Shiraz in Cape Town

[NCHSA]

Hi there, I’ve just joined from Cape Town. I am 8 days into my wine making journey. Making a small batch of Shiraz in the garage. Fermentation seems to be going according to plan. I am a bit worried about next steps, MLF and secondary fermentation. I don’t know what the status of the wine is in terms of different acidity levels. Wondering whether I should buy a pH meter? I plan to get busy reading your guide to the basics!

 

[Ohio Bob]

Welcome to WMT!

Are you making a juice bucket, kit, or from grapes? Kits and buckets will be balanced by the vendor, so no need to worry about the pH. If you can get pH testing strips, that would be the cheapest way to get started. MLF can be tricky, but needs warmer temperatures, MLF nutrients, and time. In my opinion, you need those 3 things.

 

[Rice_Guy]

welcome to WMT
The traditional answer to pH is grapes just naturally are harvested at the ideal sugar, pH, TA, tannin, aroma etc. Grandpa didn’t know what pH was, he just would taste and decide to pick or make adjustments based on flavor. No you don’t have to have pH as well as most tests.
If you ever do country wines pH is essential. If you ever do mixtures of grape and fruit pH is important. If you are deciding on adding acids it is essential. If you have never looked over grandpa’s shoulder it sure explains a lot of the chemistry. At some point I would budget purchasing one, not necessarily on your first batch.

 

[winemaker81]

Welcome to WMT!

Without knowing more, it's difficult to advise. What was the OG and what is the current SG?

 

[Christopher Anderson]

Welcome to WMT. Ask many questions and receive multiple and sometimes conflicting answers! And all of them could be correct! Read the forums. All ofus were newbies and the learning curve can be very fun!

 

[NCHSA]

Thank you all. I’m using grapes. Today’s reading is 0.993, yesterday’s was 0.994, so I think that fermentation has just about stopped. It certainly tastes very dry, pretty bitter actually. Started out at 1.092 10 days ago. Think I will leave it for today to check one final reading tomorrow and then press. Finding it hard to find any MLF nutrients so I haven’t got any to add anyway. But we do have warmth and time! So next I move it into a sealed (airlock) vessel for secondary fermentation?

 

[Ohio Bob]

Thank you all. I’m using grapes. Today’s reading is 0.993, yesterday’s was 0.994, so I think that fermentation has just about stopped. It certainly tastes very dry, pretty bitter actually. Started out at 1.092 10 days ago. Think I will leave it for today to check one final reading tomorrow and then press. Finding it hard to find any MLF nutrients so I haven’t got any to add anyway. But we do have warmth and time! So next I move it into a sealed (airlock) vessel for secondary fermentation?

Yes, you can press now and move to another vessel, and add the MLF, with an airlock. The bitterness will fade with time. You are on the right track.

 

[Rice_Guy]

yes press > move to a carboy with airlock (or one big and one small) > in a month rack off gross lees (if MLF bubbling is finished) and then finally add metabisulphite .> age for months

 

[sour_grapes]

Welcome aboard!