frantic
Junior
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2013
- Messages
- 4
- Reaction score
- 1
Hi everyone !
I'm new to the forum, registered I mean, although I have watched all the discussions over the years as a guest only and I thank each and everyone of you for all the valuable information provided.
Have no idea how many europeans might be around, but anyway I think we can share thoughts no matter where we come from. I am from Romania which, as you may know, it is well known for having a very good terroir for growing grapes. I apologize in advance as I'll be using metric units, can't even think in gallons, lbs or F degrees... sorry for that !
Just to briefly introduce my "things" - I have a small vineyard in the countryside where I grow Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon (both for myself) and some hybrid country grapes (for my father
). 2013 was the first production year for my french vines. The initial figures were :
Merlot - brix at harvest 24.5, sg 1.1033, must volume 225 liters
Cabernet - brix at harvest 22.5, sg 1.094, must volume 185 liters
Unfortunately my ph meter was broke from the start and so I was not able to check the ph or ta at harvest. Checked however the ph at a later stage, after the primary fermentation, and Merlot came out with 3.49 and Cabernet 3.46.
Didn't adjust anything, just added 50 ppm so2 at crush. Added as well Lallzyme ex & hc, then inoculated yeast strain icd-d21 (using go ferm protect for hydration) and used fermaid k as nutrient. The primary fermentation went well, finished in 12 days for Merlot and 10 days for Cabernet (increased a bit the nutrient and yeast dosage compared to Merlot). Fermentation completed under the following parameters:
Merlot - sg 0.986, potential alcohol 14%, final wine volume 158 liters
Cabernet - sg 0.990, potential alcohol 12.5%, final wine volume 121 liters
Both wines went into stainless tanks for malolactic fermentation. Inoculated with bacteria vp41 adding opti malo plus according to the instructions. bacteria dosage was a bit over the recommendation which I know is no problem, I just had a bit more than what I was needed and didn't want to keep it for the next year.
Now, it's already a month since bacteria inoculation, I know the fermentation is going on since I've done already 3 chromatography tests (end of 2nd, 3rd and 4th week) and malic spots are decreasing in size and intensity, although with very small steps. Obviously the small steps are coming from the temperature which is only around 13-14 degrees C in my basement. I know it's low, but I would like to ask if any of you had such experience with low temps and vp41, it will finally come to an end ? it will require 2 or 3 months maybe ?
Thanks to all for your input.
regards
I'm new to the forum, registered I mean, although I have watched all the discussions over the years as a guest only and I thank each and everyone of you for all the valuable information provided.
Have no idea how many europeans might be around, but anyway I think we can share thoughts no matter where we come from. I am from Romania which, as you may know, it is well known for having a very good terroir for growing grapes. I apologize in advance as I'll be using metric units, can't even think in gallons, lbs or F degrees... sorry for that !
Just to briefly introduce my "things" - I have a small vineyard in the countryside where I grow Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon (both for myself) and some hybrid country grapes (for my father
). 2013 was the first production year for my french vines. The initial figures were :Merlot - brix at harvest 24.5, sg 1.1033, must volume 225 liters
Cabernet - brix at harvest 22.5, sg 1.094, must volume 185 liters
Unfortunately my ph meter was broke from the start and so I was not able to check the ph or ta at harvest. Checked however the ph at a later stage, after the primary fermentation, and Merlot came out with 3.49 and Cabernet 3.46.
Didn't adjust anything, just added 50 ppm so2 at crush. Added as well Lallzyme ex & hc, then inoculated yeast strain icd-d21 (using go ferm protect for hydration) and used fermaid k as nutrient. The primary fermentation went well, finished in 12 days for Merlot and 10 days for Cabernet (increased a bit the nutrient and yeast dosage compared to Merlot). Fermentation completed under the following parameters:
Merlot - sg 0.986, potential alcohol 14%, final wine volume 158 liters
Cabernet - sg 0.990, potential alcohol 12.5%, final wine volume 121 liters
Both wines went into stainless tanks for malolactic fermentation. Inoculated with bacteria vp41 adding opti malo plus according to the instructions. bacteria dosage was a bit over the recommendation which I know is no problem, I just had a bit more than what I was needed and didn't want to keep it for the next year.
Now, it's already a month since bacteria inoculation, I know the fermentation is going on since I've done already 3 chromatography tests (end of 2nd, 3rd and 4th week) and malic spots are decreasing in size and intensity, although with very small steps. Obviously the small steps are coming from the temperature which is only around 13-14 degrees C in my basement. I know it's low, but I would like to ask if any of you had such experience with low temps and vp41, it will finally come to an end ? it will require 2 or 3 months maybe ?
Thanks to all for your input.
regards
