First Juice Bucket...Ever

[jas3019]

I'll be picking up my first juice bucket this Saturday from Harford Winery and just want to get some input on my recipe/process. It'll be 6 gallons of California Viognier. I chose it because it's a pretty obscure wine that won't carry any preconceptions for how it's supposed to taste. Also, I've had a couple bottles of commercial stuff and thought it was pretty good.

So my thoughts are:

I'll get it Saturday and add 1/4 tsp K-meta, 3 tsp pectic enzyme, and any sugar needed to get the OG to 1.09.

Sunday I'll pitch my yeast (Lalvin ICV-D47) along with 2 Tbsp yeast nutrient. Cover with the lid (no air lock) and let ferment until 1.01.

Once it's at 1.01 I'll rack into a 6 gallon carboy for it to bulk age until about March or so. Then I'll backsweeten until it's off-dry (I'm thinking just 1.00 but not sure) and bottle.

From what I've read juice buckets come balanced so no need to adjust acidity or pH. I have some acid blend I could add post-bulk aging if it's not quite crisp enough.

Does this seem like a good procedure? It seems pretty simple but maybe KISS is best. Up until now I've done Welch's sweet fruity wines (backsweetened to 1.02) so that's been able to mask any issues I might have had. This will be my first regular wine that'll be fairly dry and I'd like it to go smoothly and be tasty. I skipped right over kit wines so I'm a little nervous and not sure if I'm in over my head.

Thanks for any input!
-Jason

 

[Boatboy24]

No meta or pectic needed. Your SG should be in a good range, but a slight adjustment isn't out of the question. The bucket should be balanced, but its a good idea to take measurements and confirm.

After racking racking to secondary, I would only leave it for a few weeks. Waiting until March would be too long, IMHO. After you've confirmed fermentation has stopped, rack off the sediment and stabilize. Then you can let it sit for a few months.

Viognier is a nice wine. And my limited experience with Harford has been very good. I got my first buckets from them in the spring and will be picking up some Amador grapes and Italian juice in a few weeks. In fact, I was on the phone with them today and Roxanne is very helpful.

Good luck, and keep us posted.

Edit: Welcome to Winemakingtalk, BTW.

 

[jas3019]

Thanks! I think it was actually one of your posts I saw that clued me in on Harford. I had no idea they were just up the road about 20 minutes from me. I'm hoping this test bucket goes well. I'm already starting to plan for a couple buckets of the Chilean juice come spring if this works.

I wasn't sure about the initial k-meta or pectic enzyme but figured it couldn't hurt to throw it in. I might pick up some testing supplies from them just to start playing around with that and figure things out.

I also forgot that I'll add bentonite in before primary too. From what I've researched most say it's a good idea to add it to any white wine but non-kit reds don't really need it. I don't think it'll really hurt either way, though.

-Jason

 

[jas3019]

I picked up my juice today along with some other stuff and testing supplies. It's way too easy to spend money in a place like that! The juice is pretty cold out of their refrigerator so I'm going to wait a bit until it comes up to room temperature before I start it.

I did open it to take a pH and acid reading. I just got the pH test strips and that put it in the 3.2 range which seems to match what people say it should be. But the acid came back at about 0.38%. From what I've seen it should be around 0.60%. I tasted the juice too and while it tastes good it definitely doesn't have a bite like a typical welch's. Maybe that's how it should be but I'm not sure.

So now the question is: do I go with it as is or adjust for the acid. I only have acid blend on hand but it seems like people say to use tartaric acid only. Should I make a trip and get some tartaric acid or can I just use my acid blend?

Any advice would be great!
-Jason