I got everything set up and started pressing the primitivo after retesting the brix, which were at 0 for both cans.  It took about 4 hours total, it’s quite tedious with the basket press – the must gets poured in until the basket is about full, then the lid gets screwed down to press.  The lid is then taken off and the must is “fluffed” with a fork, then pressed again – these steps are repeated 2-4 times, until the pomice left in the basket feels dry.  The trick is to not press too hard, which could pull out more bitterness and crack the seeds;  and also not to press too lightly, and lose wonderful juice and phenolics that make the wine exceptional.

The pressed pomice came out of the basket like a layer of cake, and I noticed that my bowl of pomice looked rather yummy:

When I was finished, I had about 24 – 25 gallons!  I was not expecting that much, but it’s a good problem to have!  Since my pH was a little high before, I rechecked the combined juice – still up at 3.87.  I went ahead and added tartaric acid to try to get the pH closer to 3.6, and ended up at 3.65.  I’ll check it again after I pump it off of the gross lees in 2 days, just before starting the inoculation of malolactic bacteria.  For now, I covered the surface with plastic wrap and put a layer of CO2 over the top to protect it.