Good afternoon all - this is my first post, but I want to first extend a significant thank you to each and everyone's contributions to this forum. I started making wine from kits about 15 months ago, and recently transitioned to a batch from grapes (10 gallons of frozen Cabernet must from Brehm to be exact). This forum and all of your individual contributions have been invaluable. I would be far behind it if weren't for everyone's insight.
Anyway, my current dilemma - it involves a lingering taste/sensation that I cannot identify. Some background - I purchased 10 gallons of Cabernet Sauv. frozen must from Brehm's Plum Grove vineyard. I let thaw over 4 days, and pitched yeast on 12/26/15, when the temperature was roughly 66*F (I created a yeast starter on 12/25/15 in the evening, with 2 packets of RC-212, 250mL of wine juice from the must, 1/4 tsp of Wyeast nutrient, and pitched the yeast starter the morning of 12/26/15 after it sat overnight). The starting Brix was 24.5/specific gravity was 1.103. Unfortunately, at that time I had no way of measuring TA or pH, but Brehm's log indicates the TA was 7 g/L with a pH of 3.34, and a YAN of 60mg/L. I did not add any KMeta pre-fermentation, and I fermented in stainless steel. I fermented over the course of 7 days, punching down several times per day with sanitized stainless steel potato masher. At the end of day 3, I added 1 tsp of Wyeast nutrient. At the end of day 7, the brix was 0, and so I chose to press, and let the primary fermentation finish in the carboy. I pressed everything I could out of the grapes until the cake was nice and firm. When pressing, I mistakenly pressed some seeds into the carboy (but they were only exposed for the brief period of time until I racked off gross lees). Side note, temperature reached 85*F on day 3 and I tapered down to high 70s/80*F for the remainder of primary in stainless (days 4 - 7). At this point (i.e., press), the wine had a sweet taste and was actually fairly smooth for being so "new". On day 9, 2 days after press, I racked off the gross lees into a new carboy and added Viniflora CH-16 malolactic culture. I did not top up at this point, as I hoped the remaining fermentation would produce some sort of protective layer. The level in the carboy was above the shoulders but several inches below the neck. I also added two french oak staves, and set the heat wrap to maintain at 70*F. Over the next several weeks I stirred multiple times per week, and had visible bubbles rising up through the wine and popping of the airlock. I also tasted once or twice and could taste a noticable change to the wine, it got much smoother, which I would expect based on what I've read regarding malolactic fermentation. After five weeks since pitching yeast (12/26/15 to 1/31/16), I racked off of the oak staves into a new carboy, and I topped up with 1/2 bottle of Kendall Jackson 2012 Sonoma County Cab. One week later (2/6/16), I performed a malolactic test and I couldn't tell if it was complete or not (it seemed complete, but I'm a noob, so I left it). Fast forward about two more weeks, for a total of approx. 8 weeks since pitching (2/21/16) I did a second malolactic test and the results were nearly identical, there was not much of a visible sign of any malic acid, with strong spots for tartaric and lactic.
At that point, I decided it was done with malolactic (I included images for both MLB tests) and I racked it into a glass carboy and added 1/4 tsp KMeta (dissolved into distilled water and slowly stirred into wine). I also tasted (prior to Kmeta addition) and this is where the dilemma comes into play. The wine smells fantastic, strong hint of oak (that will hopefully calm with age), no off odors whatsoever. Taste - tastes full body, strong tannin (significant dry mouth sensation) and hint of fruit, oak comes in at the very end after I immediately swallow. However, after about 5-10 seconds of "digesting" the swallow, there is a strong tart sensation, almost metallic sensation, that lingers for quite some time. I should also mention by this time I acquired the tools to test for pH, TA, and free SO2. pH was 3.68 (after boiling and letting cool down to room temperature), TA was 7.00 g/L, and free SO2 is 47mg/L. After testing the free SO2 and realizing it was a little light for the pH level, I added the necessary KMeta to bring it up to around 67 mg/L.
Anyone have any idea what I am tasting/sensing? Is the acid balance out of whack? Did oxidation occur? Did I leave it on malolactic too long, or too brief? I find it bizzarre that up and until 4/5 weeks into malolactic it tasted awesome (smooth/buttery), and then an extra couple weeks and now it has this lingering odd sensation. Being new to this, I have scoured the internet trying to figure out what could be wrong to no avail. Any help or suggestions is much appreciated.
