Getting Ready for Grape Season

Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum

Help Support Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
The whole ‘Stabilization’ part!—> Dropping out the cold tartrates (wine diamonds) so it doesn’t happen while in the bottle.
For me the acid change was negligible unless combined with antacid chems. So the change in levels is incidental when stabilizing for fallout. CS seems to be routine for white & rosé for the dropout (served cold).
But also used as a technique to remove acid for any wine (w/ or w/o chems)

But @distancerunner’s question falls into that weird ph thing that defies logic for acid removal.
CS w/ Ph under 3.65—-removing acid thru cold stabilization actually lowers ph.
CS w/ Ph over 3.65—goes back to making sense and increases as acid falls out.

There’s no doubt some in-depth well written articles out there regarding the benefits of cold stabilizing.

Sorry in advance for the thread drift.

A few years ago I left a case of homemade CS in the garage of our IN home - through an entire winter. Obviously, mad tartrates were thrown off. My wife and daughter strained a bottle into a decanter.............and loved it.

Now, there are always a few bottles of reds in the basement fridge.

Different strokes.
 
Woo Hoo!!!! Woo Hoo!!! Just got an email from the place I normally buy grapes that I will be able to get some this year. I had resigned myself to only doing a couple of kits this year and he came thru for me. So Sat. I go pick up my 300-500 lbs of Chambourcin. My wife isn't nearly as happy with that as I am. She had plans for me this weekend.
 
In mid-September, I resigned myself to the fact that I wasn't going to make wine from fresh grapes this year. Between work and time away from the house, I couldn't make the schedule work.

On October 21st, I got a call from a local vineyard operator who grows chard, merlot and cab franc. He said he would likely have some excess cab franc if I wanted some. They were picking on the 23rd. I could come down, pick what I wanted and go along my merry way. Too good to pass up. I picked 100 lbs with a "let's see if these PA grapes are any good" mindset.

The grapes were in really good shape. The pH came in just shy of 3.9, but the brix were right on the money at around 24. I adjusted the pH to 3.55 and set my plan in motion. I'll let y'all know how it goes. But so far, the fermentation is humming along nicely.

The only concern I have is with doing an MLF. With everything happening so quickly, I didn't have time to order anything online. So, all my supplies came from my LHBS. They only stock the liquid White Labs MLB. So, I waited until the ferment really took off, then co-inoculated with the liquid White Labs. Hopefully, it takes off too. Time will tell.
 
In mid-September, I resigned myself to the fact that I wasn't going to make wine from fresh grapes this year. Between work and time away from the house, I couldn't make the schedule work.

On October 21st, I got a call from a local vineyard operator who grows chard, merlot and cab franc. He said he would likely have some excess cab franc if I wanted some. They were picking on the 23rd. I could come down, pick what I wanted and go along my merry way. Too good to pass up. I picked 100 lbs with a "let's see if these PA grapes are any good" mindset.

The grapes were in really good shape. The pH came in just shy of 3.9, but the brix were right on the money at around 24. I adjusted the pH to 3.55 and set my plan in motion. I'll let y'all know how it goes. But so far, the fermentation is humming along nicely.

The only concern I have is with doing an MLF. With everything happening so quickly, I didn't have time to order anything online. So, all my supplies came from my LHBS. They only stock the liquid White Labs MLB. So, I waited until the ferment really took off, then co-inoculated with the liquid White Labs. Hopefully, it takes off too. Time will tell.

Nice! Maybe order some of your favorite MLB as an insurance policy. If you don't need it, freeze or refrigerate until next season.
 
Order it (you cheap sob)!

Who did you get them from? Just curious...

The Cab Franc I got from just south of me near Spring Grove went through MLF with no issues, though I didn't use the White Labs concoction.

The farm is in Willow Street, PA. Howard’s Farm.

The ferment is going famously. I’ll make a decision on the mlb next week.
 
The farm is in Willow Street, PA. Howard’s Farm.

The ferment is going famously. I’ll make a decision on the mlb next week.
I've heard they have good grapes. I've noticed my Cab Franc is on the light side, but that is from carboy tipping, it just turned 5 yrs old and I still haven't bottled it. I think I'm getting good at the procrastination side of wine making...
 
I've heard they have good grapes. I've noticed my Cab Franc is on the light side, but that is from carboy tipping, it just turned 5 yrs old and I still haven't bottled it. I think I'm getting good at the procrastination side of wine making...

