2018 Sauvignon Blanc, day 34

06:00
Cellar 66 F, outside 36 F.

Shhhhhhh.  Nothing happening here. No bubbles, no collar.  Since we didn't add any SO2 and so didn't otherwise inhibit anything I'd guess that the activity we saw before racking last weekend came from the lees.  Will check SO2 again this weekend to see if all the aeration from racking changed anything.  And maybe rack the Syrah?

Day 34, still.  CB3, and the others are the same.

2018 Sauv. Blanc, day 29 - racked

12:30
Outside 48 F.
Cellar 65 F.

Erin, Lori and I racked the Sauvignon Blanc.

First the testing.

• I was expecting the free SO2 to be pretty low and was prepared to raise it to halt any MLF.  But, low and behold, it tested above 30 ppm with Titrettes.  We ran the test twice - it was a little hard to believe.  So, we dodged a sulpher bullet.   Was all set to use the sulfite calculator at Winemaker Mag.  Our testing was from CB B - the middle 5 gallons.
• pH 3.36

We racked each of the three 5 gallon CBs into separate carboys, and topped each with wine from the 3 gallon carboy.  We took another gallon from the 3 gal CB and put it into a jug for future topping off.  The old 1 gal. jug, which was about halfway full with lees, was about as foul as you might expect, so we just tossed it.

So, 5+5+5+3+1 => 5+5+5+1.  Depending on ho clean we kept the racking, we can still hope for finishing with 6 cases of wine.

S.B. after 1st racking.

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21:00
With a bright line shining through the necks of the S.B. Carboys... they are still.  Gone are even the fine bubbles that were there before we racked the wine off of the lees.

2018 wines, day 26

The Sauvignon Blanc continues to move toward clear in the 5 gallon CBs, and is clear(ish) in the 3 and 1 gallon vessels.  (The smaller vessels have a hell of a lot of lees: the 1 gallon might be a third lees.)  Probably time to rack, either Saturday night this coming weekend or Sunday day.  The Syrah, too?  Probably.

For comparison, we'd be looking at day 29.  In past years:

• 2016 - 44 days
• 2015 - 20 days
• 2014 - 14 days
• 2013 - 14 days
• 2012 - 14 days

This would put us in the sweet spot between 2015 and 2016 - possibly our two best white wines.  And way past 2012, probably our best red wines.  (But remember, that 2012 red spent a leisurely 31 days fermenting in the primary.)

We'll look to rack and probably add meta: 20 ppm?  30?  Nothing was added at crush or pressing. Happy to have everyone weigh in on this.  And should we do this with both the white & red?  Or maybe let the red sit another week, assuming malolactic fermentation is still going and we don't want to stop it?

2018 Sauvignon Blanc, day 23

07:00
Just a quick pic to illustrate what I said last night - the SB has become translucent as the settling of the lees continues.  This is carboy 3, backlit.

2018 Sauv. Blanc & Syrah, day 22

21:30
Cellar 65 F, Outside 54 F.

Sauv. Blanc.  Home from a few days away.  Significant color change in the Sauvignon Blanc.  Nowhere near transparent in the larger carboys, but now translucent.  (The gallon top-off jug is moving up on transparent.)  Not as clear as the 2016 Chardonnay was on day 25, but hey, we have three more days.  Also looking at 2016, wine was clear on day 42.  Worth looking at the comparison, 25 and 42.  Over the next day or two I'll try to position a carboy or two where it's easier to photograph the color shift.

Bubbles are also much finer -  still constant, but fewer and smaller.

Syrah: Too late and dark and tired to see or say anything notable.

About the cellar itself, since we were away and the heat was turned down while the weather cooled, the cellar got about as low as we'll see it.  Turned on the heat when we got home and also put some reflective insulating panels between the furnace and the wine area so the carboys won't get any direct radiant heat.

