Got the grapes today. The plan was Monday, but plans go awry.
Things went smoothly when I crushed the reds. 20 minutes and I was done. Moved the inside, added some potassium metabisulfate and pectic enzyme. I'll let them sit till Friday, then add the yeast, and all should go well. I'll get to the testing in a minute
The Chard...that wine and I are going to butt heads, I know it. Started pressing at 6:30, 2 cases into the press (doing a whole cluster press to see how it turns out), then adding one case at a time as they juice runs out. I ended up being able to press 6 cases into the space of one 6 gallon primary. Got 16-17 gallons of juice, so I'm happy.
But, it took me 3 hours to get that juice. When I went to test it, well it didn't go as planned. I used the test kit with the blue liquid and test tube. I couldn't add enough blue stuff for the juice to change color. Lovely. Tried the litmus strips....chartreuse isn't on the chart.
I tested the red and they seem a little low on acid. I'm going to test everything tomorrow with a clear head.
till then...
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
T-21 hours an counting
It's 8 pm on Sunday night as I write this. I will be picking up my grapes at 4:30 Monday afternoon. This is a big year; trying several different things.
1: A white wine from grapes. Yup, doing a Chardonnay.
2: Using my own press for some of the grapes. Will press the Chardonnay on Tuesday, not sure when the reds get pressed.
3: Whole cluster press: Going to toss the Chard. grapes right in the press when I get home on Tuesday and squeeze the juice out. No crush, no nothing...just pressing.
There are a few other things I'm going to do in order to get a good product. For the Sangiovese and Zin, I'm going to sulfite them right after crushing and chilling them with ice bags for 2 days. Then I'll let them warm up and begin the fermentation. They're going to do their full primary fermentation on the skins. This should be interesting, as we usually press about 1/2 way thought.
Trying a malolactic on the reds too. I'll probably begin it next weekend; let the yeast take hold before I add the bacteria. Of course, if the acid levels suggest otherwise, I'm open to change.
Still haven't decided if I'm going to add wood chips to the Chard. during fermentation. I'm reading things both ways.
Gotta go make a shopping list of stuff I need for tomorrow. I'll post day 1 results tomorrow night.
Take care.
Sean
PS: Since people have been asking, I'm not making Merlot because I'm not a fan of it at all.
1: A white wine from grapes. Yup, doing a Chardonnay.
2: Using my own press for some of the grapes. Will press the Chardonnay on Tuesday, not sure when the reds get pressed.
3: Whole cluster press: Going to toss the Chard. grapes right in the press when I get home on Tuesday and squeeze the juice out. No crush, no nothing...just pressing.
There are a few other things I'm going to do in order to get a good product. For the Sangiovese and Zin, I'm going to sulfite them right after crushing and chilling them with ice bags for 2 days. Then I'll let them warm up and begin the fermentation. They're going to do their full primary fermentation on the skins. This should be interesting, as we usually press about 1/2 way thought.
Trying a malolactic on the reds too. I'll probably begin it next weekend; let the yeast take hold before I add the bacteria. Of course, if the acid levels suggest otherwise, I'm open to change.
Still haven't decided if I'm going to add wood chips to the Chard. during fermentation. I'm reading things both ways.
Gotta go make a shopping list of stuff I need for tomorrow. I'll post day 1 results tomorrow night.
Take care.
Sean
PS: Since people have been asking, I'm not making Merlot because I'm not a fan of it at all.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Battle Plan
Good evening,
Getting my grape list together, and that also means getting my recipes and techniques together.
The wines I'm planning on make this year (and this is subject to change) are:
Chardonnay, Muscat, Sangiovese, Syrah and Zinfandel.
So what's my plan?
I'm still working on the details.
I want to make some cool things happen with my Chardonnay, and that means malolactic fermentation and careful selection of the yeast.
I want lots of grape flavors in my wines this year...and I want the phrase 'jammy' to apply. "Chewy" would be nice too.
I want to enter one or more of these in some contests next year and win.
So how will I go about all this? I've got basic recipes for each of these. I'm learning that winemaking is a lot like cooking: the quality and type of your ingredients matter. Fresh herbs taste better than dried herbs, tomatoes from your garden taste better than the ones from the store, and, does it matter that other companies make ketchup? With wine you can take your grapes (whose quality I don't have much control over, sadly) and control flavors with temp, yeast strain, when you chill the wine, when you rack the wine and even see huge differences from minor variations of pH!
Gotta go do my homework.
Sean
Getting my grape list together, and that also means getting my recipes and techniques together.
The wines I'm planning on make this year (and this is subject to change) are:
Chardonnay, Muscat, Sangiovese, Syrah and Zinfandel.
So what's my plan?
I'm still working on the details.
I want to make some cool things happen with my Chardonnay, and that means malolactic fermentation and careful selection of the yeast.
I want lots of grape flavors in my wines this year...and I want the phrase 'jammy' to apply. "Chewy" would be nice too.
I want to enter one or more of these in some contests next year and win.
So how will I go about all this? I've got basic recipes for each of these. I'm learning that winemaking is a lot like cooking: the quality and type of your ingredients matter. Fresh herbs taste better than dried herbs, tomatoes from your garden taste better than the ones from the store, and, does it matter that other companies make ketchup? With wine you can take your grapes (whose quality I don't have much control over, sadly) and control flavors with temp, yeast strain, when you chill the wine, when you rack the wine and even see huge differences from minor variations of pH!
Gotta go do my homework.
Sean
Monday, September 1, 2008
Tuesday Roundup
No coherent theme...just some updates.
The blueberry wine was at 1.125 brix this evening. Probably be straining it in the next 48 hours. I HAD to taste it...and it's going to be good.
Bought the wine press; it's really cool, if you're into that sort of thing. If you're not, it's a lot of metal and wood.
Had an acid problem with last year's Ruby Cab. Tested the wine (something I should have done with the 'must' or freshly pressed juice/wine) and the acid was a bit high. I adjusted 2 gallons, both fizzed up the second the calcium carbonate hit the wine. Vast improvement on the gallon that for 1 tsp, mild improvement on the gallon that got 1/2 tsp. I'll give both a few days and taste again.
Starting to get prices for grapes. It sucks...prices are up big time from last year. I'd love to see $30 a case...add that to the list of things I'd love, but ain't likely to happen.
Mike Rowe is shaving Bison. That has nothing to do with wine, but I'm in a stream of consciousness kinda' mood.
Happy Labor Day.
Sean
The blueberry wine was at 1.125 brix this evening. Probably be straining it in the next 48 hours. I HAD to taste it...and it's going to be good.
Bought the wine press; it's really cool, if you're into that sort of thing. If you're not, it's a lot of metal and wood.
Had an acid problem with last year's Ruby Cab. Tested the wine (something I should have done with the 'must' or freshly pressed juice/wine) and the acid was a bit high. I adjusted 2 gallons, both fizzed up the second the calcium carbonate hit the wine. Vast improvement on the gallon that for 1 tsp, mild improvement on the gallon that got 1/2 tsp. I'll give both a few days and taste again.
Starting to get prices for grapes. It sucks...prices are up big time from last year. I'd love to see $30 a case...add that to the list of things I'd love, but ain't likely to happen.
Mike Rowe is shaving Bison. That has nothing to do with wine, but I'm in a stream of consciousness kinda' mood.
Happy Labor Day.
Sean
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