Crushed it yesterday!

[JohnT]

This is a fun thread, please keep us updated on everything!

What a fun couple of days. I sure wish I was closer to an operation like that here. There is so much to learn when you can put hands on somewhere.

Also, I had no idea you had that kind of setup!

The operation meets the needs of my family. Each family member contributes. The operation would never work otherwise.

An operation like this could be only a few footsteps away. Just do it!!!

 

[Jericurl]

An operation like this could be only a few footsteps away. Just do it!!!

We only have a few wine drinkers in our family.
It would be worth it to research and find out how many vines I would need for about 6-10 gallons per year.
I can see that being a lot of fun and a neat family event.

 

[JohnT]

We only have a few wine drinkers in our family.
It would be worth it to research and find out how many vines I would need for about 6-10 gallons per year.
I can see that being a lot of fun and a neat family event.

I am not a grape grower, so others may have more experienced advice, but in theory.....

There are a lot of variables (type of grape, growing environment, age of the vine, health of the vine, etc) but a good "rule of thumb" is that a vine should produce at least 7 pounds of grapes per vine.

So, for 6 to 10 gallons of wine, you will need 81 to 135 pounds of grapes.

so, for 5 to 10 gallons of wine, you will need to plant between 12 to 20 vines.

 

[scram]

I live in jersey... Never been to Gino's but know people who are pleased with them and deal with them at least annually... One of these days I'll spread my wings and leave the kit nest

 

[JohnT]

Update

Fermentation took hold! Last night, I had the tell-tale raft (or cap) with that wonderful sound of snap, crackle, and pop! The must is now at 71 degrees.

I had bought double the yeast I needed. I usually do this to make sure I have the yeast on hand in case the first pitch does not take hold. Glad to see the first inoculation of yeast did take hold so no need to pitch more yeast!

My MLB arrives today, ready to pitch once alcoholic fermentation nears its end.


Here is the latest pic

 

[scram]

That looks awesome... I have to get learned up on this

 

[JohnT]

My little yeasties are really gripping it and ripping it.

Last night, at punch down, the temp was up to 71 degrees and brix at 20.5.

This morning, the temp has spiked to 81 degrees. I lowered the heat in the winery since now the must will sustain a good fermentation temperature.

Here is this morning's pic. I took this while I was punching down. Check out the fizzy froth!

 

[Jericurl]

This is looking good!

 

[dcbrown73]

Wow, that is very cool.

 

[JohnT]

Wow, that is very cool.

Thanks David. What is even cooler is that if you put your hand about an inch above the grapes, you can actually feel the heat rising off of the cap.

I never get tires of this!

 

[dcbrown73]

Thanks David. What is even cooler is that if you put your hand about an inch above the grapes, you can actually feel the heat rising off of the cap.

I never get tires of this!

Angry yeasties.

 

[BlueStimulator]

What a great thread keep it going

 

[JohnT]

At last night's punch down (I do one in the morning and one in the afternoon) the temp was up to 91.5 degrees. Brix was down to 10%.

This morning, the temp was still at 91 degrees and fermentation is still very active.

I will check the brix again at tonight's punch down. I plan to also take a PH reading to be sure that I and above the limit for my MLB (which arrived yesterday).

 

[dcbrown73]

At last night's punch down (I do one in the morning and one in the afternoon) the temp was up to 91.5 degrees. Brix was down to 10%.

This morning, the temp was still at 91 degrees and fermentation is still very active.

I will check the brix again at tonight's punch down. I plan to also take a PH reading to be sure that I and above the limit for my MLB (which arrived yesterday).

Is there anything you can do about the temperature or is it sitting at 91F okay?

 

[JohnT]

I actually want 90+ degrees. I am looking to "burn off the fruit".

to cool I have frozen plastic water bottles that I can chuck in before I punch down.

tonights punch down had the temp at 90 degrees and down to 3 brix.

color and aroma are outstanding! This is gonna be a good one!

 

[JohnT]

even with just 3 brix remaining, fermentation is still going strong. I took this pic just after punch down. see how the co2 blanket still forms a bulge on the plastic cover!

 

[ceeaton]

I actually want 90+ degrees. I am looking to "burn off the fruit".

to cool I have frozen plastic water bottles that I can chuck in before I punch down.

tonights punch down had the temp at 90 degrees and down to 3 brix.

color and aroma are outstanding! This is gonna be a good one!

