WineXpert Selection Amarone w/Skins Extended Maceration

[geek]

I will start the Master Vintner LE16 Cherie Merlot tonight and my plan is to try this EM (why not).
I will add needed amount of water and start fermentation as we normally do, but I will use a big plastic 7.9 container I bought for wine making (food grade) and leave skins loose, but am hoping that when the liquid is about 1.020 and no aggressive fermentation is going that the skins are still floating so I can rack everything (no sediment) to an Italian 6gal glass carboy (which I think holds about 6.5gal really).....then air lock baby....just hoping everything will fit in it.

 

[jgmann67]

Sounds more like a big mouth carboy best suit for secondary fermentation. Easy cleaning with chance to drop in some oak chips etc.
Actually even the 7 gal still tight for vigorous fermentation of a 6 gal batch especially when extra skin volume is added in.

With the 7 gallon fermonster, I didn't have any issues. But, the ambient temps in the wine room were 65* and I was using RC 212 yeast. With a quicker fermenting yeast and higher temps I could see getting closer to the limits.

 

[Trick]

Just pitched one packet of RC212 into the RJS EP Amarone and started an exciting journey.
The SG after cold soak was at astonishingly 1.113. (15.5% abv if FG=0.995). The range in instruction says 1.085 to 1.110. This is higher than the instruction range. First time I have seen this in my 10 kits I have made so far. This is my first RJS kit and I fell in love with RJS right away.
I am just afraid RC212 will have trouble finishing the job by itself with this ABV. So I added extra 1 L water to bring the SG down to 1.110. And will get EC1118 ready at day 4 or 5 to finish the job.
Everything will be in a bucket until the crazy volcano calms down.
Another kit (RJS Cru International Chile Melbec) with dry skin is in standby in the mean time. Two weeks after Amarone is transferred into the Fermmonster for EM, the Melbec will start and feed CO2 continuously to fermonster‘s headspace (This is called CO2 harvest by a professional winemaker). So the concern about the oxidation will disappear. The second kit will go majorly by the instruction except longer aging period.
The whole project sounds pretty complex, however that is the fun part of the hobby.

 

[jgmann67]

Just for fun, I picked up a second fermonster and started an extended Maceration with the Cherie Merlot today.

 

[geek]

I have to take a SG reading on my Cherie Merlot....now that you mention it, it must be getting to the low 1.02x

 

[jgmann67]

I have to take a SG reading on my Cherie Merlot....now that you mention it, it must be getting to the low 1.02x

I did an initial gravity almost immediately after mixing juice, oak, tannin and dried skins. It was 1.100 right on the money. I'll come home tonight to the signs of an active fermentation, I'll bet.

 

[geek]

I did an initial gravity almost immediately after mixing juice, oak, tannin and dried skins. It was 1.100 right on the money. I'll come home tonight to the signs of an active fermentation, I'll bet.

Can you check the SG again?
Mine seemed like 1.100 but I think the stirring affected the reading a bit, it was more like 1.106 for me.

 

[jgmann67]

Can you check the SG again?
Mine seemed like 1.100 but I think the stirring affected the reading a bit, it was more like 1.106 for me.

Will do.

 

[Brian55]

Will do.

Can you check the SG again?
Mine seemed like 1.100 but I think the stirring affected the reading a bit, it was more like 1.106 for me.

All five of the RQ reds I've done so far have hovered between 1.098 and 1.100.

 

[jgmann67]

I checked my SG last night before bed. Still 1.100.

 

[jgmann67]

I moved this one to the floor near my work table. I’m trying to have it as settled as possible before I rack in two weeks.

It’s gotten pretty dark over the course of the EM.

 

[jgmann67]

I put the brew belt on the Cherie Merlot to release some co2 and finish fermentation. It’s moving along nicely. But I’m not going to open it again for another 6 weeks.

 

[Redbird1]

I assume it was designed with brewers in mind - who usually make 5 gallon batches.

