Fast Ferment, Mini Maceration OK?

[Kraffty]

My numbers have dropped way faster than I expected. The yeast was pitched Sunday AM the 5th and by tuesday night my Cabernet had fallen from 1.112 to 1.010 and my Pinot from 1.100 to 1.004. I punched down then locked the primary lids this morning and added air locks to all. I don't see being able to press until Saturday morning so I'll be completely dry before then.

My thought is that with only about 18lbs. of grapes and 3 gallons of juice in each bucket my ration of grapes is about a quarter of an all grape must. A few days of setting on the skins shouldn't be as risky as far as tannins or bitterness. I don't know if I should be worrying about oxygen exposure for the next 72 hours - add plastic wrap or just keep closed up.

Am I taking a big risk or does this extension sound fairly safe? BTW as of this morning absolutely no odd smells or tastes, in fact if I were just going by taste I'd still think I had a few days left of fermentation.

Thanks, Mike

 

[Boatboy24]

There must be something going on with the lunar eclipse that is impacting ferments. I pitched yeast on my peach wine on Sunday afternoon. Last night, it was already down to 1.002. I won't be able to rack until tonight, so I locked down the lid and threw the airlock on.

I think you'll be OK, but there is definitely some risk involved. Even though you're not fermenting, there's a lot of CO2 in that wine.

 

[Kraffty]

I'm still going to hold off pressing until Sat. Morn but in the mean time I'm doing my best to add protection. Wed. night I pressed the much thinner layer of grapes down then double layered with plastic wrap to seal the surface area from oxygen. Then thinking the grapes need to stay wet I floated dinner plates on top of the plastic. Lastly I sealed the buckets and added air locks. For the few who don't know, you can buy the rubber grommets, drill the lid, insert grommet and airlock and you've just converted juice buckets to fermenting buckets. I'm leaving these "as is" until I open saturday morning. While unintended I'm hoping for a little added color and tannin anyway. Should know then if all is ok.

Mike

 

[berrycrush]

It has to do with the ambient temperature, the warmer the faster. I moved my primary fermenter to the garage this time and it went much slower. Today is the 8th day and it still has a thick cap this morning I checked. It shouldn't be a big deal for the primary to last two weeks, dry or not.

 

[Kraffty]

Berrycrush, my winehouse is a constant 72 degrees (sometimes 2 to 3 degrees cooler overnight). I was actually thinking of turning up the temps having read that reds like low 80's. Maybe the choice of yeasts and nutrients? I would like to slow it down a bit next time around.
Mike