Poppyseed Cellars

It has to be easier to do all this in metric, so here are some of our 2010 Syrah numbers, in english and metric:

• Must total volume: 108 gallons = 408 liters ~= 4 hL
• Must total weight: 108 gallons * 10.35 lbs/gallon = 1118 lbs = 507 kg
• Must weight/volume = 507/408 = 1.24 kg/L  (water is 1 kG/L)…This is probably wrong. We started with a 25 brix juice by hydrometer, which corresponds to a specific gravity of 1.107.
• Target wine: 68 gallons = 257 L = 342+ bottles = 28+ cases

Other interesting container equivalents :

• Full barrel =  225 L = 59 gallons = 300 bottles = 25 cases
• Half barrel = 110 L = 29.3 gallon = 146+ bottles = 12+ cases
• 1/4 barrel = 50 L = 13.3 gallons = 66+ bottles = 5+ cases
• 14 gallon demijohn = 53 liters = 70+ bottles = 5+ cases
• 6.5 gallon carboy = 24.4 L = 32+ bottles = 2+ cases
• 6.0 gallon carboy = 22.7 L = 30+ bottles = 2+ cases
• 5.0 gallon carboy =  18.9 L = 25.2 bottles = 2+ cases
• 1.0 gallon jug =  3.8 L = 5 bottles

How about other additions:

• Yeast additon: 2.0 lb/1000 gallons ~= 1 g/gallon ~= 25 g/hL
•  GoFerm addition: 2.5 lb/1000 gallons ~= 1.25 g/gallon ~= 30 g/hL
• FermaidK addition: 25 g/hL total in two seperate additions
• Enoferm Alpha MLB: 1 g/hL

On Erwin’s advice, I looked up the max temp on our yeast…82 F. We’ll hit that easily. I headed back out to the farm to check the temp. We were at 80F, with a little H2S on the nose. I did a very vigorous punch down; the H2S was gone.

Time to slow it down. I took the bin cover off; I opened the front and back windows; I put two 1 gallon ices on the must. I bet tomorrow we still hit 85 F. I will go out early…

The ferment is going strong:

• Brix: 21.5; it has dropped 5 brix since yesterday
• Must temp: 77 F; it has warmed up considerably. I shut off the heat lamps. It will be in the 80’s by tomorrow, and I don’t want it to go any higher than 90F.
• The nose was perfect. Occasional whiff of ethyl acetate, but that is normal, and probably good as a very small amount adds fruitiness to the wine.
• Taste was great. Still very sweet. Even my kids liked it!

Here are the new cellar rats, punching down the cap:

The ferment has started on its own! There was a slight cap on the edges of the bin where the heat lamps were. It is time to add our own yeast.

1. First we finished with the tartaric addition, by adding 92 grams more tartaric.
2. Second, we mixed up a yeast starter as follows:
   1. GoFerm at 2.5 lb/1000 gallons. In our case, we assumed 100 gallons of must , and needed 0.25 lb, or 4 ounces of GoFerm. We only had 2.2 ounces of GoFerm left (from a 3 oz bag), so that is what we used. Note that this is my first year using ANY yeast rehydration nutrient.
   2. Added 20x the weight of the GoFerm 5.5 cups H2o at 110F.
   3. Mixed it up, and let it sit until it dropped to 104 F.
   4. Slowly added 150g ES488 yeast. The additon rate is anywhere from .75 to 1.5 g/gallon. We used the  1.5 because we already had a bit of a wild ferment going, and we want our yeast to be the main yeast.
   5. We let the yeast slurry sit for 20 minutes and at lunch!
   6. Then we slowly diluted the slurry with must, to bring the temperature slowly down close to the must temp of 62 F.
   7. Poured it in and mixed it up!
3. We are leaving the heat lamps on the must container to try and move it along.

Here are the results of our Vinquiry Core Juice panel: 2010SyrahCoreJuicePanel 

Our analysis of those numbers:

• Brix: 25.3…no more sugar need…this will result in 12.7-15.2% alcohol, probably around 14%.
• pH: 3.79. This is quite a bit higher than we would like. Our acid addition (see below) will lower it somewhat, but it will also rise during pressing. The  plan is to monitor the pH during pressing.
• TA: 4.96 g/L. We want to be at 6 g/L. So we need to add 1 g/L tartaric, using our target wine amount: 
  • 60 gallons target wine-> 214 g tartaric acid…I only have 122 g tartaric… need 92 g more.
  • Added 122 g tartaric
• Nitrogen
  • Ammonia: 31 mg/L
  • Assimilable amino nitrogen: 221 mg/L
  • YAN = 31 + 221 = 252 mg/L.This is considered a high level of YAN, so that will minimize our nutrient additions.
• malic acid: 2.81 g/L: This will get converted to lactic acid during the MLF, so our TA will drop. 

