6:00: Room 63 F. Merlot 70 F, Cab Franc 74 F.
Lots of sizzle from the Cab F. A little less so from the cooler Merlot, but both are in very good shape. The color of the Merlot is really extraordinary. Won't take Brix readings until this evening. Just from temp, the Merlot is about 24 hours behind the Cab F.
The Cab F was so loud I tried to get an audio recording of it on my phone. You'll need to turn your audio way up, and I don't have a quick way to embed the audio - you'll have to download it - but here it is... Cab F talking.
1600: Well, it's a little odd, isn't it.
Room 66 F. Cab Franc 74.5 F and 7.5 Brix. OK.
Merlot 70 F and still reading 25 Brix. That's a puzzler. There was a couple of inches of cap and strong fermentation underneath, but the sugar level doesn't seem to be budging, and there was no temperature rise over 10 hours. What, me worry?
Re the Cab Franc, it's time to nail down when we want to add MLF bugs and when we want to add meta - but only because in our earliest wines that we added bugs to, we did so at the end of primary ferm. MoreWine's recommendation for Enoferm Beta is that it be added after racking off the gross lees. So, go dry, press, settle, rack off lees & add Enoferm-B. Dah? Looking back at 2010, it was day 16 or so that we added the bugs. But then do we add Meta before the bugs - at pressing / dry? Seems like yes, to protect the wine (no more CO2 being produced) and seems like no, to prevent inhibiting the MLF. Isn't it amazing that we ask ourselves the same questions every year?
2 comments:
The More Winemaking Guide to MLF indicates adding the Meta after MLF as SO2 inhibits ML bacteria formation.
Right. But the recommendation is also to add this particular bug after moving off the gross lees. So, pressing happens, then the gross lees settle, then you rack off the lees and add the bugs. So maybe at least a week when there's no c02 being produced to protect the wine. I'm good with it. Just saying it out loud.
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