Chileans, Finally!

Johnd · Jun 16, 2016

After a short delay due to a freezer issue, M&M shipped my frozen grape must this past Monday, they arrived today looking good. I was a little worried at the lengthy delivery time and temps in the country, but the frozen must arrived at just under 60 degrees.

Two buckets of Cabernet Sauvignon must, 23 Brix, Ph 3.48, two buckets of Malbec, 22 Brix, Ph 3.20. Each is sitting in a 20 gal fermenter warming up, I'll run TA's on them when I get home and decide if I'm going to make any adjustments, and pitch some yeast.

I know I'm far behind all of you fresh grape getters, but you gotta take it how you can get it.

If you don't take pictures it never happened, so...........

JohnT · Jun 16, 2016

They look real nice john. Numbers look pretty goo too! Nice high brix, with nice and low PH.

Johnd · Jun 16, 2016

JohnT said:
They look real nice john. Numbers look pretty goo too! Nice high brix, with nice and low PH.

Thanks John, I was thinking the same thing too, to the point where I was just going to pitch yeast when I got up above 65 degrees, but I corrected my lazy thought.

I'm sort of expecting the Malbec to be up into the .7 range, the Cab might come in a little low. I'd like to have both in the .6-.7 range before I pitch, so I'll just have to deal with it when I get home.

BTW, just got a refractometer to measure prefermentation Brix, taking SG in must with a hydrometer was a bit**. Wow, was that easy..........

ibglowin · Jun 16, 2016

Those are some pretty low pre fermentation numbers.

Johnd · Jun 16, 2016

ibglowin said:
Those are some pretty low pre fermentation numbers.

Mike, I assume you're referring to the 22 and 23 Brix numbers, which I'd agree with, especially on the cab. A little sweetening of the must will probably be a part of the regimen once I have the TA numbers this evenings. I'd like to have the cab around 25, the Malbec probably a little bit lower.

ibglowin · Jun 16, 2016

That 3.2 pH on the Malbec. Remember your yeast have a pH tolerance limit and usually its around 3.2. That pH will put a stress on the yeast.

Johnd · Jun 16, 2016

ibglowin said:
That 3.2 pH on the Malbec. Remember your yeast have a pH tolerance limit and usually its around 3.2. That pH will put a stress on the yeast.

3.0 is the low end, and you're suggesting a bump up there, as stress increases when you're getting down to that threshold. Sounds like good advice, which I'll act upon, thank you Mike. I'll have to bump it eventually anyway for MLF.

ceeaton · Jun 16, 2016

John, curious what yeasts you are using, especially on the Malbec. Just got a Malbec kit and was considering what yeast I might substitute. I'll probably be boring and use RC 212, which I seem to be using on everything "red" lately, but I do admit I like the results, even if I get a bit of cooked egg smell from time to time (had to add a small dose of nutrient today to my current batch using RC 212, could smell it (not super strong) when I walked through the door today as I arrived home from work).

Johnd · Jun 16, 2016

@ceeaton, funny you should ask, I just sat down after pitching yeast and jumped on the forum. Cab was easy, BM 4x4 was the plan there all along and was done first. Stared at the Malbec with mu bag of yeasts, BM 4x4, 1118, 212, D47, just couldn't make a decision, final two were 212 and 4x4, BM 4x4 won out in the end.

TA's low on both musts, but I left them for now at cab - 4.8, and Malbec 5.0. Yes, fresh titrant, calibrated ph meter, and di water, ran em each twice. Boosted cab Brix to 24.5, and Malbec to 23.5. Bumped ph on Malbec up a smidge to 3.32, thanks @ibglowin for the call there. Now we wait, Fermaid K probably Sunday.

I haven't made any new wines since I started the wine room, glad to get back in the saddle.

ibglowin · Jun 16, 2016

I have seen numbers from several people that got Chilean grapes this Spring. Methinks they picked too early.

Boatboy24 · Jun 16, 2016

ibglowin said:
I have seen numbers from several people that got Chilean grapes this Spring. Methinks they picked too early.

My initial numbers were pretty good. But the wines are tasting like dog barf right now.

Could certainly be 'user error' though. They were pretty good in primary.

Tnuscan · Jun 16, 2016

Johnd said:
@ceeaton, funny you should ask, I just sat down after pitching yeast and jumped on the forum. Cab was easy, BM 4x4 was the plan there all along and was done first. Stared at the Malbec with mu bag of yeasts, BM 4x4, 1118, 212, D47, just couldn't make a decision, final two were 212 and 4x4, BM 4x4 won out in the end.

