WineXpert Question about LE Australia Grenache and Cab with Grape Skin

[Brian55]

Added the EC1118 today, it was just over 1.010 at the time.

 

[Trick]

Added the EC1118 today, it was just over 1.010 at the time.

That is when I am planning for pitching the EC1118.

 

[Cellar_Dweller]

Added the EC1118 today, it was just over 1.010 at the time.

That is about when I did, and it finished up at 0.990.

 

[Trick]

That is about when I did, and it finished up at 0.990.

Sounds like there is a good chance to expand this strategy to other kits, i.e. start fermentation with a widely recommended yeast to promote the variety aroma or taste and then bring in the killer to finish the sugar to make it dry.
Thanks for the input.

 

[deneed4spd]

Mine finished at .990. Tasted pretty sweet.

 

[Trick]

Mine finished at .990. Tasted pretty sweet.

should be dry at that sg. interesting.
I just started mine with 'cold soak'. skin in must without pitching yeast for 3 days. hope to extract more phenols.
will squeeze bag every day until secondary.

 

[Smok1]

Woohoo, i had bought the LE16 Blanc de Noir and Cabernet Franc because the Grenache was sold out in my area before it even hit the shelves, i happen to be in the wine kit store today buying synthetic corks and a lady walked in and cancelled her order on her grenache kit, they charged her a 10% restocking fee, i came right up after her and purchased for the 10% off price! So happy i got my hands on this one, was pretty dosapointed when i thought i wasnt gonna get one.

 

[Smok1]

So did you guys sprinkle the 71b in the primary dry as the instructions asked or did you rehydrate? When adding the 1118 a few days later did you just sprinkle on top or did you hydrate?

 

[Brian55]

So did you guys sprinkle the 71b in the primary dry as the instructions asked or did you rehydrate? When adding the 1118 a few days later did you just sprinkle on top or did you hydrate?

Dry for both, no issues.

 

[Smok1]

Dry for both, no issues.

Perfect, thanks.

 

[Trick]

So did you guys sprinkle the 71b in the primary dry as the instructions asked or did you rehydrate? When adding the 1118 a few days later did you just sprinkle on top or did you hydrate?

I would rehydrate two packs of 71b.
The reason I am doing that is I got a big lesson by using a packet of dead yeast once. I pitched and never got any response. Then I realized it was dead after a week. It was a frustrating experience. From then on I rehydrate every packet of yeast to check at least it should be alive before I pitch it to the must.

For 1118, I am planning not to pitch it unless the fermentation gets stuck. Otherwise, I will rehydrate it and acclimate it by adding some must (with alcohol) to make sure it works. It is a kind of precaution.

 

[Smok1]

So i started the grenache today, starting sg was 1.080, quite a bit lower than the other LE16 kits i did. What were your guys starting sg? Anyways pitched 71B and will pitch EC1118 at 1.020.

 

[jgmann67]

So i started the grenache today, starting sg was 1.080, quite a bit lower than the other LE16 kits i did. What were your guys starting sg? Anyways pitched 71B and will pitch EC1118 at 1.020.

Did you let the skin pack set a while before pitching yeast? Depending on the size of the pack, it could bump your SG by .015 or .02. Give it a good stir and squeeze this morning; and check your gravity again. You'll have a nice surprise. And, if not, you can always jack your gravity with some simple syrup. I'd do it before your ferment really kicks off though.

 

[Trick]

The sg of mine is 1.10. I freeze the skin for a few days and thaw it and "cold soaked" in the must for 2 days with pectic enzyme. All the idea is to Extract. I just rehydrate pitched two packets of 71b. I will hold EC1118 to see if it is necessary or not.
It is fermenting vigorously. I can smell it everywhere in my house.
I set temperature at 22.3 C, but it went up automatically up to 25.3 C. Now it is Day 4, the temperature dropped to 23 C ish.
The bag keeps on floating even after I put a bag of glass marbles in. Maybe I tied it too loosely.

