Lots of racking
We did a lot today. Started around 7AM, finished up at 12:0PM. Lomg day.
- Measured some of the ferments. From <1 to <3 in the various tubs.
- Emptied the new 2 year old barrel, rinsed it carefully, and moved it to the cellar to let it drain.
- Racked the 2011 syrah from our 1 year old ReCoop barrel to a 2 year old barrel:
- The nose was fantastic. Some chocolate and cherries.
- The mouth feel was a little light. We could use a little more structure, some tannins. Hopefully more time in the barrel will help.
- We had extra wine since we were going from a ReCoop to a non ReCoop. We needed up with almost 2 cases of bottles which we will use to top.
- We added 20 ppm sulphites.
- We cleaned and rinsed the 1 year old ReCoop that held the 2011 syrah, and set it up to take the 2012.
- We started by racking the press run into the barrel, but the pump clogged quickly. Still too much activity in the press run keeping the sediment in the juice. We cleaned and unclogged the pump (took 1/2 hour).
- We carefully racked the free run tubs into the barrel. We poured some of the wine that we didn’t rack back into the press run tub.
- Then we racked some of the press run from demijohn into barrel, and stopped a couple of inches from the top.
- Finally we poured the rest of the press run from the demijohn and the press run from the 30 gallon tub into a single 20 gallon tub. We will let this continue to ferment until it settles, and then rack it.
- Put an airlock on the barrel; it started bubbling right away.
- Covered the press run tub with its lid and a blanket.
- Cleaned and sanitized everything!