Pinot Project

[zadvocate]

I cold soaked 108 pounds of Pinot for 4 days the innoculated with rp212. I let it ferment down to 5-6 Brix then pressed and will let it finish in carboys. I also coinocculated with VP41. The reason for pressing early was to get it off the seeds. I read this is being done in burgundy

 

[zadvocate]

Noticed a Strong smell of rotten eggs yesterday and today. I hit it with redules. Hopefully that will do the trick.

 

[Boatboy24]

Have you racked off the gross lees?

 

[zadvocate]

It was still fermenting and in the same room as my Zin which was in a brute. I just thought it was the Zinfandel. Then when I took that out of the room and pressed The smell was still in the room later when I came back to check on the Pinot . I open the car boy I got a huge wiff of rotten egg. Problem was that I ran out of time today I wasn't able to rack it and it was a really strong smell so I choose redules. If I had time I would've racked it and hopefully the smell would go away. I was too busy pressing my Zinfandel and the wife would not be happy if I spent another 30 minutes on my wine.

I vacuumed up the juice from the primary using the all-in-one wine pump. I had a mesh strainer called a bazooka attached to the end of the tubing which sucked up all the juice. This was 6 gallons of free run that had the smell to it. The other 2 1/2 gallons of pressed juice have no smell. I did this on Friday so two days ago.

 

[zadvocate]

Splash racked it last night despite the wife not being too happy and most of it again this morning(5 of the 7 gallons). I pressed it on friday and it sat on the gross lees for two days. I may have overreacted but the smell was pretty strong. I will follow it and if it needs to be racked I can do it again tomorrow. I did add the redules but I don't know if the rackings have negated its effect. I was supposed to wait 72 hours but I panicked racked last night. Any other advice?

 

[zadvocate]

I splash racked again today most of the smell seems to be gone however it seems fermentation has stopped at 1.010. I have it sitting on a heating pad. What else would you recommend? How long should I let it go before I try to restart fermentation? I see lots of bubbles coming up and the air locks are moving so I'm a little confused. Thanks for any help.

 

[NorCal]

Don't panic, I've had wine in this state and it turned out just fine. I'd let it settle for a day or two and then rack off the gross lees. I splash racked, used redules, but had to break out the copper sulfate to rid my wine of the H2S.

It's cheap, effective, but you only want to use the absolute minimal amount, so it all precipitates out and does leave copper in suspension.

 

[zadvocate]

Any suggestion about the stuck ferment? It's stuck at 1.010 SG so I have it heating and stirred it this morning. Trying to get it down to at least 1.

I smelled it again today. Slight egg smell. I have splash wrecked it about three times. If it would be done fermenting I would add potassium metabisulfite hit it with redules again or copper.

 

[Ajmassa]

Come to the dark side

Stuck fermentation update
http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=57909

 

[zadvocate]

I added some Fermaid o which from what I have read is OK to add with only three bricks left I have some heating pad on the wine hopefully when I get home today it will have fermented some

Amount added was .45 per gallon

 

[Ajmassa]

If not here's a good restart guide
http://www.scottlab.com/uploads/documents/downloads/136/2016RestartStuck.pdf

And another discussion about additions to ensure a successful restart
Yeast hulls, lysozyme, Reskue- need clarity

http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=57988

But I think the H2s might need more TLC than this. Hopefully it finishes without you breaking your stones.

 

[zadvocate]

Thanks. My first goal is to get the ferment down to at least 1. After that I will use Redules and if that doesn't work Copper. Hoping I don't have to try a restart. It seemed to be bubbling before I left this morning, hopefully the Fermaid O does the trick.

 

[Smok1]

Noticed a Strong smell of rotten eggs yesterday and today. I hit it with redules. Hopefully that will do the trick.

Rc212 has a high nutrient demand, as soon as u start smelling that h2s smell you need to hit it with some fermaid, it will go away almost right away.

I use r 212 but i find if i dont keep checking on it and making sure its being fed its nutrients it can start smelling. Ive ordered renissance avante, ill be using that on my next batch, its an h2s eliminating yeast.

 

[zadvocate]

Brix are down to .5 so heat and a little Fermaid o seems to have worked. Next step is get rid of H2S smell. It's not too bad but hope a dose of reduless will get rid of it. I'm 99% sure this is all because I did not put enough nutrients in. I added one dose of fermaid o at the end of lag phase and a dose of Fermaid k at 1/3 depletion but I think that second dose should have been doubled.

 

[ceeaton]

Brix are down to .5 so heat and a little Fermaid o seems to have worked. Next step is get rid of H2S smell. It's not too bad but hope a dose of reduless will get rid of it. I'm 99% sure this is all because I did not put enough nutrients in. I added one dose of fermaid o at the end of lag phase and a dose of Fermaid k at 1/3 depletion but I think that second dose should have been doubled.

I've also used Fermaid O, 1/2 dose at onset, 1/2 dose at 1/3 depletion, and 1/2 dose at 2/3 completion. The H2S smell with RC-212 on that batch was minimal and I can't taste it in the Pinot aging in my carboy (started 5/2016). I like O better than K for that reason, you can safely use it later in the process, just don't overdo it.

 

[zadvocate]

I racked again yesterday and shook the hell out of it. It's seem to smell OK now. So I added a little bit oak shelf I did it and will leave it alone for a while. I bought copper sulfite solution and reduless but I don't think I will need to use them.

 

[zadvocate]

Update: I raked today. Had one 5 gallon, one gallon, one half gallon and one bottle with a ballon on it.

Put it all into a 6 gallon and a half gallon. The remainder in the bottle I used for testing and tasting. Ph is 3.4, TA 6.3 and SG .992.

I noticed from the bottle that it smelled a little like alcohol. It tastes great but there is a hint of alcohol smell. I am wondering if this will blow off ? I don’t know if the 6 and 1/2 Gallon smell this way.

 

[ceeaton]

Update: I raked today. Had one 5 gallon, one gallon, one half gallon and one bottle with a ballon on it.

Put it all into a 6 gallon and a half gallon. The remainder in the bottle I used for testing and tasting. Ph is 3.4, TA 6.3 and SG .992.

I noticed from the bottle that it smelled a little like alcohol. It tastes great but there is a hint of alcohol smell. I am wondering if this will blow off ? I don’t know if the 6 and 1/2 Gallon smell this way.

I didn't see that you posted your original gravity, what was it when you pitched the yeast (ie. what do you think your ABV ended up at with it finishing at .992)?

Your wine is still very young, so let it age a bit before you take any corrective measures. You've got your egg smell under control, so let it do what wine does best, age a bit.

 

[zadvocate]

I noticed a lot of raisins when crushing destemming and the Brix was 28 which I brought down to 25. I am just leaving it alone and will check it out periodically to see how it comes along. I hope at least 5 gallons turn out ok. I really learned a lot on this batch. I think I was so excited that I stretched myself thin this past fall. I had three batches going, I cold soaked for the first time, I didn’t know that I would have to up the amount of fermeaif etc...

 

[zadvocate]

I tasted today and it does have a high alcohol rate to it. I added Tannin Finesse which is supposed to help with that. I will taste after 24 hours. When I stirred it in I noticed a fair amount of carbonation. I was wondering how long before you normally see carbonation go away from bulk aging? I rack with my Allinone to degas but that’s about it.