anyone making wine using the wild yeast?

[spinelli01]

I had the fortune of picking the left overs on the vine after this vineyard filled it's contracts. I have 20 gallons of syrah grape must and decided to experiment. I have 10 gallons fermenting on VR21 yeast, 5 gallons on VRB yeast and 5 gallons fermenting naked on wild yeast. Of course, the 5 gallons on wild yeast is fermenting a bit slower, but it is bubbling away on day 2. Anyone making wine using the natural wild yeast??? Any advice?

 

[sdelli]

I tried it once with Syrah.... Was only able to get the sg down to 1.0
It is about 10 months old now.... Taste ok.... Just a little sweet. But I am going to use it to blend a little of my Cab

 

[cmason1957]

I was able to for some Vidal juice I got at a friends winery. It got down to 0.994 I believe. Worked just fine. I suppose it depends on the yeast that is wild.

 

[spinelli01]

I was able to for some Vidal juice I got at a friends winery. It got down to 0.994 I believe. Worked just fine. I suppose it depends on the yeast that is wild.

Good to hear! There is not much out there but I heard if you have good pH, acid and sugar numbers, it should work out! So far it seems to be keeping up with the other two fermentations. It is a gorgeous deep purple!! I'm treating it the same as the other buckets with the exception if the additional yeast

 

[Julie]

the problem with wild yeast is, it is dependent on what yeast is in your fermenting room. If you have not been making a lot of wines but have been making bread, there is a good chance that the yeast that is fermenting is bread yeast and this will probably not ferment to dry. Hopefully you have a good yeast going but to be honest this is nothing but a crap shoot. Just because it is fermenting very good now does not mean that it will continue in this manner. Sorry but not knowing what yeast you are using will not help you in making sure you make a good wine.

 

[spinelli01]

the problem with wild yeast is, it is dependent on what yeast is in your fermenting room. If you have not been making a lot of wines but have been making bread, there is a good chance that the yeast that is fermenting is bread yeast and this will probably not ferment to dry. Hopefully you have a good yeast going but to be honest this is nothing but a crap shoot. Just because it is fermenting very good now does not mean that it will continue in this manner. Sorry but not knowing what yeast you are using will not help you in making sure you make a good wine.

Ha! If only I could have a room devoted to fermentation! It is a 6x9 laundry room, so at least they are clean yeast! The fermentation with native yeast seems to be a trend these days, especially in CA (from what little I read). Since I live in WA state, new the vineyard, picked the grapes myself and the numbers were good, it seemed worthwhile to try. I picked up the idea from one of those farm to table dinners, and the owner has been producing pretty tasty wines this way for over 10 years. And you should have seen his cellar and fermentation rooms! Not exactly clean! Interesting experiment! So far, it seems to be my best fermentation in terms of taste and smell. We will see...

 

[Snafflebit]

Rogue Ale Brewery makes a beer with yeast cultured from the brewmaster's beard! I tried it. I think those dank cellars are probably a great innoculant for yeast and ML cultures. Your laundry room may be less great

 

[Deezil]

Chances are that the yeast doing the fermenting, came in with the grapes..

Native ferments are unique in that they generally follow a progression of different yeast colonies that die off as the alcohol level rises and competitive factors amp up.. Not all of these yeasts are even Saccharomyces cerevisiae

But theres also an increased risk of infection early on & volatile acid formation later on

 

[spinelli01]

Rogue Ale Brewery makes a beer with yeast cultured from the brewmaster's beard! I tried it. I think those dank cellars are probably a great innoculant for yeast and ML cultures. Your laundry room may be less great

I completely agree about the laundry room I am going to ask Santa Claus for a Wine Cellar! Or I can get rid of the laundry room all together! Who needs clean clothes!

 

[jswordy]

The best advice when trying wild yeast is do NOT wash the grapes. The yeast naturally occurring on the grapes is the one that will predominate in the must. It is a crap-shoot, as Julie said. If you get great results and are growing your own grapes, be sure to put your spent skins and stems back along the grape rows as a mulch. This further inoculates the vines with the yeast strain you desire, so each year the strain is stronger in the grapes, and it has been done in Europe for hundreds if not thousands of years.

 

[spinelli01]

The best advice when trying wild yeast is do NOT wash the grapes. The yeast naturally occurring on the grapes is the one that will predominate in the must. It is a crap-shoot, as Julie said. If you get great results and are growing your own grapes, be sure to put your spent skins and stems back along the grape rows as a mulch. This further inoculates the vines with the yeast strain you desire, so each year the strain is stronger in the grapes, and it has been done in Europe for hundreds if not thousands of years.

That is pretty cool about further inoculating the vines! I wish I grew them but the vineyard is a really good one! I did not wash them and they were only a day behind the other two buckets! All three are in secondary fermentation! What is interesting is that the wild yeast has a TA of 8 and pH of 3.6. The VR21 and VRB yeast buckets are pH if 3.48 and TA of 7. All three buckets picked from the same row! I'm not sure if I should adjust the pH on the wild yeast or not. MLF will raise the pH right? And I certainly don't want to add tartaric acid. TA is high. It is tasty though! What are your thoughts?