You'll have to hold out a bottle or two from the barrel and we can swap to compare the RP15 and AMH. Or not, you probably need every oz of that to fill your barrel.
Broad Run Cellars 2016 Fall Crush
- Thread starter Boatboy24
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You'll have to hold out a bottle or two from the barrel and we can swap to compare the RP15 and AMH. Or not, you probably need every oz of that to fill your barrel.
Boatboy24
No longer a newbie, but still clueless.
There will be some single varietal bottling, but you'll have to wait.
I'd be very interested to compare, seeing as we got the grapes from the same vineyard.
Boatboy24
No longer a newbie, but still clueless.
Cap forming this morning. Gave it a little stir and let it go. Should begin formal punchdowns this evening and I'll add the first dose of Fermaid O.
BTW, SG 1.114 this morning, pH 3.68, TA 5.9 g/L. Just adding the yeasties now, then scurrying to the bus stop.
Boatboy24
No longer a newbie, but still clueless.
So, we have identical pH.
I did water it down with some acidulated water to 1.110, pH 3.62 and TA 6.1 g/L. The AMH I pitched Monday morning finally showed real signs this afternoon, they weren't kidding about a long lag time. Added some Fermaid O since AMH seems to be a needy yeast.
Boatboy24
No longer a newbie, but still clueless.
Saturday, the Zin was at 1.000 and we pressed. Also ran up to Harford again to grab the Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Sirah. Still waiting on the Syrah grapes. The cab came in at 24.4 Brix, with a pH of 3.49. The PS was at 25.2 Brix and 3.81 pH. I added just a touch of tartaric to the PS. I racked the Zin yesterday and got the yeast pitched on the other two. No solid cap as of this morning, but visible signs of fermentation were there.
Boatboy24
No longer a newbie, but still clueless.
The boys have been helping with morning punch downs the last couple days. Here's Gavin working the Petite Sirah and Brian on the Cab.
Boatboy24
No longer a newbie, but still clueless.
Yep, 3 each - 108lbs. Those are 20gal Brutes. I've had as much as 4 lugs in them at once.
Boatboy24
No longer a newbie, but still clueless.
It is becoming a family affair. This afternoon, Mrs. Boatboy and I had an appointment and my parents were gracious enough to come over and meet the kids at the bus stop. When we got home, the kids had already taken my father down to the basement and taken care of this afternoon's punchdown. Proud Papa here!
Headed up to Harford (again) tomorrow to pick up the last of this fall's grapes - Lanza Syrah. Gonna take a carboy count tonight and if I have enough space, I may grab a bucket of Viognier. Though I have a '3 Country Cab' kit I also need to get started and want to use my Cab skins. Hmmm. Maybe I buy a carboy too??
Headed up to Harford (again) tomorrow to pick up the last of this fall's grapes - Lanza Syrah. Gonna take a carboy count tonight and if I have enough space, I may grab a bucket of Viognier. Though I have a '3 Country Cab' kit I also need to get started and want to use my Cab skins. Hmmm. Maybe I buy a carboy too??
Maybe I buy a carboy too??
Wish they made a four or two gallon carboy. I always seem to end up with 7 gallon batches when using buckets with grapes or just grapes alone. I have 6 gallon, 5 gallon and 3 gallon carboys, a 2 or 4 gallon one would give me 3 to 12 gallons in 1 gallon increments only using two carboys. Guess I could buy a flex tank, but too many $$$ at this point.
I'm tempted to go down and pick up a Cab Franc bucket, but I don't have my local Cab Franc grapes (vineyard owner thinks next week. I think our recent rains probably gave him a brix setback). So I'm thinking I might use some of my Cab Franc skins with a Malbec kit I have here (Int'l w/skins) since many who have made it here seem ho-hum about the results of the kit. I can try and kick it up a notch with the additional skins and compare it to what @jgmann67 and his brother made earlier this summer (have a sampler bottle right here).
BlueStimulator
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Great thread gentemen. I have been learning so much from reading your posts. Sat or Sun I press my Cab S and Cab Franc. Do you guys are petic enzyme when getting fresh grapes?
I use Lallzyme EX on red/black grape varieties, it really does a good job softening them up and getting good color out of the skins. Then I add Opti-Red or some sort of sacrificial tannin like FT Rouge to hopefully help bind the color and make it more stable over time in the wine. But then I'm new to this, learned that from @Boatboy24 and @ibglowin as well as others.
So I do Kmeta, if I do it at all, 12 hrs add Lallzyme EX, 12 hours add yeasties and tannins/opti-red, then watch the magic happen.
Boatboy24
No longer a newbie, but still clueless.
Much to my shock and surprise, I have 1 carboy to spare. Will have to see if there's anything to tempt me when I get up there.