You made me go investigate a few articles on higher temperatures with red wines. Seems that each and every commercial wine maker has reasons for either lower or higher temperatures. One thing I did notice is that they usually only maintain the higher temperatures (in the 90's) until they hit 15 brix, is there a reason to keep it high later? Most seemed to use the idea that too many harsh phenols would be extracted in the presence of higher alcohol levels with the higher temperatures.

Just curious, always love to learn new things since I'm so new to this. And if it works well for you, that is reason enough!

 

[JohnT]

You made me go investigate a few articles on higher temperatures with red wines. Seems that each and every commercial wine maker has reasons for either lower or higher temperatures. One thing I did notice is that they usually only maintain the higher temperatures (in the 90's) until they hit 15 brix, is there a reason to keep it high later? Most seemed to use the idea that too many harsh phenols would be extracted in the presence of higher alcohol levels with the higher temperatures.

Just curious, always love to learn new things since I'm so new to this. And if it works well for you, that is reason enough!

I have a number of reasons for this. First, having a hot fermentation will extract much more color and body from the skins. My favorite wines are big, bold, dark, soft reds. Having a higher temp aids in extraction during that maceration process.

I also believe that having a higher temp helps to prevent stalled fermentations. Higher temps mean higher metabolism. Higher metabolism means that the yeast is less likely to go dormant (especially toward the end). I have never really researched this as a benefit, but I think that this just stands to reason. In 25 years, I have had only one stalled fermentation and that was due to having a abnormally high brix and poor math on my part.

If you consider 85 degrees as a targeted temperature peak, then a peak of 91 degrees is only 6 degrees warmer. Is that worth the effort of adjustment? It very well may, but I prefer to not play too much with the temp unless I really need to.

Another reason is more selfish. I need to stick to a schedule of when to press. I have a day job and pressing is a whole day affair. My family also works so all of this activity has to be kept to the weekends. I really want to press when fermentation is mostly complete (much like others may not want to rack to the secondary too early). Higher temps means faster ferment which means fermentation is more complete on press day.

I have to be honest. I love the results that I get. I know that phenols are a risk, but so far they have not been a problem. I feel that the extended extraction is well worth the risk.

This is a great topic and I hope that others will chime in on this subject.

 

[JohnT]

Presing!

This weekend was all about pressing…

On Saturday, I did my final punch down. The temp had fallen to 80 degrees and the brix was down to 1%.I tested the PH and got a measurement of 3.33.This is a little low, but considering that the wine was actively fermenting and I also plan to undergo MLF, I would expect the PH to rise a bit.

Once the wine was punched down, I turned my attention to equipment prep. I thoroughly cleaned or scrubbed the press, hoses, pump, buckets, strainers, and tank.By the end of the evening, I had everything all set and ready to press on Sunday.

On Sunday, we started pressing at 10am with my two brothers and my Godson. Our method for pressing is to first skim off the cap and immediately send that to the press.By doing this first, while the cap is on top of the free run juice, we do less bending down and our backs like that a lot.

Once the cap is off of the free run juice, I use a column strainer (a 4 foot length of 4 inch pvc pipe that I have drilled “like-a-ga-jillion” holes to strain the free run juice to ensure that nothing too big is sent through the pump. The strainer sits inside the fermenter and the pump intake sits inside the strainer.This system works very well.

Over at the press, we applied very little pressure over 2 hours and ended up with about 373 liters. Of course this yield will drop during the racking process, but I am very happy with the final volume.

Once most of the equipment was cleaned and put away, we gathered at the press to watch the wine trickle. We normally taste the wine (or the pressings) as it comes off of the press.This is to check for bitterness and sharpness (in which case we would not add further pressings to our free run juice).I am lucky enough to have a press with a pressure gauge.I keep an eye on this and when the skins are retaining pressure over time, I know we are near the end.Normally I will apply no more than 25 bars (360 psi) before calling it quits.

WOW! I am blow away.This wine was amazing!Softer than you might expect in a 1 week old wine.The wine was so good, in fact, that we decided to up the pressure to 300 bars (4351 psi) to get another half gallon of wine that we could have with dinner.This wine was highly drinkable straight out of the press and with only 1 week of age!I am very happy!

Finally, we broke down the press and did our final round of cleaning. I inoculated the wine with Vinaflora Oenos MLB and lidded up the tank.Once that was over with, we went out to the deck for some grilled London broil.All said and done, pressing took 5 hours.

 

[dcbrown73]

That's funny. I'm excited about your wine hah. One day I need to sneak down to NJ and hopefully you will let me try it.