Nayrea,
Nice to see those numbers. A couple of pieces of advice that work for me...
- Before you punch down, examine the space that you have. If you have a small space, like a closet, that is enclosed you may want to do some venting. By this, I mean that CO2 (at high concentrations) is poisonous to humans. I myself have almost pass out on a number of occasions. I have made it a practice open my winery doors and run a box fan for 10 minutes before doing my punch downs. I know that this advice may seem like overkill to some, but I do not know your layout. Others may dis-agree, but I find this as a "no harm in it" practice.
- I have found that 2 punchdowns a day for these Chilean grapes are quite enough (just look at my avatar). There is no harm in doing 3 or 4, and there is some benefit to aeration, but with these grapes I do not worry about it so much. The California grapes that I get, on the other hand, is a different matter all together.
- I do think that anybody has brought this up, but when you punch down, do not grind the cap against the sides or bottom of your fermentor. I try to keep my punch down tool 1 inch from the sides and never drive the tool all the way to the bottom. I do this to avoid "crunching" any grape seeds which I have found can make the wine bitter. Others may dis-agree, but I find this as a "no harm in it" practice.