Dude?? Seriously??? 5 years? It’s time.
 
That's a young one, lol!

I have a few of your wines still if you want to try them. I see a 2016 Chardonnay, a 2017 Amarone Della Valpolicella, a 2018 Chardonnay and a ton of the 50/50 Red blend. They don't call it a wine cellar for nothin'. And I wasn't even digging deep...
 
I need to rearrange stuff, so I'm sure I can add more to that list. You'll just have to text me your address, I'm assuming you haven't moved again...I think I'm a whole 10 minutes tops from your place when I'm at work.
 
I've heard they have good grapes. I've noticed my Cab Franc is on the light side, but that is from carboy tipping, it just turned 5 yrs old and I still haven't bottled it. I think I'm getting good at the procrastination side of wine making...
That’s quite some time for bulk aging. Time to bottle!
 
That’s quite some time for bulk aging. Time to bottle!
I had an Italian neighbor. When I was younger, my parents would let me have a beer or a glass of wine on special occasions once I became a teenager. My neighbor made some "family wine" every year and would bulk age it for a few years before bottling. One year he kept a carboy of wine and aged it 5+ years and tipped the carboy for me and we tasted it beside a wine he had bottled from a younger vintage. Same type of grapes, same vineyard (and I know, year to year they can change quite a bit). The difference was incredible. He tried it on a hunch because his grandpa from the old world had suggested it when he was younger, but before he was making wine.

That has always stuck in my mind to this day. Yes, there are challenges to keep the wine as wine and not have it turn to vinegar (kmeta helps that). But he always said that it was worth losing a batch if the others went through the process and could be bottled.

So that is the story behind my procrastination.

Edit: and yes, that is how I learned to properly tip a carboy...
 
The Cab Franc is down to 1.000 as of yesterday. The cap isn’t nearly as tall, but the skins still rise pretty well. It’s been on the skins in the fermenter for 9 days now.

This is always my struggle - leave it on the skins a few more days or rack it now?

Regardless of how long I leave the wine on the skins, I don’t think these grapes will be as dark as the cab franc I’m used to. I might add some PS for color and body
 
It happened without incident. Got 7 gallons of wine in the basement. Added French heavy toast oak and will wait a couple weeks before testing.
 

Attachments

  • 6B55C494-10A3-4620-9E9F-07C20B3738CB.jpeg
    6B55C494-10A3-4620-9E9F-07C20B3738CB.jpeg
    1.7 MB · Views: 36
  • 1A7FBB8A-43F0-4682-AEFE-3137CF8D617D.jpeg
    1A7FBB8A-43F0-4682-AEFE-3137CF8D617D.jpeg
    1.5 MB · Views: 36
  • D5685C1B-5470-45B2-8116-FE52E1199F3A.jpeg
    D5685C1B-5470-45B2-8116-FE52E1199F3A.jpeg
    1.5 MB · Views: 37
  • 0B17EC0F-27F2-4D48-922B-801EEC5D173B.jpeg
    0B17EC0F-27F2-4D48-922B-801EEC5D173B.jpeg
    2.7 MB · Views: 36
  • 3E475A0D-73A1-4A2A-9470-6278E816A4DB.jpeg
    3E475A0D-73A1-4A2A-9470-6278E816A4DB.jpeg
    1.7 MB · Views: 35
  • 66451845-E6F8-4F66-B176-3CB05698801A.jpeg
    66451845-E6F8-4F66-B176-3CB05698801A.jpeg
    1.7 MB · Views: 34
  • 7014A719-AD48-40E8-911C-8C4DFDABCD30.jpeg
    7014A719-AD48-40E8-911C-8C4DFDABCD30.jpeg
    3.1 MB · Views: 33
  • 653D0935-C6CA-4384-8FFD-DA60D3BE5CDA.jpeg
    653D0935-C6CA-4384-8FFD-DA60D3BE5CDA.jpeg
    3.3 MB · Views: 37
  • 86CD2577-3568-450B-9AD8-1A97AA9F7B16.jpeg
    86CD2577-3568-450B-9AD8-1A97AA9F7B16.jpeg
    1.8 MB · Views: 36
  • 0BE0A2D6-847A-462A-9AEB-E6E1B01DE529.jpeg
    0BE0A2D6-847A-462A-9AEB-E6E1B01DE529.jpeg
    1.7 MB · Views: 36

Latest posts

Back
Top