Just for fun, we measured what 1/2 gallon of must weighs… 5 lbs, 1.8 oz

• 10.23 lbs must/gallon
• 108 gallons * 10.23 lbs must/gallon = 1100 lbs grapes!
• Typical wine yield = 16 lbs grapes/ gallon. If you assume all the weight is in the must (pretty accurate, as we only throw away the stems), then we should end up with 1100/16 = 68.8 gallons.
• Let’s go metric! What would that look like? I’ll write it up in a separate post!

The must temperature was still at 55 F, too cold for the yeast addition, which requires >59 F. So we will wait one more day.

I got some testing numbers for a wine must made up of 25% zin from the Moaveni vineyard, plus 75% Syrah 470 from the same vineyard. Our syrah is made up of maybe 30% syrah Alban and 70% syrah 470 from the same vineyards. So our number may look very similar when we get them tested Monday. But here are the syrah/zin blend numbers:

1. Acidity: The TA is low. Typically winemakers add  tartaric acid to get it up to 6 g/L. This wine will need an addition. One might think that the TA should be a sum of the acids in the wine, but it actually comes out lower than expected. I have no idea why!
   1. TA (titratable acidity) 4.8 g/L
   2. pH 3.74
   3. L-malic acid 1.92 g/L
   4. tartaric acid 4.38 g/L
2. Sugars: These numbers are fine. But here is an interesting quote from a testing lab: “It might seem surprising that glucose + fructose numbers often appear higher than the corresponding °Brix. The reason for this apparent anomaly is that °Brix is measured as a percentage by weight measurement so °Brix values are influenced by the density of the juice. Glucose + fructose is measured as weight by volume and is independent of juice density.”
   1. brix 25.5 degrees
   2. glucose + fructose 273 g/L
3. Nitrogen 
   1. ammonia 73 mg/L
   2. alpha-amino compounds 141 mg/L
   3. yeast assimilable nitrogen 201 mg/L (as N): This is commonly referred to as YAN. This number is a midrange number, and probably means some extra N will be necessary. If the yeasts don’t get enough N, they get cranky and produce the H2S stink.
4. potassium 2100 mg/L

Mixed up the cold soak again. No more dry ice, so I used the CO2 tank to put down a layer of CO2.

• Sugars: 26.5 by hydrometer
• pH: 3.75
• Temp 50F; starting to warm up.

I took  down the blanket window coverings (trying to keep the room cool). I put up black weed cloth over the windows. This should keep out the light, but warm up in the sun, to try and warm up the must.

“Punched down” the cold soaking grapes. Starting to get some color. Added the last of the dry ice.

• Sugars: 26.5 by hydrometer, 24.7 by refractometer
• pH: 3.7 
• Temp: 45 F

So BevPeople do the SO2 calcs with the final juice volume in mind. That is what we did. We wanted 50 ppm SO2 at crush, and we targeted the 60 gallons of wine we hope to have someday.

MoreWine says target the must volume, and they underline the comment! So we should have used 108 gallons for the calculation.

I went back out this noon and added 150 ml of 10% sulphite solution. Now we are at 50 ppm in our must.

The must temp was at 45 F, so it dropped 5 F. That is perfect.

I floated a small bowl of dry ice on the top of the must. This will produce a nice blanket of CO2 on the must, to keep the it from browning in the air.

I racked the pinot again today after the  syrah crush. I measured:

1. Sugar: 0.4% with clinitest. I think the ferment is finished. The sugar is a little high but OK.
2. pH: 3.5 … it has come up significantly since the must measurment of 3.1.
3. It is losing it’s H2S smell, but now I can smell oak. But if I remember right, that is what happened with the ’09 syrah. And the copper removed it; so it wasn’t oak, but an H2S issue.
4. Because of the racking, I added 30 ppm SO2.

I took the oak staves out of the wine; I will let it sit a week, and then try some copper fining trials.