2018 Sauv. Blanc & Syrah, day 15

07:00
Fine bubbles climbing the sides of both wines.  Little change.  Sauvignon Blanc is still custard-thick and colored.

Here's an image showing the accumulation of lees in the Sauvignon Blanc, carboy #3.  Left is day 10.  Right is day 15.  I lit the two pics differently and the color was distracting, so futzed around, but you get the idea.  Snowpeaks of dead yeast and grape innards rising over the line of 5 days ago.  (In the last of the juice to come out of the primary fermenter, a one gallon jug, there's 4 inches of lees and as they compact there's a growing headspace.  I doubt it will be usable for topping off.)

2018 Sauvignon Blanc & Syrah, day 13

06:00

Cellar 74 F.  Outside 64 F, clear starry morning.

It's hard to convey just how active the Sauvignon Blanc still is. Thousands of small bubbles rushing up the sides of the CBs (and I guess in the center of the wine, too), so fine that it must take millions of them to burp the bubbler.  You get a small sense of them in this picture. (5 gallon carboy number 3.  Chewier than 1 and 2 but not so packed with lees as the vessels that followed.  It's the same one that I took the picture of the settling lees in on day 10.)

The Syrah, meanwhile, just sends a single larger bubble up it's side when it's in the mood.

Is the difference the quantity of lees?  (The Syrah wasn't crushed at all, fermented the whole berries.)  Or the yeast?

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23:30

S.B. carboys 1 and 3, short scale hydrometer directly in the carboys, both at -1.8 Brix.

2018 Sauv. Blanc & Syrah, day 10

06:00

Clean night, with just a little fouling in the bubbler of SB-5.  Wackadoodle action in SB-4, the three gallon CB.  Labeled everything.  That is all.

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And a shout out to Bitter & Esters on Washington Ave., where I picked up a 3 gallon carboy yesterday.  Let me move the Sauv. Blanc without having to bottle anything old.

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22:00
All groovy.  Here's a pic of the dead yeast and falling grape solids in

Sauvignon Blanc carboys 2 &3 (three to the right), +24 hours after coming out of the primary fermenter.  Maybe an inch or so up the curve of the glass.

2018 Sauvignon Blanc moved out of primary, day 9

18:00
Outside 75 F, humid.
Cellar 74 F.

Sauv. Blanc: 74 F, bouncing between 1.1 and 1.3 Brix.

Time to move the wine out of the primary fermenter.  I had estimated 75 liters, so roughly 19 or 20 gallons, and knew that there were an awful lot of dead yeast and grape solids in there, so... 18 gallons?  Yes! Exactly!  5+5+5+3+1.  Maybe a gallon of swill left behind.

The 5's look great, the three started getting yeasty, and the one is a total beast of solids - don't really know what will become of it.  It almost immediately fouled itself but seems to be behaving now.  I have the 5 and the 1 in a bus tray so if they get sloppy clean-up should be fine.

Family portrait.  19 Gallons of Sauv. Blanc, 12.5 of Syrah,
and some distant cousins in the background

2018 Sauv. Blanc & Syrah, day 9

07:00
Outside: 63 F, overcast.
Cellar: 73 F.

Sauv. Blanc: 74 F, 1.6 to 2 Brix.
Similar activity to last evening, but less.  Brix reading in the tube traveled pretty quickly from 1.6 to 2.0, but then stabilized at 2.  Should move it to carboys this evening to make sure the surface can be covered by CO2 from the end of fermentation - the surface in the primary is quite large.  The only worry now is that I didn't do any great planning regarding the carboys themselves - I have plenty of fives, but all my threes and ones are full.  Might need to bottle something to get what I need - or play half a day of hooky and buy more at Terminal Market.  Another choice is to put everything into the 100 liter steel floating lid tank until I get the carboys sorted.  I don't love the gasket on the lid, but will test it this evening.

Syrah: Stoppers and bubblers stayed clean overnight.  Occasional action in each vessel.