My First Crush !

[Tnuscan]

On 8/16 brought home 150 lbs. of Noiret, 100 lbs. were crushed and destemmed, 50 pnds. were destemmed and crushed by hand. Brix was at 18.

The 100 lb. batch was raised to 22 Brix, and the 50 lb. batch was raised to 24 Brix. The pH was 3.3 and the TA was 7.5 g/L, must was sulfited and let sit for 24hrs.

8/17 Nutrients were added and RC 212 yeast was pitched.

8/21 Wine was @ 0 brix , then pressed and added to carboys to settle for 24 hrs.

8/22 Wine was racked off of gross lees, nutrient and Viniflora CH35 MLB were added to start MLF.

Will stir twice weekly until (hopefully) MLF is complete.

This has been fun, I am excited to be getting next batch of grapes.

Thanks @Boatboy24, @ibglowin, @Johnd, and especially @JohnT for all of the posts that have increased my desire to do this. Wish I had taken pictures, next crush I will.

Next crush will be in a couple of weeks and will be Chambourcin.

Any thoughts or ideas will be appreciated.

 

[Johnd]

@tnuscan sounds like you're off to a good start this year! I won't be getting my goods until late October or early November.

 

[Johny99]

Enjoy the excitement. I'm still cleaning and getting ready. Likely will start picking in two weeks or so.

 

[ceeaton]

Your pH is pretty close to the Pinot Noir I made this Spring. In hindsight, with the issues I had with my MLF, I might stir it more often, like every other day, as I attribute my laziness of not wanting to sterilize my stirrer to be why my MLF took so long. Once I stirred it regularly, it progressed to almost finished in two weeks.

Can't wait for my Lanza Zin grapes hopefully in about a month. It will be my second all grape batch, need to go find the handy dandy long handled potato masher (aka punch down tool).

 

[Boatboy24]

Your pH is pretty close to the Pinot Noir I made this Spring. In hindsight, with the issues I had with my MLF, I might stir it more often, like every other day, as I attribute my laziness of not wanting to sterilize my stirrer to be why my MLF took so long. Once I stirred it regularly, it progressed to almost finished in two weeks.

Can't wait for my Lanza Zin grapes hopefully in about a month. It will be my second all grape batch, need to go find the handy dandy long handled potato masher (aka punch down tool).

Lanza Zin, eh? I'll be procuring some of that as well. Along with Cab, Syrah and Petite Sirah.

 

[JohnT]

Once crush is over, the really hard part begins..

Waiting and patience!

Glad you are having fun. This is what it is all about!

PICs are always appreciated!

 

[Tnuscan]

@Johnd I decided to buy local to get experience built, wish I were getting some of the varieties you are doing. Maybe next year...

@Johny99 Thanks. The cleaning is a chore, and then there is more cleaning, then more cleaning. But then there is drinking, and more drinking.

@ceeaton Thanks, I will stir more for sure. MLF has made me nervous the most. I think it's the not seeing the progress, but testing to get results bit. One would think as hard as bacteria is to eliminate in our every day lives, it would be the easiest, fastest part of the process.

 

[ceeaton]

MLF has made me nervous the most. I think it's the not seeing the progress, but testing to get results bit. One would think as hard as bacteria is to eliminate in our every day lives, it would be the easiest, fastest part of the process.

As far as the testing, you can get kits/strips etc, but as you have heard many just use there sense of taste and it works out fine. There is a night and day difference in taste in the wine before and after the bacteria help us out. I just ordered the Chromo kit because I like futzing with stuff like that (have fish tanks, do test the water occasionally).

 

[Tnuscan]

@JohnT I took your advice, except, I bought 2 presses, a large one and a smaller one. I had purchased a crusher, then last week I came across a crusher/destemmer in Craigslist, so I bought it. After seeing one do 100 lbs in a few minutes, after taking me over 3 hours to do it by hand, I realized how much I needed it. Hopefully I'll build some good memories and drink some nice wine. This was the inspirational post.

Tnuscan,

Let me make another case for my Option #4 (get a destemmer and press).

Let me paint a mental picture..

Crush Day...

It is early in the AM on a clear warm autumn day.

You rise, grab that first cup of coffee, and head outside to survey how you have set things up the night before. You see a slight mist of fog, but are content knowing that the sun will chase that fog away and provide the last remaining autumn's warmth.

You smile as you glance over at the grapes you purchased to day before. You tasted them and know that, this year, the wine will be superb.