Here are the stats…

• 1/3 Alban, 2/3 470 clone of Syrah
• 26.0 Brix by hydrometer
• 24.5 Brix by refractometer
• 1.11 specific gravity
• 3.5 pH
• 50 F
• Must volume: 30 * 18.5 * 45 = 24975 cu in = 108 gallons
• Grape weight = 108 * 8.35 = 902 lbs
• Estimated wine = 900/16 = 56 gallons wine ~ 60 gallons wine
• Sulphite addition: 50 ppm = 197 mL of 10% stock meta

We will cold soak for 4 days. On monday I’ll take a sample to Vinquiry for analysis, and maybe start the Femrne t Monday night or Tuesday!

Praying to the wine gods!

Crush crew:

I racked the SB into a single 6.5 gallon carboy, and 3/4 gallon jug. Smells good. Tastes good…grapefruit, crisp. Now let it sit for a month and settle  out. I added 30 ppm SO2.

Also measured the sugars in the zin and syrah…

1. Syrah: 23 Brix; 3.3 pH; Some crunchy   seeds; some still green. Flavors are really good.
2. Zin: 23 Brix; 3.4 pH; Good flavor. The crunchy seeds actually taste pretty good. Skins slightly tannic, but not as much as one might think they should be.

I checked sugars with Clinitest:

Pinot: 0.4%

Sauv Blanc: 0.1% …it is done. Time to rack…hopefully tomorrow morning.

Also, here are some picures of the pinot and SB…

and a friend who was living in the ceallar…hopefully not drinking any of my wine!

Once again I have a serious H2S problem. The pinot is stinky! This is really frustrating. As far as I know, I am doing everything right!

I racked it yesterday, and again this morning, with lot’s of splashing. It helped a lot, but it is still there. I don’t want to keep doing the rack and splash, as it will eventually get too much O2 in the wine, and then I’ll have different problems.

The ferment is almost done. The sugars were at 0.6%, by Clinitest. My next step is copper sulphate to remove the H2S. I’ll post in a few forums to see if there is any other solution…but splashing and copper sulphate are the only solutions  I have read about.

I sampled the grapes this morning and took down some numbers:

• Zinfandel: 21.5 Brix; 3.3 pH. Some of the seeds were brown and crunchy, some still green. Lots of cluster problems (turkeys, raisins, green berries). There won’t be much zin this year.
• Block 3 syrah: 22 Brix; 3.3 pH. Clusters look really good here. Again, some crunchy brown seeds, some still green. We need another week on this. It is going to be  a very warm week…in the 80’s. That should be good for the grapes.

I checked the sugars today (and managed to drop the wine thief into the carboy..).

• 1 Brix by hydrometer

So there is probably a week left before it goes totally dry..It has taken 1 week to ferment. That is actually pretty fast. I would have like two or three weeks. Oh well, it is almost done.

Also, there is a very slight H2S smell. Not enough to do anything. It goes away when I take a sample for tasting. It  will probably blow off when I rack it.

The taste is very crisp, citrus, very acidic. I will be doing a cold stabilization on this wine this winter.

After pressing the Pinot yesterday, I took a sampling of grapes in the Block 3 syrah:

• 21 Brix
• 3.2 pH

Those numbers look good. We just need a few more weeks of ripening! And the weather forcast looks pretty good right now.

I checked the sugars…5 Brix.

Because of the intensity of the tannins, and the bitterness, I decided to go ahead and press off the  skins and seeds. I started with about 12 gallons of must, and ended up with maybe 7 gallons of pressed wine, in a 6 gallon carboy plus two 1 gallon jugs.

There is still quite a bit of the ferment to finish, so I will keep the glass up in the wine making room, which is a bit warmer than the cellar.

The bladder press worked great! It is a 90L press, or about 22 gallon. I prefilled it most of the way, so that the 12 gallons of must would fill the press the rest of the way. I was off only by a few inches. I got about 4-5 gallons of free run, the other 2 gallons of press run.

The carboys are topped with airlocks, and are bubbling away as the ferment completes….hopefully within a week or so. I also put in the 4 wood staves into the 6 gallon carboy for the rest of the ferment.

The SB looks good. The browning in the must is gone. I am not sure why. I wonder if the CO2 content makes it go away? Or maybe the yeast produces enough SO2?

I added 2 g each carboy of FermaidK. (First half of 1 g/gallon…1/2 /gallon * 4 gallons)

The aromas were extremely citrusy, just like all the SB’s I have made. I just don’t know how to hang on to them at the current strength! Looking good!

I stopped by the cellar just now.

