seth8530
The Atomic Wine Maker
Hello everyone, first I would like to thank JohnT on his excellent commentary on the differences between hot and cold fermentation. Second, I would like to ask your advice on what is going to be rather large batch of wine (24 gallons).
This fall I plan on fermenting 24 gallons of wine from juice and grape skins. I plan on making 12 gallons of chard and 12 gallons of a yet to be determined red. I do not have the ability to crush or press grapes where I live so instead I will be taking my 24 gallons of juice and then I will ferment them on either dried grape skins of possibly a single lug of grapes to give some extra character. Does that sound like a good idea?
The next major challenge is fermentation temperature. If I have done my reading correctly if you ferment hot you tend to get better colour extraction and some other things ( not sure what please help!) but if I ferment cold I will get better aroma and a cleaner fermentation as well as fruitier flavours ( sounds good to me) . The thing is I am not sure why you would ferment hot if the only major reward was colour when cold fermentation sounds like it will result in a more flavour full wine..
So what I am considering doing is breaking the two wines up into6 gallon batches and fermenting one hot (80+ ish degrees) and then fermenting the other 6 gallons gold ( 50 to 60 ish) with the hope of being able to first see the differences in the fermentation techniques and second being able to blend them at the end if needed.
I of course plan on oaking both batches and I plan on testing out what I have learned about fermaidO as well. Yeast type is yet to be determined but I plan on avoiding ec-1118 and using a nice gentle yeast to try and achieve a full flavoured fermentation.
If anyone has any advice or insight into my plan that would be greatly appreciated. Also, some suggestions on a nice red wine to try and ferment out would be great as well as some commercial examples of wines that showcase the differences between hot and cold ferments would be interesting.
This fall I plan on fermenting 24 gallons of wine from juice and grape skins. I plan on making 12 gallons of chard and 12 gallons of a yet to be determined red. I do not have the ability to crush or press grapes where I live so instead I will be taking my 24 gallons of juice and then I will ferment them on either dried grape skins of possibly a single lug of grapes to give some extra character. Does that sound like a good idea?
The next major challenge is fermentation temperature. If I have done my reading correctly if you ferment hot you tend to get better colour extraction and some other things ( not sure what please help!) but if I ferment cold I will get better aroma and a cleaner fermentation as well as fruitier flavours ( sounds good to me) . The thing is I am not sure why you would ferment hot if the only major reward was colour when cold fermentation sounds like it will result in a more flavour full wine..
So what I am considering doing is breaking the two wines up into6 gallon batches and fermenting one hot (80+ ish degrees) and then fermenting the other 6 gallons gold ( 50 to 60 ish) with the hope of being able to first see the differences in the fermentation techniques and second being able to blend them at the end if needed.
I of course plan on oaking both batches and I plan on testing out what I have learned about fermaidO as well. Yeast type is yet to be determined but I plan on avoiding ec-1118 and using a nice gentle yeast to try and achieve a full flavoured fermentation.
If anyone has any advice or insight into my plan that would be greatly appreciated. Also, some suggestions on a nice red wine to try and ferment out would be great as well as some commercial examples of wines that showcase the differences between hot and cold ferments would be interesting.