Indeed. Beer fermentation buckets are either 6 or 6.5 gallons. BMBs went with the lower volume for whatever reason. I have one of each size and a 6.5 gallon bottling bucket (taking great care when bottling wine).

I'd be hesitant to use them for secondary. The wide opening, which is great for cleaning, increases the surface area of wine that is exposed to oxygen since it does not taper like a regular carboy does.

 

[Redbird1]

The 7.9 gallon Speidel is the MoreBeer Deal of the Day. Only 1 left. $49.99 with free shipping if you order $59+. If you log in to your account, you can combine carts with MoreWine to reach the minimum.

 

[Boatboy24]

The 7.9 gallon Speidel is the MoreBeer Deal of the Day. Only 1 left. $49.99 with free shipping if you order $59+. If you log in to your account, you can combine carts with MoreWine to reach the minimum.

Gone!

 

[Redbird1]

I usually check earlier in the day, but had a couple things going on early at work.

The MoreBeer, MoreWine, MoreCoffee combined cart trick is handy for meeting the free shipping minimum. Plus, they're one of the few places I can find Fermaid.

 

[jgmann67]

Six weeks today.

There is no color left in any of the junk at the bottom of the fermonster or the raisins floating at the top.

I felt the urge to rack this wine and give it a taste.

On racking, I lost a good bit of wine with all the junk at the bottom. Ended up racking to a 5 gal carboy with a 1.5l bottle and a healthy glass of wine left. There was very little co2 at racking.

The wine was pretty clear and tasted like it's been aging 6 months. Mrs Mann liked her taste very much.

I put the wine on 2 oz of Hungarian/French medium plus toast oak. At 3 months, we'll rack it off the oak, age another 3 months and consider bottling after that.

I will leave the RQ Cherie Merlot sealed up for the full 7 weeks. I haven't opened the container since day 10. Lots of co2 to blanket the wine during its nap.

The only thoughts to do things differently I had -

A. Use only 1 packet of RC212 and cut down on some of the junk at the bottom.

B. Using a bag for the skins would help recover some of the wine lost when leaving the skins free-range in the fermentor. And, 7 weeks on the wine should extract everything the skins have to give.

C. I will do EM for all my red wines with skins.

 

[baron4406]

You guys inspired me lol, never did a kit before but I wanted to try EM. So I bought two Fermonsters to try it out. First was an RJS Malbec that started at 24.5 Brix when I squeezed skin bag. Impressive! That finished to 0.994 within about 8 days and its resting for am 8 week EM. Second "victim" was a WE Old Vine Zinfandel that got to 24 Brix. Pretty impressed with both but the WE kit was missing its oak powder, good thing I always have oak chips on hand. Both will get an 8 week EM, then racked to carboy for clearing/oaking for 2 to 3 months then bottle age for 12-18 months. I'll run two more batches (thinking Amarone and Nebbilio) before the Chileans show up in May and the fruit wine season this summer.

 

[jgmann67]

You guys inspired me lol, never did a kit before but I wanted to try EM. So I bought two Fermonsters to try it out. First was an RJS Malbec that started at 24.5 Brix when I squeezed skin bag. Impressive! That finished to 0.994 within about 8 days and its resting for am 8 week EM. Second "victim" was a WE Old Vine Zinfandel that got to 24 Brix. Pretty impressed with both but the WE kit was missing its oak powder, good thing I always have oak chips on hand. Both will get an 8 week EM, then racked to carboy for clearing/oaking for 2 to 3 months then bottle age for 12-18 months. I'll run two more batches (thinking Amarone and Nebbilio) before the Chileans show up in May and the fruit wine season this summer.

Good call for your first kits. You might also think about the WE Stags Leap Merlot. Regarded by many as one of their best.

 

[baron4406]

jgmann67 Thanks I will. Since my "kit wine" setup is apart from my usual winemaking setup i can pretty much roll two kits every two months. BTW I'm not a fan of Merlot (too bland) but I'm always willing to take a recommendation.