• Sugar at 7 Brix. it is almost done. I should press tomorrow.
• Temp at 78F. So it never got as warm as I wanted, but not too bad.
• I think I smelled some H2S. I put in the 2nd half of the FermaidK. It should have gone in at 15 Brix. I missed it!
• In tasting in a seperate jar, I got no H2S. Just very yeast must. But there was a distinct bitterness and noticeable tannins. I don’t know if any of this is going to dissipate. I hope so, as it won’t be drinkable if it doesn’t!

After punching down the Pinot, I checked the SB in the cellar. It now has a steady bubbling going, so the ferment has started, though slowly. The ferment smells fine, so far. I have not used any nutrients in the SB.

Checked on ths Pinot this evening.

• 17 Brix. The ferment is really moving now. That is 5 or 6 Brix in a day.
• 75 F…so it is warming up, as it should be. I am not sure I’ll ever get the must to 80. We’ll see.
• Big cap tonight. Punch down was a lot of fun.
• Smelled great. Taste was good, with a strong sour component. That may be the acidity coming though, but it seemed like it was something more that that. We’ll just have to wait and see. It is funny, but I still don’t get the Pinot character. Hopefully, at some point that will come through.
• Tomorrow I will add the final nutirent addition.

I spent a couple of hours on the SB.

1. The SB has been settled over night, so I pumped the juice off the sediment layer. I started with around 9 gallons, and ended up with about 8 gallons. I pumped equally into 2 5 gallon carboys, which leaves some space (hopefully not too much) at the top.
2. I mixed up a batch of Prise de Mouse yeast, per the Lallemand Yeast Rehydration procedure
   • 10 g yeast (1g / gallon)
   • 12.5 g GoFerm re-hydrated in 250 mL H2O
3. I added it to the carboys, and put on the airlocks. Let the fun begin!
4. The room temperature is 66 F, which is a little warm. I may have to use an ice bath to bring down the temperature.

The pinot ferment is well under way. The sugars still measured 23 Brix, so we have a long ways to go. But there was a nice cap to be punched down, and the must smells wonderful. Esteban will be punching down 3 times a day, and I hope to be out there daily for a fourth punch down. The color is really deepening. I wonder how light a wine this will be?

I went out to the vineyard to punch down the Pinot. The ferment has started. The temperature was around 70F, and the sugars measured about 23 Brix with the hydrometer. Everything smelled wonderful.

So far so good!

I brought the cold soaking Pinot up from the cellar yesterday, and it has been warming up fora day. The juice is a gorgeous purple color, with a wonderful flavor. There are some tannins, but at least so far it is a light juice. The fermentation should help.

I am using Assmanhausen yeast, a common yeast for Pinot. It is low H2S producing, medium nutrient requirement, and is supposed to produce spicy, fruit wine. Sounds good!

I mixed up a batch of yeast as follows:

1. Target yeast qty = 12 g Assmanhausen yeast= 1 g/gal Assmanhausen * 12 gal
2. 15 g GoFerm  (1.25 * yeast weight)
3. 300 mL water = 20 * 15 g GoFerm weight
4. Mixed the goFerm and water at 110 F to help dissolve the GoFerm.
5. Let the mix cool down to 104 F.
6. Mix in the yeast. Stir to prevent clumping.
7. Let it sit 15 minutes.
8. Add must juice slowly to bring yeast temop closer to must temp.
9. Mix in the yeast mixture with the must.
10. Add Fermaid at 1/2 g/gallon = 6 g Fermaid to the must. This is to make sure the must has all the nutrients that the yeast need. If it doesn’t, you can get some nasty H2S problems. I have had more than my share.

Now just wait for the ferment to begin!

I managed to get to the vineyard around 9AM. First I had to drop off the kids at school…then rescue the cat from the neighbors yard.

The grapes were picked and waiting for me. They started picking at 2AM. 

I decided to go ahead and whole cluster press. I forgot to put the net bag in the press, but that didn’t seem to matter. I did two press runs. From about 40 gallons of grapes (150 – 200 lbs?) I got about 9 gallons of juice. That is a pretty low yield, but that was all my press could get out of the grapes. If I had crushed first, that would probably have helped. I pressed to 3 BARs of pressure.

Here are the post press numbers:

• Sugars: 23 with hydrometer
• Sugars: 22 with refractometer
• pH: 3.1

With this low a pH, I don’t need much SO2. I added:

• 20 ppm (3 gallons * 1.3 mL 10% SO2 /gallon = 3.9 mL 10% SO2)
• 20 ppm (6 gallons * 1.3 mL 10% SO2 / gallon = 7.8 mL 10% SO2)

I moved the carboys into the cellar to sit over night. I’ll cast the yeast tomorrow, after racking off the sediment.