2018 Lodi Cabernet Sauvignon

[Johnd]

Back home around noon today to find some caps starting to form, still some of that bready, white yeasty sludge on top of the grapes, went ahead and gave all of the fermenters a punchdown. The color change from pitching to first punch was very significant, the EX-V has been doing its thing while I was away. The must was pretty chilly when we pitched, grapes came off of the truck at 34F, and felt to be in the 40’s as we were sorting and the fermenters had condensation on them before I left. I suspect it was 24+ hours before the temps got up into the 70’s, maybe a bit slower start than anticipated, but nothing wrong with a little chilled soaking time.

Won’t mess with them for the next few hours, @Scott Harbison will be over later to participate in the MLB inoculation process, he’ll get the honors of the next punchdown. We’ll be hitting the must with it’s first dose of Fermaid as well.

 

[Johnd]

@Scott Harbison enjoying his first punchdown. We fed the yeast it’s first dose of Fermaid K, then rehydrated the VP-41 with Acti-ML in 250 ml chlorine free water, divided it up and mixed it in. Followed up with dose 1 of Opti’Malo nutrients for the MLB. A good day in the winemaking world.

Edit: As we were wrapping up, decided to pull a little juice and do a quick SG measurement. Refractometer reading Thursday at crush was 24 BRIX, which we figured would rise to 25 BRIX the following day as the grapes gave up their goods. Today, our hydrometer reading was 1.110, very close to 26 BRIX, which tells a couple tales. Fermentation is just getting started, so the cold must slowed things down a bit. The BRIX did increase as expected after the initial reading. Took a refractometer reading after Scott left, 25 BRIX. The refractometer and hydrometer are readin 1 BRIX apart, as was noted in another thread.

 

[CDrew]

Looks like fun! I would have been antsy all weekend and wondering what's happening.

Tech question: What made you use EX-V vs the regular EX? I used both this year, and could not tell a huge difference between them.

With that said, the difference using the enzymes vs no enzymes is HUGE. Much better color and flavor in the wine even at 2 weeks old.

And what was the SG after your weekend away? Curious how far it got on it's own.

 

[Johnd]

Looks like fun! I would have been antsy all weekend and wondering what's happening.

Tech question: What made you use EX-V vs the regular EX? I used both this year, and could not tell a huge difference between them.

With that said, the difference using the enzymes vs no enzymes is HUGE. Much better color and flavor in the wine even at 2 weeks old.

And what was the SG after your weekend away? Curious how far it got on it's own.

EX-V is purported to be better for high body / tannin wines intended to be aged for longer periods of time.

Check my edit on the last post for SG / BRIX readings.

 

[Scott Harbison]

Thanks for another day of education @Johnd I'm enjoying the process and learning along the way!

 

[Donz]

John your Cab looks identical to mine this year. Nice fruit!

 

[Johnd]

John your Cab looks identical to mine this year. Nice fruit!View attachment 51663

Yup, really nice clusters, small berries, it was in great shape, yours looks the same, where’d it come from?

 

[Donz]

Same bud. Lodi grapes in Uva di Collina lugs.

It’s been a week since press and already tastes nice, MLF done.

 

[CK55]

Those are Nice Grapes DONZ, Ive never gotten into Cab Sav based wines idk I just cant find one that I like.

 

[Johnd]

Pretty good winemaking day today, wine is down to 1.040 or so, BM 4x4 slightly ahead of the D254, but not appreciably. The caps have been tremendous, a foot thick and reforming in a few minutes after punchdown. Temps in the 4 large vessels was at 87 F today, 85 F on the smaller, would have liked to get a tad higher spike, but everything looks and smells wonderfully. Hit the vessels with their last dose of nutrients, might coax a little more heat out before sugar starts getting scarce, should be racing up to 1.000 pretty quickly.

@Scott Harbison and I have scheduled our pressing for Friday morning, just hoping we have some decent caps to work with pumping the free run out.

60 gallon Alain Fouquet barrel showed up today, I’m dying to unwrap and check it out, but it’s better served in its packaging for a few more weeks. It’s big, (25 gallon fermenter next to it) but will fit through the door into the wine room, and I’ll make a stand with casters before it goes in and gets loaded.

 

[Boatboy24]

That's a big-ass barrel.

 

[Donz]

Nice barrel John. Curious to know the difference you get from the D254 to the BM4x4 - Nose, taste etc. I stuck with BM only for this years Cab.

 

[stickman]

Yea, John is shifting into high gear with that barrel!

 

[Johnd]

Nice barrel John. Curious to know the difference you get from the D254 to the BM4x4 - Nose, taste etc. I stuck with BM only for this years Cab.

Me too, I'm sure we'll do a little sipping at press time, and then again before it all goes into the barrel. After that, it'll all be lost in the mix, as they get blended to fill up the barrel. Hoping that the two yeasts will add some complexity to the whole blend...........

Yea, John is shifting into high gear with that barrel!

It was a little stretch, both going to 60 gallons, as well as the Alain Fouquet branded barrel. I really wanted to make wine like the "big boys", using big barrels and years of barrel aging. I tasted identical wine out of a number of different barrels in Napa last year, and really was impressed with the taste of the wine in the Alain Fouquet, so I ordered the identical barrel. Hope it works out...................

 

[Johnd]

Fermentation and punchdown have been smooth sailing so far. Scott and I have decided to postpone our pressing activities for a few days, some time issues with tomorrow, still getting great caps, and we’ve got a cool front coming through and highs will be around 70 on Sunday. Looking forward to my first outside press and the easy pressure washer cleanup that goes hand in hand.

 

[Ajmassa]

Fermentation and punchdown have been smooth sailing so far. Scott and I have decided to postpone our pressing activities for a few days, some time issues with tomorrow, still getting great caps, and we’ve got a cool front coming through and highs will be around 70 on Sunday. Looking forward to my first outside press and the easy pressure washer cleanup that goes hand in hand.

Sounds like things are working out great down there. What’s your SG’s looking like? And when do you plan on stopping the punchdowns?

 

[CK55]

Fermentation and punchdown have been smooth sailing so far. Scott and I have decided to postpone our pressing activities for a few days, some time issues with tomorrow, still getting great caps, and we’ve got a cool front coming through and highs will be around 70 on Sunday. Looking forward to my first outside press and the easy pressure washer cleanup that goes hand in hand.

Your wine will be great , although BM 4x4 yeast has consistently given me problems hopefully it works out for you. My last batch even with the right amount of nutrients and doing everything as you should was loaded with Way too much Hydrogen Sulfide.

 

[Johnd]

Sounds like things are working out great down there. What’s your SG’s looking like? And when do you plan on stopping the punchdowns?

Haven’t taken a reading in a few days, caps are less vigorous this morning, so it’s getting close. Probably take a reading when harvesting free run. As long as I get caps, they’ll get punched.

 

[Johnd]

Your wine will be great , although BM 4x4 yeast has consistently given me problems hopefully it works out for you. My last batch even with the right amount of nutrients and doing everything as you should was loaded with Way too much Hydrogen Sulfide.

Historically, the vast majority of my ferments have been with BM 4x4, guess I’m just lucky, but I’ve never had an H2S problem with it. No special handling, just a solid nutrient protocol.

 

[Donz]

Your wine will be great , although BM 4x4 yeast has consistently given me problems hopefully it works out for you. My last batch even with the right amount of nutrients and doing everything as you should was loaded with Way too much Hydrogen Sulfide.

I too have done fermentations for the last 4 years with BM4x4 and zero problems. I actually think it is one of the most reliable strains out there.