You finish your last sip of coffee, and head back into the house to grab another one. While in the kitchen, you grab the bagels and assorted things that you plan to set out for your guests. Just then, the doorbell rings, announcing that the first of the crew of family and friends have arrived. Each is carrying a dish of food which is their contribution to the feast later that day.

Now that you have a crew, you are ready to begin. You start by hosing down the equipment and then giving everything a nice spritz of K-meta. The crew knows what to do. They have come every year and no longer need to be told what to do. Without any word, the crew begins by sorting through the grapes, removing any leaves or foreign matter. From there, the grapes are carried to the destemmer.

You have to keep from dancing when you get that first whiff of heaven. That glorious aroma that comes rises up as soon as the grapes are dumped into the destemmer. You marvel in the hypnotic rhythm of the grapes passing through the rollers and screen, and the splat-splat-splat of the newly formed must as it is deposited into a waiting tote.

You then take a moment to survey the fact that all around you are having a great, unique time. In short order, all of the grapes have been processed, and everything has been cleaned and put away. You see that the good times continue. You reward all of your hard workers by opening the best of your past vintages. After a quick toast to this year's vintage, you herd all of the folks to the patio for a late lunch. Good times and laughs continue as more and more corks get pulled.

After everybody has stuffed themselves, you gather to a tent that you have set up (a 30'X10' pop up) for more wine and cigars. Someone has brought a guitar and the next hours are spent singing and having a great time.

The party breaks up in the wee hours of the morning. You yell "see you next week for the pressing!" and you know that they are more than willing to come next week. You happily turn in and dream of the wine to come....


I vote for option #4!
__________________

 

[JohnT]

Tnuscan,

That's fantastic!!!

Less labor and more fun!

 

[Tnuscan]

Pictures of pressing

 

[Boatboy24]

Nice touch with the candles.

 

[mennyg19]

Pictures of pressing

Love the cake. Who blew out the candles?

 

[Johnd]

Dave, you have too much time on your hands..............

 

[Tnuscan]

I finally got around to making @JohnT 's Birthday Cake.

 

[JohnT]

I finally got around to making @JohnT 's Birthday Cake.

Looks, really cool! Just guess what I would wish for when blowing them out...

 

[Tnuscan]

Love the cake. Who blew out the candles?

I pinched the flames with my fingers, so that Johns wish would come true.

 

[ceeaton]

Looks, really cool! Just guess what I would wish for when blowing them out...

I can take a stab at what you wished for, let me know if I'm close. You are hoping when you approach the pearly gates of heaven, that there are grape vines growing all over that gate. Then Saint Peter will hand you a hat, gloves and a grape picking tool and say "Have at it, John".

 

[Tnuscan]

Added MLB, VP41 on 9/13. So far 150 lbs Noriet , 300 lbs of Chambourcin which was supposed to be 800 lbs , 360 lbs of Cynthiana. Still waiting on 100 lbs of Carlos Muscadine. It's been work , but its been fun. Hope everything falls into place.

I have learned so much, from so many, here @ Wine Making Talk.

So I'd like to say Thanks!!

Cheers!!!

 

[Tnuscan]

Thought I would post on the muscadine wine I made. We picked 120 lbs of Carlos. I went by another vineyard that had 1 vine of Nobel , I was excited because I was wanting to try this one out too. When we found the vine I only picked 12 lbs of them. Apparently someone had picked the vine and left the ones that were hard to get to. There was another vine He thought was a Ison that only had 7 lbs on it.

I cleaned and crushed them, checked the brix and it was at 15 so I brought that up to 22. I made 2 adjustments raising the brix and only used 1 gallon of water doing so. Since there were so few of the red I just threw them in with the Carlos. I had read a few comments on how muscadines were very acidic but the pH was 3.2 and the TA was 5.5 g/l . I thought these were good numbers so I pitched RC-212 the next day.

Fermentation took off and I punched down the cap 4 times daily. On the third day of fermentation I decided to pull off the cap and discard it while it was dry, as I reached the bottom of the cap I lightly pressed the wet skins with a large stainless steel spoon in a large strainer and discarded all of the skins. My thinking was it might lessen some of the foxy taste of this grape.

I let it ferment to 1.020 and racked it to carboys while straining it through a mesh strainer to rid a lot of the gross lees. It still dropped a crazy amount of sediment so I racked it each day for 3 days. Within the 3 days it dropped 2 gallons of sediment.

It is getting close to finishing fermentation and it looks as if I will end up with around 7 gallons of a beautiful pinkish muscidine wine that is suprising me with the awesome taste it has at this moment. Fingers are crossed.