 

[Smok1]

The sg of mine is 1.10. I freeze the skin for a few days and thaw it and "cold soaked" in the must for 2 days with pectic enzyme. All the idea is to Extract. I just rehydrate pitched two packets of 71b. I will hold EC1118 to see if it is necessary or not.
It is fermenting vigorously. I can smell it everywhere in my house.
I set temperature at 22.3 C, but it went up automatically up to 25.3 C. Now it is Day 4, the temperature dropped to 23 C ish.
The bag keeps on floating even after I put a bag of glass marbles in. Maybe I tied it too loosely.

I took my sg reading before even adding the grapeskins, i did freeze and thaw, but did not cold soak them or add marbles, learning curves i guess, i will make sure i do that next time. I was surprised to see no pectic enzyme came in the kit. I did a RJS trio red with grape skins a while back and it came with a pack of pectic enzyme. I pitched the 71b last night, is it too late to add pectic enyme now?

 

[Trick]

I took my sg reading before even adding the grapeskins, i did freeze and thaw, but did not cold soak them or add marbles, learning curves i guess, i will make sure i do that next time. I was surprised to see no pectic enzyme came in the kit. I did a RJS trio red with grape skins a while back and it came with a pack of pectic enzyme. I pitched the 71b last night, is it too late to add pectic enyme now?

Once fermentation starts, I guess it is a kind of late for pectic. It is typically done in soak period. (correct me if I am wrong). I saw somewhere that it conflict with tanning.
Maybe I played too much and extract too much and end up a very tannic product and can only be consumed 5 years away? (too optimistic, haha).
Another tweak I am doing is that I held 1 gal must and planning to add it in incrementally in day 6 and day 9 to extend the primary fermentation further up to 14 days with sufficient CO2 blanket to cover the must. (to pursuit extended maceration.) I guess it would be nice to have a big mouth fermenter. (too expensive for me) Maybe it is overdone. Who knows. Just fun to try something new rather than playing by the book. I am also trying to eliminate using sorbate completely and fining agent (or use half).

 

[Smok1]

When i woke up this morning i gave the grape bag a press and stirred it up, the sg went from 1.080 last night (before grape bag was added) to 1.095 today. I guess its difficult to judge the actual specific gravity if you have a bag of crushed grape skins releasing sugars throughout the fermentation.

 

[Trick]

When i woke up this morning i gave the grape bag a press and stirred it up, the sg went from 1.080 last night (before grape bag was added) to 1.095 today. I guess its difficult to judge the actual specific gravity if you have a bag of crushed grape skins releasing sugars throughout the fermentation.

Agree, still some sugar is in the skin, it is hard to tell exactly. 1.095 should be a good number since 1.096 or 1.097 is possible.
I squeezed the skin with my hand at the beginning, it is really sticky after I pulled my hands out. Hope the skin can make big difference.

 

[Smok1]

Agree, still some sugar is in the skin, it is hard to tell exactly. 1.095 should be a good number since 1.096 or 1.097 is possible.
I squeezed the skin with my hand at the beginning, it is really sticky after I pulled my hands out. Hope the skin can make big difference.

Yeah it sure was sticky, my wife works in a lab so she brings me boxes of sterile nirtile gloves for those jobs haha

 

[Trick]

Yeah it sure was sticky, my wife works in a lab so she brings me boxes of sterile nirtile gloves for those jobs haha

My primary fermentation is going surprisingly fast. Yesterday, I took a SG reading, it was about to 1.002!. Too fast. It will ruin my plan. So I had to hurry up and dumped in my reserved 1 gal of juice. In this pace, I have to rack to secondary this weekend.
The temperature is so high these days (22 degree room temperature). Temperature control device becomes useless.
Maybe I should move it to basement for the secondary if the temperature keeps on going up.
Maybe it is time to invest a big mouth carboy for future skin kit.