[Dave Burt]

The Syrah from Jeff Crowley was picked on October 17 and received on October 19, 2016. A sample sent to Penticton Wine Lab gave as YAN of 229 mg N/L (high).

Post your chemistry results for Jeff’s Syrah here, as well as planned adjustments.

[Willem Wyngaards]

Signs of spontaneous ferment, FSO2 was 38 ppm at crush and CO2 blanket. Aroma is fresh and fruity. Pitched with CLOS and BDX. I will deduct 100 YAN because of the wild yeast ferment.
Brix = 25.3
TA = 6.6 g/L
pH = 3.98

[Dave Burt]

I put a sample of the must in the fridge to settle. This evening I drew off the clear juice from the top of the sample for testing. Results were:
Brix 25
pH 4.05
TA 6.3
I plan to add water to reduce the Brix to 24.5 and add 0.5 g/L of tartaric acid , mainly to reduce the pH rather than raise the TA. Predicted TA will be 6.8.

Even though the must is outside in the cool, wild yeasts are actively fermenting. I will double up on my planned D254 yeast and hope that it outcompetes the wild yeast.

[Chris Gebhard]

My must is refrigerated with an average temp of 6C, and I am still getting a lot of wild fermentation. Brix was 25 when I brought it home and this morning after 40 hours it was still 25, despite the activity.

I had planned to do an 8-10 day cold soak, but will probably pitch in the yeast and ferment in a couple of days.

[Dave Burt]

Hi Chris. It would be interesting to see what you get for pH and TA from your refrigerated sample.

I don’t know how long you can hold off the wild yeast ferment. I will be pitching my yeast tomorrow morning as I don’t want the wild yeast to get the upper hand. The cap is already rising on mine.

[Peter Huyghebaert]

Mine was on a “cold” soak, at about 5C, but still noticed some wild yeast starting. So I moved my must inside and warmed it up to 23C and pitched, well reconstituted 12g D254/23litres. This morning the D254 had really taken hold and the cap was up – everything smelling sweet.

My numbers are also were not impressive. Brix 25.5, Sg 1.102, pH 3.86 and TA 7.1. Did measurements on “very clear” juice at 24C and repeated with two different lots of NaOH. still a bit wonky. Maybe the ferment will balance things out a bit.

Added 1/2l of H2O to each fermenter , but will hold off on acid adjustments until after fermentation.

[Chris Gebhard]

I inoculated my must last night after 4 days of cold soak at 6c as the wild yeasts had really started working and caps formed in the pails. Brix dropped from 25 to 24. I pitched in all the D54 I had on hand, 24g, into 200lbs of must. This morning the yeast was working hard and tonight it’s in full force, so maybe all that yeast was not necessary. Before adding the yeast I brought up the temp to 24, and now, after cap punchdown and a stir, the temp is holding at 22. Ambient temp is 18. My pH read 3.86 and TA 3.6.

[Dave Burt]

Hi Chris,
Not sure when you took your pH and TA readings, but once you have an active ferment going the CO2 being release renders the pH meter unreliable, which in turn affects the TA reading.

[Chris Gebhard]

Dave, I took my pH readings after I brought the 4 pails home. pH of 3.86 is the average from the four pail tested. I checked the pH after 4 days of cold soak and it was 3.81. I tested for the TA four days after the cold soak and some fermentation with indigenous yeasts. The test was done on clear juice after a sample had settled in the fridge overnight.