my notes are correct.

.

 

[geek]

Brix came at 29.5 and PH came at 3.60
Haven't check TA.

 

[geek]

Brix at 26 after adding 1gal of acidulated water.
My target is around 24~24.5, so adding less than 1/2 gallon now......

 

[TXWineDuo]

Just following along, so what was your TA before and after acidulated water?
Did you really use 23 grams of Tartaric?

 

[geek]

I couldn't measure TA before adding acidulated water.
I used 23 grams of tartaric for 1 gallon of spring water.

 

[geek]

See TA results here: http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51076