The rewards and frustrations of home winemaking

Tag archive: fermentation

Checking on the Cab

Things are definitely busy.  I am taking care of the “office wine” on the weekends since the guys are taking care of it through the week.  After punching the cans down, I checked the temp and brix.  Temperatures are rising, definite active fermentations at 77-78 degrees now, with sugar levels averaging about 17 degrees brix.  […]

Fire up the Cab!

Paul got us some great yeast for our cab:  D254 and FX10.  We were splitting a half ton evenly, and we ended up with 6 32-gallon trash cans full of must.  We decided that Dave & I would inoculate 2 cans with D254 and one with FX10, and then Paul would inoculate 2 cans with […]

Slowly But Surely

Lot A is at –0.2 degrees brix, so that fermentation is done.  Unfortunately, lot B is still at 4.2 degrees brix.  It has been dropping every day, just very slowly.  I ordered more yeast in case I need to reinnoculate.  I guess only time will tell …..

Slow Merlot

Brix have been steadily dropping in the merlot batches.  A second dose of yeast nutrient was added yesterday.  Looking at the numbers, lot B has become quite sluggish.  Lot A has dropped to 5.5 degrees brix, but lot B is only at 11 degrees brix.  Both batches got quite hot, over 80 degrees farenheit!  Hopefully […]

Getting Punchy

Definitely getting a distinct cap on both sets today.  I have a little lab set next to the trash cans with sanitizer in a spray bottle, the wine thief and hydrometer for monitoring the brix, a floating thermometer to keep an eye on the temperature, the big spoon for stirring, and of course a plastic […]

Are You Awake in There?

It looks like the yeastie-beasties are at least alive in lot A, although it’s just kind of fizzing and most of the whole berries are sitting on the bottom of the bucket.  Lot B, though, was going nuts!  It was very vigorously fermenting and had already formed a distinct cap on top.  Yeast nutrient was […]

Starting Fermentation on Merlot Grapes

We did a cold maceration of the grapes for 48 hours, keeping them cold with additional dry ice.  Our juice was at a starting brix (sugar content) of 26 – this reading is on the high end of what you want for a good wine that’s not too hot or alcoholic.  I also checked titratable […]

Slow Start on the d’Oc

Time to check the Montagnac vieux Chateau d’Oc to rack to secondary.  Bummer, the SG is 1.025, and should be 1.010 or less.  OK, wait another week …..