WineXpert Yeast swap for SE Brunello w/Skins

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We're three days in. The BM4x4 makes a nice, foamy cap of CO2. I'll stir twice a day until the grape skins lose most of their buoyancy. Then, I just keep it locked and agitate the wine to keep the skins wet.

It is a foamy yeast, for sure.
 
Meanwhile, the Brunello has been in EM for 4 weeks. The grape skin bag is still floating on top but just barely. I haven’t opened it for some time now, I just swish the wine to keep the skins wet (not really needed at this point).

Also, I didn’t dose with Kmeta. If I open it up to punch the bag down, I’ll at the Kmeta. Otherwise, I haven’t felt the urge.

The yeast is settled and dense at the bottom of the vessel.

Can’t smell it as it stopped giving off co2 a week ago.
 
Well, the urge hit me. I went in and sunk that bag of skins. So, I dosed with Kmeta before sealing it back up. It will sit three more weeks. Surprised that it's not darker. But, it is only a Sangiovese grape I guess.

Why not weight the bag down? Seems simple enough.
 
Always the question of “what with?” Best to just keep it clean and avoid adding anything foreign in to the mix.
I have used a very heavy large coffee mug added to the bag...sanitized of course. Worked like a charm.
 
Three weeks left till we rack off the dregs and skins. The wine is sitting quietly, and as the particulate falls out naturally the wine is getting darker. Given how clear the wine will be at racking, there's really no need to use clarifiers. So, I'll keep them for another wine, I guess.

The wine comes with 60 grams of oak. At racking, we'll drop those and some TRE and let it sit for a few months. Then for the next nine months: wait, rack, dose, wait, taste, dose, wait, taste, dose and bottle.
 
It's finally here. This weekend, we rack the wine off the lees and skins.

Since these are wet skins, I bagged them. We'll gently fish the bag out of the wine and give it a good squeeze. Then, after the junk settles to the bottom again, I'll use the AIO to move the wine into a carboy. We'll introduce 60gr of oak and some finishing tannin, and follow that up with a long nap.

Meanwhile, my Cherie Merlot is just about at the 6 month mark; and the SE Amarone is probably about 5 months old. All three underwent an EM process. I have no plans to bottle any of them before they reach the 1 year mark in bulk.
 
Wondering if I should try this with my Bourbon barrel Zin/Cab. I'm thinking no - I should probably do my first EM on a kit I can easily reorder. :i
 
Wondering if I should try this with my Bourbon barrel Zin/Cab. I'm thinking no - I should probably do my first EM on a kit I can easily reorder. :i

Do it... DDDDOOOOOO ITTTTTTT!!!!

:db

I understand if you don't. But, this will be my third or fourth EM. I'll let you know how the Brunello tastes over the weekend. But, I'm very happy doing EM and I know others here absolutely swear by it.
 

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