@BlueStimulator: I don't use peptic, but as Craig mentioned, Lallzyme EX, followed by OptiRed.
@BlueStimulator: I don't use peptic, but as Craig mentioned, Lallzyme EX, followed by OptiRed.
Boatboy24
No longer a newbie, but still clueless.
Came back with my Syrah grapes (crushed and destemed). Brix at 27.2!!! 
I'm not sweating it just yet. Added sulfite and Lallzyme and will remeasure tomorrow. They've been cold soaking since Wed afternoon and the must already has great color. Also picked up the last Viognier bucket they had. Dropped the hydrometer in there and it measured 1.100. Yikes. Its probably sitting at about 50 degrees right now - again, I'll remeasure tomorrow. But I did double check w/ the refractometer and it came in at 23.8 - spot on with the 1.100 SG reading. So I may water it back just a touch.
@heatherd: I asked about the Traminette and he said they had juice available if I had a bucket. Sadly, I didn't. But we went around to the crush pad where two guys were crushing/destemming and using two buckets at the time. He told me he had another bucket in the cooler for another customer but would give that one to me and fill one of the others currently in use for the other customer who was coming in this weekend. He ran back inside to calculate the price for me. I was getting very excited. Unfortunately, he came back out, only to tell me that he was mistaken - it was ten gallons of Traminette and a 6 gallon bucket of Muscat Canelli. I said "Is that order for Heather?". Sure enough, it was yours. So, without an extra bucket, I ended up not coming home with some Traminette juice. But at least I have some Viognier.
Checked the SG on the Petite Sirah and Cab that started last weekend. PS is down to 1.002 and the Cab still hanging in at 1.022. Gotta figure out when I'm going to press - I was hoping to do both at the same time, but they're a little far apart.
I'm not sweating it just yet. Added sulfite and Lallzyme and will remeasure tomorrow. They've been cold soaking since Wed afternoon and the must already has great color. Also picked up the last Viognier bucket they had. Dropped the hydrometer in there and it measured 1.100. Yikes. Its probably sitting at about 50 degrees right now - again, I'll remeasure tomorrow. But I did double check w/ the refractometer and it came in at 23.8 - spot on with the 1.100 SG reading. So I may water it back just a touch. @heatherd: I asked about the Traminette and he said they had juice available if I had a bucket. Sadly, I didn't. But we went around to the crush pad where two guys were crushing/destemming and using two buckets at the time. He told me he had another bucket in the cooler for another customer but would give that one to me and fill one of the others currently in use for the other customer who was coming in this weekend. He ran back inside to calculate the price for me. I was getting very excited. Unfortunately, he came back out, only to tell me that he was mistaken - it was ten gallons of Traminette and a 6 gallon bucket of Muscat Canelli. I said "Is that order for Heather?". Sure enough, it was yours. So, without an extra bucket, I ended up not coming home with some Traminette juice.
But at least I have some Viognier.Checked the SG on the Petite Sirah and Cab that started last weekend. PS is down to 1.002 and the Cab still hanging in at 1.022. Gotta figure out when I'm going to press - I was hoping to do both at the same time, but they're a little far apart.
Jim, did you ask how much for the juice bucket of Muscat Canelli?
I am thinking of picking one up tomorrow, here it goes for $63....yikes...
Very good juice though, I bought 1 in 2014 and very good quality.
I am thinking of picking one up tomorrow, here it goes for $63....yikes...
Very good juice though, I bought 1 in 2014 and very good quality.
Boatboy24
No longer a newbie, but still clueless.
My bad, Varis. Just looked on their website and it looks like they had grapes only. Maybe @heatherd can provide more insight.
Geek,
They are $72 for six gallons.
Their distributor mistakenly stated that they could provide Muscat Canelli juice, and then Harford put it up on their website for sale. I bought a bucket, so Harford ended up having to buy a 57 gallon barrel to fill my order. End result is that they will have extra buckets if you want them. Also, they will not sell this juice in the future, so it is a one-time deal.
Came back with my Syrah grapes (crushed and destemed). Brix at 27.2!!!
I just ate dinner and had some modified Zatarains Jumbalaya, so I'm sweating it a bit (just enough extra essence on the shrimps). Those were Lanza Syrah grapes, right? Seems like lot's o' the Lanza grapes were higher this year. All I can say is that my watered back Zin is smelling and tasting pretty fine right now, good spice, nice alcohol for sure, a wiff of oak from what I threw in for sacrificial tannins, all in all, yum. I did get a full 8 gallons from my batch after a second racking off the gross lees. I had a ton of them and that might have been from the bucket press, might be a little rough on the skins. Time to add some CH16 since the SG was 0.994 this morning (finally).
