Frozon Must 2500 lbs

I belong to a wine club of about 100 members. This is the 4th batch and 2nd this year of Frozen Must (FM) we have made. Last year we made 2 - 60 gallon
batches 1 Pinot Noir 1 Sangeovese. They came out great This year we already did a 2634 lbs FM Must of Sang and after pressing its 211 gallon that we will do a 1st racking on 04-23-16 the PH 3.6 brix 25

1 week ago we received 2510 lbs of Zinfandel. We are looking at pitching the yeast tomorrow it was almost thawed out yesterday.

The PH is 3.8 the Brix right about 25
I can't say these number for sure until the whole tote is thawed
if the PH is 3.8 I feel we should get it to 3.4 range for fermenting


Has anyone out there made this much from frozen must ?

Welcome to the forum!

Wow! That is impressive even for a club of 100 members.

I'ts less than a case each. We made over 800 gallons 2 years ago
Pino, Sang, Zin, Cab, Monti,Merlot, Chardonnay,Gerwurts, Riesling

Pitched the yeast
320 grams BM45 with 400 grams Go-ferm
the brix were 28 had to add 18 gallons, yes gallons of water
got it down to 26 brix, PH 3.57 TA 6.5 Temp 52 degree

Wow that's a lot of frozen must, where did you get the quantity from brehms? I know they sell the drums but did you do multiple drums?

It is from a local guy here in Cleveland. He brings in fresh grapes in the Fall. The ones he doesn't move he de-stems and freezes
We are trying to get him to make a smaller batchs but that's ok we have 3 - 800 liter 2 - 500 liter and 2 - 200 liter stainless steel tanks to ferment and age and rack before putting in barrels.

Really cool. I am not surprised that it took over a week to thaw out.

Got any pictures??

Where in Cleveland are you located? That is where I am from originally....

He should start his own brehms in the midwest. He must be renting commercial freezer for that quantity or have a lot of chest freezers.

We are in Solon Oh. They guy has a commercial freezer big as a semi trailer
Go here and you can see it all
https://www.facebook.com/northcoastwineclub/

How crazy! I moved 7 years ago to Mi... Came from Solon!

But back to your thread.... I made Zin during fall of 2014 from fresh grapes. We get ours trucked in from California on pallets. I do not have my notes with me but do remember I also had to get the brix down some on it as well. I used BM4X4 which is real close to what you are using. Out of the 4 different grapes in ferment this one was the most aggressive! Keep the temp as close to 80 degrees you can to get good color out of them... Mine turned out spectacular! I did a small blend of about 5% Cab and 5% Merlot. Just bottled a few weeks ago.... Great tasting wine!!

SG 1.085 71 degree PH 3.53 TA 6.5 Looking good
Sorry for the sideways pics this is how it looked frozen
last pic pitching the yeast

Fermentation question
As of yesterday the SG of the ZIn was 1.085. WE want to get to the 0.996 range.
We also want to press on Sat April 30. If we are not at 0.996 will it be ok to continue fermentation in the stainless steel vat?(800 /l) WE may also start MLF then too! I would leave a few inch head space with a bubblier. I feel it will be ok to finish fermentation in the tank
any Thoughts?

sdelli said:

How crazy! I moved 7 years ago to Mi... Came from Solon!

Click to expand...

I lived on Branard and am a '75 Grad from Solon

NCWC said:

Fermentation question
As of yesterday the SG of the ZIn was 1.085. WE want to get to the 0.996 range.
We also want to press on Sat April 30. If we are not at 0.996 will it be ok to continue fermentation in the stainless steel vat?(800 /l) WE may also start MLF then too! I would leave a few inch head space with a bubblier. I feel it will be ok to finish fermentation in the tank
any Thoughts?

Click to expand...

I usually press around 1.000. Let it sit 24-48 hours, then rack and pitch MLB, letting alcoholic and malolactic fermentation finish out together.

NCWC said:

Fermentation question

As of yesterday the SG of the ZIn was 1.085. WE want to get to the 0.996 range.

We also want to press on Sat April 30. If we are not at 0.996 will it be ok to continue fermentation in the stainless steel vat?(800 /l) WE may also start MLF then too! I would leave a few inch head space with a bubblier. I feel it will be ok to finish fermentation in the tank

any Thoughts?

Click to expand...

If you can get the temp up around 80 I see no problem this not being done in a week. Mine rarely takes a week to finish with proper temp and nutrients. But if worse happens... Ya, just finish in the vats but keep warm.

Hey Chi town. I'm in the NW burbs looking to sync up on must and fruit purchases. Drop me a note.

We decided to pull about 15 gallons at 1.03 and make a port
we wont be able to fit it all in a 800 liter vat anyway
Fermaid K tomorrow SG 1/2 way by tomorrow

Pressed the Zin (Zinfandel) and Racked the Sang (Sangiovese)
https://www.facebook.com/northcoastwineclub/?ref=bookmarks

Ended up with 190 gallon of zin plus we pulled 20 gallons (SG 1.035) Thur to make port
so total 210 gallons from the frozen must of 2510 lbs