[Dave Burt]

Must smelled sweet and clean through a 4 day cold soak. Some wild yeast just starting on day 4.

Chemistry numbers after the 4 day cold soak: Brix 26.7, pH 4.18, too much sediment in sample for a reliable TA (sediment skews the TA high). Have some must in the fridge to settle to obtain some clear juice for a TA

Added 2.5 L of water to 100 lbs of must which brought Brix down to 24.8. Added acid at 1.5 g/L plus 6.5 g/L for the water. pH came down to 3.86 – may add more water to bring pH down to 3.7 depending on my TA reading.

Update:
Redid chemistry using clear juice from sample kept in fridge for 2 days. Results:
Brix 25.6, pH 4.22, TA 5.0
1.5 g/L of acid seems appropriate, perhaps more to bring pH down to 3.7 or less (3.7 is the upper limit recommended by Alison Crowe in Winemaker Magazine)

[Dave Burt]

Chemistry on clear juice after a 4 day cold soak: Brix 24.6 (SG 1.104), pH 4.09, TA 4.6
Was expecting a higher Brix given the field estimates of Brix 26.
Added 1 g/L of tartaric acid in a small amount of water. No water dilution planned.

Assuming and ending SG of 0.994, potential alcohol = (1.104-0.994) x 131 = 14.4%

Using D254 yeast rehydrated in Go Ferm and 80 ml water

[Dave Burt]

I pressed off the skins after a 24 hr cold soak. Here are my numbers on clear juice

Brix: 27.5 (refractometer)
pH: 4.44 (highest pH I have ever got)
TA: 4.4 g/L

I plan to add water to bring the Brix down to 24, and 2.6 g/L of tartaric acid to bring the TA up to 7.0

So, with 2 extra weeks of hang time since our first shipment of this grape, the Brix went up by about 1 point and the TA remained unchanged. I will be interested to see what others got.

Update:
I ended up adding 3.3 g/L of tartaric acid giving a starting TA of 7.7, pH decreased to 3.77 which is till quite high for a white but am reluctant to add more acid as a TA of 7.7 seems plenty high for my stomach. Will add more acid at the end if it is needed.

[Dave Burt]

Casa, your TA is probably high given the Brix and pH of these grapes. An addition of 1 g/L of tartaric might be wise.

[Dave Burt]

Hi Ron,
Regarding port making, Doug Morrison and George Beck from our club both make excellent port though you may have to call them directly. Doug is off hunting – not sure when he gets back.
-Dave

[Dave Burt]

Hi Casa, and for others using Brix, an SG of 1.10 = 23.8 Brix. For your second test, I am assuming you meant 1.108 SG, which equals 25.5 Brix. The TA looks good despite the extra hang time for these grapes.

Are you going to take an average, or use your second reading?

-Dave

[Dave Burt]

I took the last 50 lbs left at the end – went through the bladder press with Brian’s 150 lbs.
Settled the juice overnight. In the morning I had a layer of sludge on the top and on the bottom (just not cold enough). Managed to siphon off the middle layer of relatively clear juice; froze the sludge.

Measurements on the liquid component:
Brix 26.3, pH 4.11, TA 4.4
Added acidified water (tartaric addition rate 2.6 g/L).
This lowered the Brix to 24.4 (as predicted) and lowered the pH to 3.55; did not measure TA but predicted to be 7.0

Rehydrated D47 yeast in Go Ferm and added to must at 11:00 pm

[Dave Burt]

Thanks for posting Jan. The Brix/SG converter on vinoenology.com gives a Brix of 25.9 for an SG of 1.11

[Dave Burt]

Note to all Syrah people:

Myself and a few other winemakers are getting the smell of nail polish (VA, ethyl acetate) on the must. If you smell this on your must, best to start your ferment right away and forget about doing a cold soak.

[Dave Burt]

I have 250 lbs of the Syrah in the garage for a cold soak. This evening I did a test on 2 samples which gave near identical readings as follows:
Brix 24.6, pH 3.99, TA 6.9
Brix was done with a refractometer and pH/TA with a brand new Vinmetrica probe (nice response time).
It is unusual to have a pH as high as this with a TA that high. Also, I was expecting a higher Brix.

I will be interested to see what the rest of you got.

Update:
After putting some must in the fridge overnight, and drawing off a sample of clear juice today, I got the following readings:
Brix: 25, pH 4.02, TA 5.2
This TA is more in line with what I would expect for a pH of 4.02. Seems that clear juice is needed for TA measurements.
I added 1 g/L of tartaric acid dissolved in a small amount of water to bring the TA up to 6.2
Pitched D254 yeast rehydrated in Go Ferm this afternoon.

[Dave Burt]

* Pressed off skins after 24 hr. cold soak
* Racked off sludge after 48 hrs.
* Initial readings: Brix 20.3, pH 3.44, TA 6.2
* Added 1.3 g/L of tartaric acid dissolved in some juice
* Post adjustment readings: pH 3.35, didn’t do TA but predicted to be 7.5
* Using D47 yeast

[Dave Burt]

* 25 ppm of SO2 added to each pail on crush day (Sept. 18)
* 1 ml Cinn Free enzyme added to each pail in the evening
* Pressed off skins after 24 hr. cold soak (Sept. 19)
* Sept. 20: juice is starting to ferment with wild yeast, racked juice off sludge. Yield = ~42 L juice and 10 L of sludge on 200 lbs of grapes.
* Chemistry on juice: Brix 25.4 (refractometer), pH 3.66, TA 6.3
* Added 1 g/L of tartaric acid and 3 L of water (for 200 lbs of grapes)
* Readings after adjustment: Brix 24, pH 3.52, TA 7.1
* Sept. 22: pitched D254 yeast rehydrated in Go Ferm
* Plan to do an oaked style using Stavin oak cubs

[Dave Burt]

This is the place for people to post items they are giving away so you will have to wait until someone posts here. You can click on subscribe and you will receive an email whenever someone posts something here.

People, when you post your email, it is probably a good idea to put it in full text as a precaution against spam. Example: JohnDoe at gmail dot com.

[Dave Burt]

The Spanish aisle is one I never miss when perusing the BC Liquor store because Spain seem to offer pretty good reds for a reasonable price. One of my favourites is RIBERA DEL DUERO – MILAGROSA MILCAMPOS VINAS VIEJAS, a Tempranillo with tar-like characteristics (in a good way) and pretty solid tannins. Curiously, the user rating for this wine is quite low, and when I questioned the clerk on this, she said it needs decanting. Just checked the BCL website – currently on sale for $1 off ($14.99 plus taxes, http://www.bcliquorstores.com/product/602656).

[Dave Burt]

To get this forum going, here are my steps with this wine so far:
Day 1: brought home 100 lbs of crush, placed in garage (coolest place), added 1 ml Cinn Free
Day 2: pressed off skins in morning (~24 hr cold soak), yield 31 L, 6 inches of sludge on bottom by evening
Day 3: racking gave 25 L of juice and 6 L of sludge; sludge put in freezer for Duane’s “Cryo-extraction” process.
Chemistry results (did it twice):
Brix 21.4, 21.5 (refractometer)
pH 3.81, 3.76
TA 5.3, 5.2
Day 4: Added 2 g/L of tartaric acid; chemistry after addition:
Brix 21.5
pH 3.52
TA 7.0
Rehydrated 5 g Vin13 yeast in 7 g of Go Ferm and added to primary