Have I been racking correctly?

[joeycannoli]

Hello all. Wanted to get some confirmation on my racking schedule with fresh grapes.

I have always let the wine completely ferment in the primary before racking it over to the secondary. At this time I would press the pomace and add the free and press run juice to the secondary too. I’d let this sit for a few days and then follow a 3/3/3 racking schedule. 3 days, 3 weeks and 3 months then barrel.

For my wine kits I approach slightly different and rack to the secondary when the SG hits 1.02 and then let fermentation finish in an airlocked carboy. If I’m doing extended maceration I don’t transfer to a secondary for weeks.

Is my approach optimal for fresh grapes or should I be racking earlier? I understand I’ll get less phenolic extraction by transferring earlier and likely less tannin so I suppose it’s the style I am going for will dictate when I rack. I think what I’m doing is ideal but I’m always looking for alternative viewpoints.

Thanks!

 

[winemaker81]

Your methods sound fine. There's so many right choices.

For reds, letting them ferment longer extracts more, so generally speaking letting the set longer is good.

 

[joeycannoli]

Your methods sound fine. There's so many right choices.

For reds, letting them ferment longer extracts more, so generally speaking letting the set longer is good.

How long do you believe you can let maceration continue after fermentation before spoilage becomes an issue? Ideally I’d love to extract as much as I could but don’t want to risk ruining the batch

 

[winemaker81]

How long do you believe you can let maceration continue after fermentation before spoilage becomes an issue? Ideally I’d love to extract as much as I could but don’t want to risk ruining the batch

That's a tough one to answer. Personally, up to a week is safe, as the wine continues to emit a lot of CO2. Folks are doing EM up to 8 weeks in a sealed container, which makes a difference.

One person is successfully doing longer EM in an unsealed container, but I'm not comfortable doing it.

A big help is using a maceration enzyme. I use Scottzyme Color Pro, and there are others. These help extract more from the grapes, and may increase yield.

 

[joeycannoli]

Hmm I will have to look into that. Does that enzyme help extract more tannin or color or both?

 

[winemaker81]

Hmm I will have to look into that. Does that enzyme help extract more tannin or color or both?

This is from the Scott Lab site:

SCOTTZYME® COLOR PRO is a gentle macerating enzyme that increases yield and extraction of color and structure compounds.

• Wines made using COLOR PRO appear to have deeper, darker, and more intense color.
• Gentle extraction of tannins which positively impacts wine structure
• Mouthfeel is positively impacted; wines appear rounder and herbaceous and veggie characters are minimized
• Improved clarity, yield, and filterability
• Minimum contact time is 3 days at 15°C (60 °F). In cases when the tank temperature is cooler (-1-15 °C /30-60 °F) minimum contact time should be 4-7 days and stirring is recommended
• Pectinase with protease side-activities

It really improves color extraction.

You can lookup other enzymes -- Scott Labs sells numerous ones. I like Color Pro as it does what several others do. At this time, the only place I know of that sells home winemaker sized quantities is Grape and Granary

https://www.grapeandgranary.com/

 

[dvaughan]

This is from the Scott Lab site:

SCOTTZYME® COLOR PRO is a gentle macerating enzyme that increases yield and extraction of color and structure compounds.

• Wines made using COLOR PRO appear to have deeper, darker, and more intense color.
• Gentle extraction of tannins which positively impacts wine structure
• Mouthfeel is positively impacted; wines appear rounder and herbaceous and veggie characters are minimized
• Improved clarity, yield, and filterability
• Minimum contact time is 3 days at 15°C (60 °F). In cases when the tank temperature is cooler (-1-15 °C /30-60 °F) minimum contact time should be 4-7 days and stirring is recommended
• Pectinase with protease side-activities

It really improves color extraction.

You can lookup other enzymes -- Scott Labs sells numerous ones. I like Color Pro as it does what several others do. At this time, the only place I know of that sells home winemaker sized quantities is Grape and Granary

https://www.grapeandgranary.com/

I ended up buying a 1kg bottle directly from ScottZyme and divided it up into multiple centrifuge tubes for single-use and store them in the freezer.