Beginner's Questions

[wine maker1]

I am in the process of making red wine from a mixture of Sangiovese grapes and Alicante grapes (80/20 split). The primary fermentation stage lasted about 7 days. When we reached a SG of 1.0 we immediately pressed the grapes and went to Secondary fermentation. It is in the secondary fermentation stage now for about 2 months. We have racked it twice so far. The specific Gravity is at 0.996. I have a few questions.


1. Is it acceptable to mix the grapes in the primary fermentation stage or should have I made two seperate wines then mixed them prior to bottleing?


2. The color is a light red. Should I have left it in the primary fermentor with the grape skins longer to get a dark red color?


3. Should I be checking the Acid level at the secondary stage and make adjustments?


4. Should I be checking the sugar level at the secondary stage and making adjustments?


Thanks
Wine Maker

 

[Wade E]

Welcome to this forum winemaker. As someone who has never used grapes
as of yet I can only answer some of your questions and will leave a
couple to someone who knows better than I with grapes. I'm sure it is
acceptable to mix grapes, thats personel preference in my opinion. As
far as leaving in the primary longer, I believe that if you used the
correct amont of pectic enzyme that you have exhausted all you could
get out of the skins. Acid levels I'll leave for someone better to
answer but in my opinion can be adjusted at just about any time. As far
as sugar, if you adjust this at any time otherb than in the beginning
you'll be upping your alc and not gainig any residual sugar until the
yeast is overwhelmed and get a very high alchohol wine.

 

[Angell Wine]

1. 
   <LI>Yes</LI>
   <LI>Depending on what yeast you use sometimes depends on the color of the wine</LI>
   <LI>Wait until fermentation is done. (what was the starting Ph)</LI>
   <LI>Wait until fermentation is done and sweeten to your likeness</LI>

 

[Joseph1]

It is acceptable to mix the grapes in the primary or to have made two separate wines. By mixing the grapes in the primary you have an 80/20 blend. The advantage of making two separate wines is that you can adjust the blend before bottling. This way you could have bottled a 90/10 or 70/30 blend based on your taste testing trials.<?amespace prefix = o ns = "urnchemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" />

Depending on the depth of color of the grapes, additional time in the primary may have extracted more color. The time in the primary can be extended by lowering the temperature. See if you can get a hold of the December 2006 – January 2007 issue of Winemaker Magazine, there is a good article by Garrett Heaney titled Maceration 101.

The major acid adjustment should be made prior to pitching the yeast. After that, acid should be tested and small adjustments made at each racking until the wine is bottled.

The sugar level should have been adjusted for your desired level of alcohol prior to pitching the yeast. If you are making an off-dry wine with residual sugar, you would measure residual sugar and make adjustments prior to bottling. If you are making a dry table wine, additional adjustments are not necessary.

 

[wine maker1]

Thanks for all the replies. One more question. As we rack, we taste the wine. I can recognize the alcohol, but not much else. I calculated a 14% by volume during the primary stage. When does the wine start to taste like wine.

 

[Waldo]

Thats a tough one wine maker..There are so many, "It Depends" that come into play here. Such as the type of wine being made, fruits being used,etc, etc..but the best answer I could give is that it comes with time and ageing and again, depending on what you are making determines how quickly that comes. Some fairly early and some it may take a year or more to meet your expectations. Hope this helped and didn't confuse you.