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Hi all. You may remember from my occasional posts that I have been winemaking 'au naturel' the last few years, but with a disappointing batch this year have decided to start adding stuff. So here’s my plan, and I’d be really grateful if anyone wants to reply with ‘this man’s a genius’ or ‘you’re gonna do WHAT!!’ I have 25 crates of Montepulciano d'abruzzo trundling their way to me from bella Italia, which should net about 130 litres/29 gallons. Weed out leaves and mouldy bits, then crush and ferment on skins and stalks. (how do you de-stalk?) I have 6 sachets of Lalvin EC-1118 that hasn't been refrigerated (they were kept in a drawer in a cool garage, but it did get hot this summer...) which works out at about 1g per gallon, right? Not sure if I need to bother with nutrient ?? Will add 22 campden tablets (=1/2 to 1 tablet per gal) but not sure at what point in proceedings to add them? I use a hydrometer and control temperature by keeping my barrel nice and cosy, but have never tested pH – is that strictly necessary? Sorry to sound like a headless chicken, but this a steep learning curve in a limited time, and I don’t want to c
ck it up!
Richard
ck it up!Richard
The grapes arrived too soon to rig up a de-stemming system, and as I was borrowing a crusher had to do them that evening. All went well, starting SG 1087 (bit lower than last year's 1093). Drew off a demi-john of juice and added a sachet of Lalvin EC-1118 and put it in the airing cupboard. Added 9g of sodium metabisuphite to the main barrel of must. Following morning realized I forgot to rehydrate the yeast with warm water, so did another one. Both got going though so needn't have worried. Then set about raking out the stems by hand and 'squeeging' the skins off through my fingers, a very tedious and inefficient process, especially as they tend to sink below the cap. Got five crates out and they were still green and springy, so hopefully I will have reduced the astringency a bit. Will definitely rig up something like the American fella in his garage on the youtube clip for next year. Some of my montepulciano bunches are really tight so I don't think the other method would work, (the French guy with the inclined wooden contraption with holes in it, in the other clip). My grapes had also been in transit for several days, whereas his were fresh off the vine, so not sure they would ping off the stems quite so readily. 36 hours after crushing I added my yeast starters and remaining 4 sachets of (rehydrated) yeast. I had bought some yeast nutirient but didn't bother adding it in the end, seeing as how the starters had got going so quickly.Wrapped up my barrel in cardboard to insulate it, although the weather is great at the moment and the must is at 18°C. Last night it smelled and sounded very active.
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