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Grapefest 2012 Ferments

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  • Grapefest 2012 Ferments

    Post all your numbers and ferment progress here:

    havent checked the numbers on mine yet....

    cap just starting to rise, so by tonight will be well underway i think
    N.G.W.B.J.
    Member of 5 Towns Wine and Beer Makers Society (Yorkshire's newest)
    Wine, mead and beer maker

  • #2
    Numbers ?

    Merlot in. Heated to 20c. BDX no malo or oak this year. 23 Brix. Ph normal.

    Tempranillo. Cold start 12c. Bm4x4. Will malo later. Will Oak tomorrow with 1.5 Kilo of bonfire. 21 brix Ph normal.
    Gluten free, caffeine free, dairy free, fat free – you gotta love this red wine diet!

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    • #3
      Numbers, no, worry yes!!!

      I have very little activity after pitching the starter almost straight away yesterday afternoon. 2 sachets of gervin 2 and to be honest i would have expected it to be climbing out of the bin by now...

      I realised afterwards that the grapes would have been very cold though so that might get the yeast off to a slow start but after 30 or so hours? It's at 17C now so maybe this still isn't warm enough but I have central heating problems and can't crank the heat up.

      I am worried that the slow activity is the yeast from the skins and the gervins are duds (or I killed them pitching into too cold a must) because I didn't sulphite...

      Should I get some more yeast in or give it a bit more time? I'm in it every few hours giving it a stir trying to give it a helping hand too...

      Looks like I am already learning lessons for next year!

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      • #4
        Just give it a little more time Daniel

        will be going like a train this time tomorrow
        N.G.W.B.J.
        Member of 5 Towns Wine and Beer Makers Society (Yorkshire's newest)
        Wine, mead and beer maker

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        • #5
          Merlot: 24.5 brix, SG 1.100 ish

          Tempranillo: 1.090 ish , 23 brix

          Monte: 22.something brix

          Monte is 20c, so BDX starter pitched. Still warming the others up up after a cold-soak and ice-bombs. Expecting to pitch starters tomorrow first thing.

          I'll be measuring acidity for Monte and Tempranillo for rosé adjustments, so I'll try to remember to post results.
          Pete the Instructor

          It looks like Phil Donahue throwing up into a tuba

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          • #6
            Montipulciano SG 1.086 Brix 20.6 PH3.52 TA 4.8g/l

            Tempranillo SG 1.090 Brix 21.5 PH3.50 TA 5.6g/l

            Merlot SG Brix not tested yet PH3.61 TA 6.8g/l

            The Trebbiano still looks like a bucket of thick snot so I can't test it until tomorrow.

            This year I have been careful to let the samples settle out for half a day before testing so I am reasonably happy with the accuracy of results unlike last year. I will retest tomorrow before pitching yeasts.

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            • #7
              Cap just rising this morning on the Tempranillo and sangiovese...punched them down (in my dressing gown)

              now showered and ready for work

              used 4X4 in the sangio and BDX in the tempranillo

              quite cold here this morning, may rig up a heater
              N.G.W.B.J.
              Member of 5 Towns Wine and Beer Makers Society (Yorkshire's newest)
              Wine, mead and beer maker

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              • #8
                Cap just rising on the Merlot. good splashy punch down. No carpet glue yet
                Gluten free, caffeine free, dairy free, fat free – you gotta love this red wine diet!

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                • #9
                  Tempranillo SG 1.090 ish (just above).....temp in the fermentation chamber now a nice toasty 28 degrees - so yeast (K1V) pitched...............

                  And off we go
                  "There are 10 types of people who understand Binary; those that do and those that don't.........."

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                  • #10
                    Just too say that I won't post my info here, because I don't want to cause any confusion, so I'll just post what I've done to start with here, everything else will be over at my blog.

