kartracer088
Junior Member
Some Background: I started wine making in January this year with some WinExpert kits. They went well, then made a strawberry wine from strawberries this summer, again went well. Then I met a fellow down the road from me here in Ohio with a 4 year old vineyard, helped him pick grapes and he gave me 100lbs of Chambourcin grapes. That was a couple of weeks ago. By hand I destemmed and crushed the grapes and put them through primary fermentation. When we picked the grapes, the refractometer reported 22 brix, but after crushing and destemming, it measured more like 19.5 to 20, so I added sugar to bring it back up to 22.
Inoculated the grapes with RC212 yeast, the grapes have gone through primary fermentation. I pressed the fermented must after 6 days, transferring into glass carboys(got 8.5 gallons), SG was down to 0.996. TA measured .75% as best as I could tell. The color is very dark, so when dealing with dark red wines, I have been putting a bright LED light under the glass I am doing the titration, and I think I am seeing the indicator decently. If someone has a better method, I would like to know, but this seems to work for me.
I like tasting the wine through the whole process so I can see how it is changing. I like it so far, although I can taste the yeast and seems a little on the acidic side.
So I am thinking malolactic fermentation might be a good thing, which I have never done before. It's been about 18 days since the primary fermentation was started and the S.G. is 0.990
What strain of Malolatic bacteria should I try? Where do I get it?
I was also reading that SO2 levels can have a lot of effect, so I am considering getting an Aeration-Oxidation Free SO2 Test Kit from morewinemaking.com. I tried Titrets, but it is really hard to read with red wine and I am not sure how accurate it actually is.
Any other recommendations?
Inoculated the grapes with RC212 yeast, the grapes have gone through primary fermentation. I pressed the fermented must after 6 days, transferring into glass carboys(got 8.5 gallons), SG was down to 0.996. TA measured .75% as best as I could tell. The color is very dark, so when dealing with dark red wines, I have been putting a bright LED light under the glass I am doing the titration, and I think I am seeing the indicator decently. If someone has a better method, I would like to know, but this seems to work for me.
I like tasting the wine through the whole process so I can see how it is changing. I like it so far, although I can taste the yeast and seems a little on the acidic side.
So I am thinking malolactic fermentation might be a good thing, which I have never done before. It's been about 18 days since the primary fermentation was started and the S.G. is 0.990
What strain of Malolatic bacteria should I try? Where do I get it?
I was also reading that SO2 levels can have a lot of effect, so I am considering getting an Aeration-Oxidation Free SO2 Test Kit from morewinemaking.com. I tried Titrets, but it is really hard to read with red wine and I am not sure how accurate it actually is.
Any other recommendations?