Poppyseed Cellars

Erwin and I tasted the three barrels today. Everything tasted fine. No sign of H2S. The 15 gallon barrels tasted a bit smoother than the 30 gallon…possible the MLF in the 15’s is going faster?

We also tried the Accuvin Malic acid test strips. We got ~300 mg/L, with wine from a 15 gallon barrel noticeably lighter than the 30 gallons, which agrees with the above.

Erwin took a sample (50% from the 30 gallon barrel, 25% each from the 15 gallon barrels) to Vinquiry for analysis. Here is a table of the results, and a comparison to our juice panel before the ferment:

I ‘ve been lazy on the blog, but not with the wine. Here is my catchup…

1. We racked the 3 gallon container that had been Cu fined. We mixed the result with the other small containers so that the MLB would be in all containers. This is our current count:
   

   1	110 L barrel	30 gal
   2	55 L barrel	14.5 gal
   3	50 L barrel	13 gal
   4	11 L carboy	3 gal
   5	3 L jug	3/4 gal
   Totals	229 L	61 gal

    

2. We also set up a space heater in the wine room, as it was getting too cold for the MLF to complete. We have set the room temperature at about 64 F.
3. We have tasted several times. The new oak barrel is definitely having its effect on the wine. It seemed really strong after the first week, but somewhat less more recently. I am not sure why, or even if it was real!
4. We innoculated for MLF Nov 12, so tomorrow it will have been 4 weeks. It should be moving along. I just can’t tell with the wine in the barrels.

I purchased an Accuvin malic acid test kit. I’ll try it out this weekend. It would be nice to know without doing chromatography or a lab test.