Need fresh grapes advice

[Mark]

Now that I'm comfortable with kits I thought I'd try a small batch from fresh grapes. I'll be picking them up next Saturday (50 lbs of local Zinfandel) but have to go out of town that week and no one will be around to monitor the fermentation or punch the cap down. So my best options seem to be 1) refrigerate the grapes (with a bit of sulphite) for 5 days until I get back, then process as usual, or 2) crush, add sulphite and pectic enzyme, refrigerate the must for 5 days, then continue processing when I get back (essentially a 5-day cold soak). I know the best thing is probably to delay the harvest but that's not an option. I prefer 2) but would like to hear what folks experienced with fresh grapes would do. Thanks in advance!

 

[hayseedjim]

I understand that you can freeze them.

 

[Wade E]

I think the cold soak is the better idea. You can freeze some water in 2 liter bottles and throw them in as ice bombs.

 

[grapeman]

Personnally if I could fit them all in the refrigerator, I would add a bit of k-meta powder sprinkled over them and refrigerate until I got back. Then you have control over what happens. If you try to do a cold soak for 5 days without monitoring it, the ice will melt after 2 days and it will be fermenting by the third day without any punching down.

 

[Wade E]

I sure didnt mean leave the must out in the warm temps. He did say refridge the must so hopefully thats what he meant. I agree with appleman if you didnt plan on refridge the batch of must, I just added the ice bombs to help keep the fridge from warming up at first too much.

 

[Mark]

Thanks guys - I was hoping you'd come to my rescue!
Yes, I have an old fridge in the winery (I mean garage!) with an external thermostat that keeps it at whatever temp I set it to (usually 68F). Use it all the time for summer winemaking and it works great. So it sounds like I can safelygo with option 2 with the fridge set to 35F-40F. Soon as I get back I'll bump it up to 68F and pitch the yeast when it warms back up. Think I'll puff some Wine Preserver gas into the primary also for good luck. Sound good?

 

[Wade E]

Couldnt hurt.

 

[Mark]

I got back from my business trip, warmed the must back up, and pitched the yeast. Fermentation is progressing normally, so the 5-day cold soak successfully saved it until I got back and didn't seem to hurt anything. Thanks again for the excellent advice!

 

[Wade E]

Awesome, now dont be shy with updates on this batch!

 

[grapeman]

Glad it worked out for you. Hope it was a good trip and may your wine be fine.

 

[Mark]

It's been fermenting nicely for 5 days, SG is down to 1.010, and the color is getting darker. Up to now the lid on my primary has been set loosely on, so today I sealed the lid and airlocked itfor it to finish dry. Should I continue punching the cap down (which requires the primary to be opened and letting oxygen in) or just let it finish dry unpunched?