                    Some people who were present on Saturday, will have spotted me sulphiting my grapes, instead of getting the yeast on them ASAP. Now this was done for a reason i.e. I'm making a "fresh grape pyment", not wine as most others will be doing. If you're not sure what a pyment is, it's a mead made with grape juice. Hence I sulphited and added pectolase on Saturday.

                    Bit of a pain, that I had to wait until this morning do do anything else, because Clare was busy with stuff that needed help......

                    So, this morning, I've added about 500g of honey per box of grapes i.e. the buckets that had 3 boxes have got 1.5kg and the small bucket (1 box) has about 500g. I haven't taken gravity readings, mainly because I wanted to get the honey mixed in as best I could (it's from the batch of "old" honey I got from Insomniac at HBT). I'm aware that taking gravity readings from crushed grape must is hard enough, the honey being "old" is partly crystalised, so I figured that if I don't go over the top with it, the yeast wouldn't have any problems with osmotic shock issues etc (so it's not just me being lazy - I've no way of knowing how well mixed in it is and once the fermentation kicks in, the exothermic nature of the ferment will dissolve the honey properly anyway).

                    For the same reason, I've dry pitched the yeast (K1-V1116) in all 4 buckets, so if there's any lag caused by that it's not an issue, I'll just have to keep an eye on the fermenters. I haven't bothered adding any nutrient at this stage, but what with pressing down the cap as it forms, it'll get a bit of aeration and allow me to pick out any bits of stalk residue from the crusher/de-stemmer that are present.

                    I can use others figures for gravity numbers as I doubt that there'll be much difference.

                    Oh, and for the record, I have 1 bucket with 3 x Merlot, 1 bucket with 3 x Tempranillo, 1 bucket with 2 x Merlot and 1 x Tempranillo and a small bucket with 1 x Tempranillo. All other info regarding these ferments will be over the blog (with a few pic's I took during the mixing)........

                    TVM for a brilliant weekend Bob and all who helped/organised/were present. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
                    Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy.

                    Some blog ramblings

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                    • #11
                      Monte: 1.090, 21.5 Brix, 5.05gl tartaric

                      EDIT:

                      Tempranillo also 5.05gl tartaric
                      Last edited by goldseal; 24-09-2012, 02:30 PM.
                      Pete the Instructor

                      It looks like Phil Donahue throwing up into a tuba

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        The Merlot is very different this year. It is noticeably much darker, a nice inky purple and big numbers. SG 1.098 or 23.4Brix with a healthy dose of acid. It should be good.

                        I've taken about 6 litres from each of the Tempranillo and Montepulciano to make Rose with. The acid in the Monte is a bit low for a Rose at TA4.8g/l so I need to up it.

                        Pete, would you just add tartaric to make it taste sharper or would you aim for a specific number?

                        Rob

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                        • #13
                          Hi Rob,

                          Funnily enough, I have just dne my Monte rosé.

                          For 5 litres wine, I have taken 4l juice which had settled overnight (this reduces the SG to around 1.075 ish) and added 17g citric to bring it up to around 7.5gl (as tartaric). Top up with water, add some D47, and off you go

                          EDIT: I prefer citric in whites and rosés, but before now I have added various combinations of tartaric and citric.
                          Pete the Instructor

                          It looks like Phil Donahue throwing up into a tuba

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by goldseal View Post
                            Monte: 1.090, 21.5 Brix, 5.05gl tartaric

                            EDIT:

                            Tempranillo also 5.05gl tartaric
                            Are you sure your tester is not stuck @ 5.05gl
                            Gluten free, caffeine free, dairy free, fat free – you gotta love this red wine diet!

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by robwrx View Post
                              Pete, would you just add tartaric to make it taste sharper or would you aim for a specific number?
                              Rob this a million-dollar question. I am a taste man - there are many people here who will say numbers. Shall we poke the degassing bear while were at it
                              I have just noticed my name isn't Pete - sorry! I am off to burn the kitchen down I need some more oak chips.
                              Gluten free, caffeine free, dairy free, fat free – you gotta love this red wine diet!

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