Thank you,
Zach
Anyway, my current dilemma - it involves a lingering taste/sensation that I cannot identify. Some background - I purchased 10 gallons of Cabernet Sauv. frozen must from Brehm's Plum Grove vineyard. I let thaw over 4 days, and pitched yeast on 12/26/15, when the temperature was roughly 66*F (I created a yeast starter on 12/25/15 in the evening, with 2 packets of RC-212, 250mL of wine juice from the must, 1/4 tsp of Wyeast nutrient, and pitched the yeast starter the morning of 12/26/15 after it sat overnight). The starting Brix was 24.5/specific gravity was 1.103. Unfortunately, at that time I had no way of measuring TA or pH, but Brehm's log indicates the TA was 7 g/L with a pH of 3.34, and a YAN of 60mg/L. I did not add any KMeta pre-fermentation, and I fermented in stainless steel. I fermented over the course of 7 days, punching down several times per day with sanitized stainless steel potato masher. At the end of day 3, I added 1 tsp of Wyeast nutrient. At the end of day 7, the brix was 0, and so I chose to press, and let the primary fermentation finish in the carboy. I pressed everything I could out of the grapes until the cake was nice and firm. When pressing, I mistakenly pressed some seeds into the carboy (but they were only exposed for the brief period of time until I racked off gross lees). Side note, temperature reached 85*F on day 3 and I tapered down to high 70s/80*F for the remainder of primary in stainless (days 4 - 7). At this point (i.e., press), the wine had a sweet taste and was actually fairly smooth for being so "new". On day 9, 2 days after press, I racked off the gross lees into a new carboy and added Viniflora CH-16 malolactic culture. I did not top up at this point, as I hoped the remaining fermentation would produce some sort of protective layer. The level in the carboy was above the shoulders but several inches below the neck. I also added two french oak staves, and set the heat wrap to maintain at 70*F. Over the next several weeks I stirred multiple times per week, and had visible bubbles rising up through the wine and popping of the airlock. I also tasted once or twice and could taste a noticable change to the wine, it got much smoother, which I would expect based on what I've read regarding malolactic fermentation. After five weeks since pitching yeast (12/26/15 to 1/31/16), I racked off of the oak staves into a new carboy, and I topped up with 1/2 bottle of Kendall Jackson 2012 Sonoma County Cab. One week later (2/6/16), I performed a malolactic test and I couldn't tell if it was complete or not (it seemed complete, but I'm a noob, so I left it). Fast forward about two more weeks, for a total of approx. 8 weeks since pitching (2/21/16) I did a second malolactic test and the results were nearly identical, there was not much of a visible sign of any malic acid, with strong spots for tartaric and lactic.
At that point, I decided it was done with malolactic (I included images for both MLB tests) and I racked it into a glass carboy and added 1/4 tsp KMeta (dissolved into distilled water and slowly stirred into wine). I also tasted (prior to Kmeta addition) and this is where the dilemma comes into play. The wine smells fantastic, strong hint of oak (that will hopefully calm with age), no off odors whatsoever. Taste - tastes full body, strong tannin (significant dry mouth sensation) and hint of fruit, oak comes in at the very end after I immediately swallow. However, after about 5-10 seconds of "digesting" the swallow, there is a strong tart sensation, almost metallic sensation, that lingers for quite some time. I should also mention by this time I acquired the tools to test for pH, TA, and free SO2. pH was 3.68 (after boiling and letting cool down to room temperature), TA was 7.00 g/L, and free SO2 is 47mg/L. After testing the free SO2 and realizing it was a little light for the pH level, I added the necessary KMeta to bring it up to around 67 mg/L.
Anyone have any idea what I am tasting/sensing? Is the acid balance out of whack? Did oxidation occur? Did I leave it on malolactic too long, or too brief? I find it bizzarre that up and until 4/5 weeks into malolactic it tasted awesome (smooth/buttery), and then an extra couple weeks and now it has this lingering odd sensation. Being new to this, I have scoured the internet trying to figure out what could be wrong to no avail. Any help or suggestions is much appreciated.
Thank you,
Zach
