California Chardonnay Bucket.

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jgmann67

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I started this bucket in September. Hoping to finish MLF in the next week or two (should know better tomorrow when the test results come in).

I added oak chips in the primary and another 30 Gr of oak during secondary. Medium French.

Hoping I can rack and Kmeta the wine soon.

I may add oak cubes in the finish. Anyone else doing a chard bucket. If so, any suggestions? Tweakery that you might recommend?
 
Hoping to finish MLF in the next week or two (should know better tomorrow when the test results come in).

Keep stirring. It's still drying so I'll post a picture this evening after my 100 mile round trip to Lancaster today. Preliminary results show little or no movement yet, but I'll let you be the judge of that tonight.
 
Chard is the first one after the TML benchmarks (ie. in the middle). Looks about the same (as I remember the Chard didn't have a ton of malic to begin with).

10-30-16_Chromo-scanned.jpg
 
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Very little, unfortunately. I put the brew belt back on and gave it a good stir this morning. If I don't see some movement in a couple weeks, then we'll think about a different MLB.

I think the brew belt is a good course of action. I did notice a bit of a nip in the air when you first opened the wine room door on Saturday.
 
Stirred the Chardonnay this morning and checked temps. It's at about 74*. I have it situated right next to the PS (which has the brew belt attached) and I opened up the basement doors to get more air/heat. The air temps, btw, are around 69* down there.
 
Dosed with kmeta and gave it a good stir. I'll rack this off the oak in a few weeks, then we'll let this clear a while. Is there a downside to using a clarifier to get the wine to clear a little faster?
 
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Dosed with kmeta and gave it a good stir. I'll rack this off the oak in a few weeks, then we'll let this clear a while. Is there a downside to using a clarifier to get the wine to clear a little faster?

So was the MLF completed or are you just stopping it where it is at?
 
I dropped some clarifier in the wine today. The Sauvignon Blanc was clearing much faster than the chard bucket and I got a little antsy. The packet said it would be completely clear in 12 to 48 hours. Given it looks like banana juice when stirred up, my money is on 48 hours or more...
 
I dropped some clarifier in the wine today. The Sauvignon Blanc was clearing much faster than the chard bucket and I got a little antsy. The packet said it would be completely clear in 12 to 48 hours. Given it looks like banana juice when stirred up, my money is on 48 hours or more...

I give mine a minimum of 10 days so that it gets nice and compact on the bottom and makes racking easier. You could put it out in the garage too, I have three carboys out there doing the cold stabilization thing.
 
I give mine a minimum of 10 days so that it gets nice and compact on the bottom and makes racking easier. You could put it out in the garage too, I have three carboys out there doing the cold stabilization thing.

As soon as Mrs. Mann finishes her cabinet painting for the year (when it just gets too dang cold to paint out there anymore), I'll be putting a few wines out there.
 
As soon as Mrs. Mann finishes her cabinet painting for the year (when it just gets too dang cold to paint out there anymore), I'll be putting a few wines out there.

Just be careful, as that can throw your acidity off. Unless of course, that is your goal. ;)
 

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