The wine was pressed yesterday. There's a fair amount of sludge so I'll rack again today and bring the carboys up into the nice, warm pantry to finish MLF. Great tasting yummy wine already.
Showing posts with label cold soak. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cold soak. Show all posts
Sunday, November 11, 2018
2018 Wines - Chapter 8 - Zinfandel
The 2017 OVZ is looking great with some barrel aging but we're trying some more new techniques with the 2018 batch. Started with 108#, added 14ml 10% KMS at crush, along with 2t tannin, 8g Booster Rouge, 8g Opti Red, 2T pectic, 1.2g Lallzyme EX, and into the fridge for a 3 day cold soak. I pulled it out and let it warm for an entire day before inoculating with RC 212. It was step fed with Fermaid K. The malolactic bacteria was co-inoculated the next day. We used 2.5g VP41 with 10g Acti ML. We got good peak temps, 85F or better, punched the cap twice a day, and the SG was down to 1.006 within a week. But rather than press the wine at that time, we did an additional week of extended maceration. This is supposed to lighten the color slightly but soften the tannins.
The wine was pressed yesterday. There's a fair amount of sludge so I'll rack again today and bring the carboys up into the nice, warm pantry to finish MLF. Great tasting yummy wine already.
The wine was pressed yesterday. There's a fair amount of sludge so I'll rack again today and bring the carboys up into the nice, warm pantry to finish MLF. Great tasting yummy wine already.
Sunday, October 22, 2017
2017 Wines - Chapter 4 - Zinfandel
We pushed vacation back in order to avoid any conflict with fall grape shipments. As it turned out, we'll need every day in order to get the two California wines tucked away.
I drove to St. Louis for these 3 lugs of old vine Zinfandel. It was nice to meet one old friend and one new friend at St. Louis Wine and Beermaking. Jerry, with whom I have corresponded for years but had never met, gave me his leftover KMS. Stephen helped me with the dosing. There we crushed the 3 lugs, dosed the KMS at 50ppm, and I trucked the grapes and the Sauvignon Blanc juice bucket back home.
The numbers were decent - TA 0.58%, pH 3.45, and 22.5 Brix - good enough that no preferment adjustments were needed. I added 4.5t pectic enzyme and 1.2g Lallzyme EX, each divided between the 3 buckets, and stacked them in the fridge for a 2 day cold soak.
After warming, I added 8g Booster Rouge, 8g Opti Red, then pitched RC 212 rehydrated with GoFerm. To get the temp up, like last year, I added a nice comforter.
Over the next 3 days I used Fermaid K, 2t step fed, with 12g bentonite. Tm was 26.0C. It fermented steadily down to 1.004 on day 7. With vacation looming, I pressed.
I have 7-7.5 gallons (not sure if that is 6 or 6.5g carboy), but there is at least 1/2 gallon of gross lees. I expect it to be under 1.000 by tomorrow, at which time I'll rack off the gross lees and get the MLF started with VP41 on oak cubes.
I drove to St. Louis for these 3 lugs of old vine Zinfandel. It was nice to meet one old friend and one new friend at St. Louis Wine and Beermaking. Jerry, with whom I have corresponded for years but had never met, gave me his leftover KMS. Stephen helped me with the dosing. There we crushed the 3 lugs, dosed the KMS at 50ppm, and I trucked the grapes and the Sauvignon Blanc juice bucket back home.
The numbers were decent - TA 0.58%, pH 3.45, and 22.5 Brix - good enough that no preferment adjustments were needed. I added 4.5t pectic enzyme and 1.2g Lallzyme EX, each divided between the 3 buckets, and stacked them in the fridge for a 2 day cold soak.
After warming, I added 8g Booster Rouge, 8g Opti Red, then pitched RC 212 rehydrated with GoFerm. To get the temp up, like last year, I added a nice comforter.
Over the next 3 days I used Fermaid K, 2t step fed, with 12g bentonite. Tm was 26.0C. It fermented steadily down to 1.004 on day 7. With vacation looming, I pressed.
I have 7-7.5 gallons (not sure if that is 6 or 6.5g carboy), but there is at least 1/2 gallon of gross lees. I expect it to be under 1.000 by tomorrow, at which time I'll rack off the gross lees and get the MLF started with VP41 on oak cubes.
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