I'm going to guess you're fine. It's warmed up here and it's dry and perfect. 86 daytime high, 54 evening low. Perfect grape weather. No rain predicted for at least a week either. It's also perfect temps for garage fermentation too!
It's Happening!!!
- Thread starter Boatboy24
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I'm going to guess you're fine. It's warmed up here and it's dry and perfect. 86 daytime high, 54 evening low. Perfect grape weather. No rain predicted for at least a week either. It's also perfect temps for garage fermentation too!
Got home and moved the must down from the garage to the wine room with a little help from Mrs Mann.
Pulled a sample of the 50/50 field blend of Cab and Syrah:
At 67* F.
SG is an impressive 1.110. Converted, that’s 26 Brix.
Too hot?? I’m thinking maybe, maybe not.
If I ferment down to 0.995, that’s about 15% ABV. Where does one get dicidulated (Or however you spell it) water. Or will distilled water suffice?? And how much water to drop the Brix to 25?
Ph is a little high at 3.89 but not enough for me to want to monkey with it.
Pulled a sample of the 50/50 field blend of Cab and Syrah:
At 67* F.
SG is an impressive 1.110. Converted, that’s 26 Brix.
Too hot?? I’m thinking maybe, maybe not.
If I ferment down to 0.995, that’s about 15% ABV. Where does one get dicidulated (Or however you spell it) water. Or will distilled water suffice?? And how much water to drop the Brix to 25?
Ph is a little high at 3.89 but not enough for me to want to monkey with it.
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Glad the weather there is on track. No garage fermenting here, we’re still in summer, haven’t had any lows in the 60’s yet, highs still in the mid 90’s. Changes coming though, nights in the 60’s, highs in the 80’s this week. Hopefully it’ll be cool when the fruit gets here......
Boatboy24
No longer a newbie, but still clueless.
You have to mix your own acidulated water using tartaric acid. I might be tempted to bring that down to 25.5 Brix and bump up the acid a bit while you're doing it. I was jealously eyeing those Cab grapes yesterday. Every lug looked perfect. And the two or three grapes I ate tasted great.
They taste great.
I am tempted to add water.
I have tartaric acid around here somewhere.
To drop my ph to 3.79, I want to add 25g to tartaric acid to how much distilled water (to drop the Brix to 25.5)? If my math is right, it’s just short of a gallon of distilled water.
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Go figure. I added 3.1 L of distilled water with about 50g of tartaric acid (blended in to a gallon jug of water).
Stirred in and waited a little bit and I got an SG of 1.100 and a ph of 3.7 and change.
Stirred in and waited a little bit and I got an SG of 1.100 and a ph of 3.7 and change.
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Day 3. Kicked off the mlf last night. We’re three days in. Will check my Sg tomorrow and maybe add nutrient.
The wine looks and smells excellent.
The wine looks and smells excellent.
Silly question - what if I put too much FermaidK nutrient in my wine? I thought it was 1.5g per gallon, but it was just 1g/gallon.
It means it's going to go fast! Like pouring gas on a fire. I'd watch your temps carefully, but otherwise I bet you're fine.
Temp is a nice 81*. Cap is awesome.
Will check again tonight.
Will check again tonight.
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Dat's a lotta wine!
Wish I could do more. Unfortunately, it's all my wallet can manage.
I might eventually get to the point of quitting kits and just doing fall grapes. I could save up the rest of the year for a half ton of grapes in different varietals. Then again, I didn't check my lottery numbers from last night. =)
Last night’s measurements - SG down to 1.02; temp dropped two degrees to 79*. The cap was not as tall as it was... all good things.
Looking like tomorrow or Monday morning for pressing.
Looking like tomorrow or Monday morning for pressing.
It’s PRESS DAY!!!
Pressing took about 4 hours from prep until cleanup was done. I’ve got solo pressing down to a science this year.
Some pics.
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Some pics.
.
That's practically perfect.
So close to 15 gallons of wine with a bucket press? Count me impressed.
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