Color looks great! What low brix? Mid to high 20’s is on the higher side, but should be good for those wines. Should get you between 14%-16% alcohol.
Last edited:
Snafflebit 2024 winemaking thread
- Thread starter Snafflebit
- Start date
Help Support Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum:
If you follow any of my earlier harvests, Brix always comes in higher than I want, either due to heatwaves or due to my brix measurement technique. “Lower Brix grapes” is relative to my sugar bombs in the past.I will think that I have reached 24-25 Brix in the field but after crush I have 28, once even 29 Brix ouch. I am trying to determine an “offset” Brix when to pick, maybe plan harvest at 23.
Also, one of the vineyards I manage has “health issues” that affect ripening and berry size, and this throws off my schedule. I am considering leaving it out of the winemaking going forward.
when i'm checking brix and ph prior to harvest i crush some grapes and then wait 24 hours to test as the ph and the brix both move upwards a bit.
My understanding is that you check the brix of grapes that appear representative of the vine or the row. That strikes me as something difficult to do, and having a larger sample size might provide a better average.
Rotundifolia
Junior
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2021
- Messages
- 25
- Reaction score
- 26
Curious, did you Saignee some off after adding water so the skin to juice stays the same? This is the first year I had to add water. It would be nice to know what you do since you have dealt with this often and the outcome of the finished wine.
I was a house painter for 12 years and I can’t remember ever masking up as thoroughly as that! Good solid tradesmen is my diagnosis, and probably still have all their own teeth.
Here is how I adjust my batches:
First, I measure Brix and TA of the juice in the must.
The second step is to calculate the expected juice volume in the must. This is a bit of a guess but I assume 65% to 70% of the must volume is juice.
The third step is to calculate the amount of water to add to the estimated juice volume to reach 25 Brix using a calculator I have. There are many online and downloadable apps for computers to do this calculation.
The fourth step is decide if I like the original TA of the juice or do I want to change it. If I want the juice to keep the same TA, I will acidulate the backwater to the same TA as the juice. Or I may decide to reduce the acid by just backwatering.
First, I measure Brix and TA of the juice in the must.
The second step is to calculate the expected juice volume in the must. This is a bit of a guess but I assume 65% to 70% of the must volume is juice.
The third step is to calculate the amount of water to add to the estimated juice volume to reach 25 Brix using a calculator I have. There are many online and downloadable apps for computers to do this calculation.
The fourth step is decide if I like the original TA of the juice or do I want to change it. If I want the juice to keep the same TA, I will acidulate the backwater to the same TA as the juice. Or I may decide to reduce the acid by just backwatering.
Got it! I dont have a vineyard, but i’ve read that you want to be very random when your sampling. Or, as you said pick at 23 to shoot for 25. Enjoying your post. I pickup my grapes this weekend. Ill try to post some pics of my process.
I will think that I have reached 24-25 Brix in the field but after crush I have 28, once even 29 Brix ouch. I am trying to determine an “offset” Brix when to pick, maybe plan harvest at 23.
Also, one of the vineyards I manage has “health issues” that affect ripening and berry size, and this throws off my schedule. I am considering leaving it out of the winemaking going forward.
I’ve never spoken to anyone here who has added water to their must, which is strange given most of our fruit comes in very high sugar-wise.
So @Snafflebit after you add the water to your desired Brix level, are you then extracting juice (saignee) to get back close to the original juice/skin ratio, or does that not really matter?
So @Snafflebit after you add the water to your desired Brix level, are you then extracting juice (saignee) to get back close to the original juice/skin ratio, or does that not really matter?
anthocyanin
Member
I also added water to my Tempranillo this year. I only dropped the brix by 0.5 or so (from a bit over 25 to a bit under 25) so I just added acidulated water (with tartaric at about 5g/L). If I were dropping brix by much more I would probably do a saignee first to not dilute the skin to juice ratio.
I do not saignée. Although I have considered doing it, I never have and the resultant wine seems to have enough body and no one has mentioned it lacking flavor or color. I think that many times (but not all) the high Brix comes from dehydration due to a hot spell, rather than because of overripe grapes. So, you could say that I simply added water that needed to be replaced.
@meridaen what type of wines are you making?
Last edited:
anthocyanin
Member
Interesting point I hadn't thought of about the difference between high brix from overripe grapes vs from dry spells, and that makes total sense that you might want to saignée one and not the other.
Yep same, I’e never really thought of it that way, we just accept that our reds are going to be +15%.
I’ve had four red vintages, 3 Shiraz and 1 Tempranillo. They’ve all been Heathcote fruit and bit higher sugar and lower acid, and so they’ve been bigger reds and frankly, not great. I have my own Sangiovese coming online this season and my anglianico will be ready next season, and I don’t want to have these big bruising reds because that style just won’t work with those varieties anyway.
I’m looking for ~14% with a bit of body but not enough to take you outside for a fistfight halfway through. I have bit of Cab Franc or Merlot to help with the colour, so EM will my call, not because I need too.
I’ve been getting advice off a local pro who makes a really nice Sangiovese, but he’s an older Italian guy who seems to rely on the ripeness of the seeds. I’m going to keep following his advice, I just need to know what I can do if the sugar comes in too high, also taking my inexperience in determining harvest time into account.
I’ve had four red vintages, 3 Shiraz and 1 Tempranillo. They’ve all been Heathcote fruit and bit higher sugar and lower acid, and so they’ve been bigger reds and frankly, not great. I have my own Sangiovese coming online this season and my anglianico will be ready next season, and I don’t want to have these big bruising reds because that style just won’t work with those varieties anyway.
I’m looking for ~14% with a bit of body but not enough to take you outside for a fistfight halfway through. I have bit of Cab Franc or Merlot to help with the colour, so EM will my call, not because I need too.
I’ve been getting advice off a local pro who makes a really nice Sangiovese, but he’s an older Italian guy who seems to rely on the ripeness of the seeds. I’m going to keep following his advice, I just need to know what I can do if the sugar comes in too high, also taking my inexperience in determining harvest time into account.
