Day 2 after inoculation of the primitivo. I went to punch down this morning, and noticed that the can with BM45 (can B) was exceptionally foamy, whereas can A with ICV-D80 had no noticeable foam. Can A was at 82 degrees F, and can B was at 85 degrees F. I checked out Lallemand’s wine […]
Tag archive: grapes
There are signs of fermentation – little bubbles forming at the top, the cap already forming, and the aromas of fermentation in the air. Both cans were at about 75 degrees F. I added 18 grams fermaid-K and 12 grams opti-red to each can, and gave them a good stir.
Time to check out the primitivo must. Brix are at about 26-26.5; pH is up at 4, and TA is ~9.5-10 g/L. Not perfect; I decided to add a half gallon of water with 14 grams of dissolved tartaric acid to each can, and also added pectinase. When I retested, the brix were at about […]
My friend Ray emailed me on Tuesday that the Zin at BellaGrace Vineyards slowed down in ripening, and would not be ready for harvest until next week. This would not normally had been a problem, but Ray was going to South Bend to cheer on the Irish against Michigan State. The grower told him that […]
A group of my friends (some that also blog) agreed to get up and meet at our house at 6 am on Saturday to pick grapes. Amazingly, they all showed up early, and had some breakfast then headed out to Fallbrook. Most of the rest of the gang were already there, so we spent a […]
Ray Schnorr (he let me use his basket press last year) is picking up zinfandel grapes from Amador county this year, and asked if I was interested in getting some as well. I wanted to make some zin from grapes this year, so it seemed like a great opportunity. He sent an update today from […]
I saw a classified on the SDAWS site for local syrah grapes, and convinced Dave to go in on 500 lbs. Paul is also going to take 500 lbs to make at home. This syrah is grown at Live Oak Vineyard in Fallbrook, and we get to take part in harvest when the grapes are […]
I had some friends over last night to taste the cabernet sauvignon and 3 merlots made from fresh grapes. We first by tasted each individually, starting with the cab and then the barrel merlot, merlot A, and merlot B. It was very interesting how much all of the wines have changed even since my last […]
I’m pretty sure the MLB is not viable anyway, but I don’t want to risk exploding wine bottles, either. What we needed to do was treat our merlot with lysozyme. Lysozyme is an enzyme that will lyse the bacterial walls, which definitely completely destroys any bacteria that might still be hanging around. Chris Van Alyea […]
I finally joined San Diego Amateur Wine Society (SDAWS) and went to an actual meeting. It was very interesting, I met a lot of home winemakers and several people also have small home vineyards (yep, totally jealous). I decided to ask around for advice about my merlot-no-go MLF problem. Everyone steered me to the same […]