TA's low on both musts, but I left them for now at cab - 4.8, and Malbec 5.0. Yes, fresh titrant, calibrated ph meter, and di water, ran em each twice. Boosted cab Brix to 24.5, and Malbec to 23.5. Bumped ph on Malbec up a smidge to 3.32, thanks @ibglowin for the call there. Now we wait, Fermaid K probably Sunday.

I haven't made any new wines since I started the wine room, glad to get back in the saddle.

Johnd, when you say your TA is 5.0, are you meaning .50% or are you going to have to come down 5.40 to get to .60% or will you be going from 5.0 up to 6.0 to get .60%?

Johnd · Jun 17, 2016

Tnuscan said:
Johnd, when you say your TA is 5.0, are you meaning .50% or are you going to have to come down 5.40 to get to .60% or will you be going from 5.0 up to 6.0 to get .60%?

The second option. TA can be expressed both ways, .5%, or 5 g/l, so I'll move up later to between .5% and .6%, or between 5 and 6 g/l, same thing.

I find it easier to express in grams per liter, as making adjustments is more sensible to my brain. To go from 5 g/l to 6 g/l, you do your calcs to increase 1 gram per liter. In practice however, I'd only add half of my calc, adjust and measure. Sneak up on your goal.

Johnd · Jun 17, 2016

ibglowin said:
I have seen numbers from several people that got Chilean grapes this Spring. Methinks they picked too early.

I'm thinking the same, when I popped the buckets, I got that green, vegetal smell, and the numbers are a little off from what properly timed picking should yield, but it's rarely perfect. I'm sure we're not getting the best of the best from Chile.
Seems to me the cab at 23 Brix could've gone longer, though the TA is already low. The Malbec would've benefitted I think too, at ph 3.2 and 22 Brix.

Johnd · Jun 18, 2016

Both are chugging along vey healthily on the back of 10g BM 4x4 in each fermenter. Big nasty caps this morning, punched down every few hours today and gave each a 5 g dose of Fermaid K.

They must have crushed the crap out of these grapes, there's not one whole berry I've seen in either fermenter. Makes me wonder........

ibglowin · Jun 18, 2016

Some C/D's can pulverize the crap out of grapes leaving no intact grapes and almost a pulverized mess of skins and seeds.

ceeaton · Jun 18, 2016

Plus the fact that they were frozen will break them down even further, sort of like freezing strawberries/blueberries/raspberries etc before making a fruit wine.

Looking at it, your cap looks pretty nice to me. I wish I had smellavision and could smell how wonderful it probably smells.

Johnd · Jun 18, 2016

Just looks like they were way over crushed. The Brehm zin I did had been frozen since 2014, and had plenty of whole berries, popped, but still whole. It looks almost like it was pressed and the pomace dumped back in.

Silver lining, at 84 right now and climbing, so I'll get some god extraction. Think when it's time, I'm going to put the mesh bag in the press basket before I try to press that sludge.

dspirito · Jun 20, 2016

Chilean juice (Toro Negro)

I purchased 2 pails of the Chilean Juice at a discount place so it was about half the price of the Mosti Mondale. (1 Cab / 1 Malbec) I will post my specs when I get home from work. I don't test TA, although I really should

but I do check pH. I believe the brix was 22/23. I still have it upstairs in the low 70 degrees temp, which worries me.. I wanted to start MLF but never bought the MLF culture. I'm probably going to move it to the cellar and add some SO2 this week. I racked it once after fermentation in April. Due for another rack I'm sure.

Johnd · Jun 23, 2016

Cab was down to 1.002 this evening, pressed and racked and was pleasantly surprised at the smell, taste, and yield. I have a little over 8 gallons of wine from two 5 gallon buckets of must. Froze the pomace cake for an upcoming wine kit project.

BTW, used my new press for the first time and loved it! One press, dry cake, great yield and easy cleanup. Malbec will be ready tomorrow for sure.

Chileans, Finally!

Help Support Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum:

Senior Member

Moderator

Senior Member

Moderator

Senior Member

Moderator

Senior Member

slowly going nuts

Senior Member

Moderator

No longer a newbie, but still clueless.

Tnuscan=Tennesseean

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Moderator

slowly going nuts

Senior Member

Junior

Senior Member

Similar threads

Join the conversation!

Join today and get all the highlights of this community direct to your inbox. It's FREE!