Day 1: Picking, pressing
I decided to try whole cluster pressing in an attempt to get a fruitier light wine. So no need to rent a crusher; just a press.
I drove to the vineyard in Healdsburg:
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Got there at 8 AM. I met with the grower and we started picking. We dropped a lot of fruit, on the growers advice, because of mildew problems. I couldn’t really see it, but I dropped fruit that didn’t look good. Filled up 3 20 gallon tubs. Assuming 5 lbs/ gallon, that is 300 lbs, although I don’t think it was really that much. Here are two of the tubs:
After picking, drove to BevPeople and picked up a #35 basket press. Went home, cleaned up and got organized, and started pressing:
I pressed into a 23 L, 25L and ~2/3 of a 3 gallon carboy. So that is 6.1+6.6+2.5 = ~15 gallons. Not a lot for 300 lbs, so I probably didn’t have 300 lbs. Also, the whole clsuter pressing was difficult. When I checked the grape cake, there will still whole grapes. I stirred up the cake a few times and repressed. I’ll have to decide if I want to do this gains without a crusher. It is way easier with crushed grapes.
I finished the pressing and put the carboys in a cold water bath for an overnight settling. I want the temperature around 55F for start of fermentation.
The I did the numbers:
- Sugars: 23 brix
- pH: 3.08
- acids: 8.2 g/l
Damn good numbers! This should make a nice crisp dry SB, perfect for global warming and the summer of 2010.
Next, time to sulphite, to 50 ppm, using 10 % potassium metabisulphite solution:
- 23L carboy: 6.1 gal * 3.3 ml/gal = 20 ml
- 25L carboy: 6.6 gal * 3.3 ml/gal = 21 ml
- 3 gal carboy: 2.5 gal * 3.3 ml/gal = 8.3 ml
All done for the day!