2022 Chardonnay: day 36

 0900:

Ready for racking, today or tomorrow.

• Malic acid: ~ 75 g/L, which is not quite complete, but no visible action.  That raises the question of whether to raise the SO2 after racking or hold off.  Or just not raise it too much.
• pH: ~4.4, which is really high and I'm hoping this is a bad reading.  It would mean we seriously need to add tartaric acid and a really walloping dose of meta.  Used a test strip color chart rather than the probe we bought years back.  (That machine needs new parts that we're not going to buy this year, or maybe ever.)  Will test again before using the pH to calculate how much meta to add to raise the free SO2.  But will maybe pick up some tartaric acid just in case.  Maybe also call Musto to see if they did any testing of pH when the grapes came in.
• Free SO2: 18 ppm.

Accuvin malic acid test strips, Bartovation pH test strips, & Chemetrics Titrets free SO2 test.

2022 Chardonnay: Day 31

 1600

Back from a few days away.  Juice looks great, approaching clear.  Will rack this weekend, if not sooner.

Pretty near dead-still, so am thinking about the SO2 level.    Titrets test from carboy A indicated between 20 and 25 ppm free SO2 (20 to 25 mg/L).  So I feel OK for a couple of days.  But what level to boost it to when we rack?  My inclination is to use a bigger boost on this racking than I have in the past, especially I get lazy about the timing of the next rack.  Research!

MoreWine's sulfite guide.

Winemaker Magazine's sulfite calculator.

2022 Chardonnay: day 28

 0700

More MLF testing and general observations.

The Accuvin chromatography test reads (to my not completely trustworthy eye) somewhere between 75  mg/L and the 110 mg/L from four days ago.  Tough to pin down, because while the color looks right to me, it's much more opaque on the test strip than on the dot-printed color key.  (If winemaker Fabricant were  here he wouldn't be fooled.)

For a tad more detail, this Accuvin doc suggests that we're not complete, but are approaching the empty range between not complete (>75 mg/L) and complete (<35 ml/L).  I guess that what lies between the two numbers is opinion.

Closer to still, fewer rising bubbles of gas.  Not clear but the color continues to shift that way.  Took some pics and will try to put together some comparisons for posting later in the day.

2022 Chardonnay: day 24

 18:00

Woo hoo!  Just tasted the juice again, and did an Accuvin MLF color test.

Taste: very different already than it was five of days ago.  Less tart.  Less weird.  

And the test: I read it as 110 mg malic acid per liter (110 mg/L).  Now I really wish I had tested last week so I would have the comparison.  Sigh.  

2022 Chardonnay: day 16

 0600

• Brix -1.2 (carboy A)
• ~70F, pretty much ambient room temp.  45 F outdoors.

Hard to see any color shift in the full carboys, but in the hydrometer tube the lightening and thinning of the juice is a little more apparent.  

Seems like we'll just let MLF happen if & when it chooses.  Won't feed it, but with the cellar staying at 70 F, it would be hard to stop it, even with a big dose of meta at the next racking.  (Would be interesting to take one of carboys up to Doyle's garage and let it over-winter there...)

Futzed some more about caps versus stoppers.  One of the carboys was bubbling much more slowly than the others.  Changed the cap to a drilled #7, et voila.  

Looked through some prior years for when whites had clarified enough for racking after getting them out of the primary tank: about a month.  That would mean likely racking some time around November 2.

2022 Chardonnay: day 10

 0630

Not taking any direct readings this morning.  

Everything looking exactly as you would hope.  Super-clean.  Each vessel's airlock popping every few seconds.  All those mesmerizing pinprick bubbles sliding upward along the surface of the carboys.  

Now the big question to consider:  malolactic fermentation?  What do we want to do?  Promote it?  Inhibit it?  Just let the juice do what it wants to do and hope that MLF doesn't start or continue after we've bottled the wine for the party?  We know we are not using oak: does that dictate anything re MLF for Chardonnay?  The little reading we've done is not conclusive on the last point.  We'll need to decide in the next few days.  Green apples, or golden apples?

Here's a typically unhelpful (to me) article in Wine Industry Advisor.  Something judgemental from Wine Folly.  Maybe there's something helpful in this Wine Enthusiast article - 

An unoaked version could also have buttery flavors, because the wine can still undergo malolactic fermentation in any type of container. Toad Hollow Vineyards has a perfect example of this in their Francine’s Selection Unoaked Chardonnay from Mendocino, which brings the butter without the oak.

So, quick, let's go get a bottle and taste it. 

And, for what it's worth, when we made Chardonnay in 2016 we did not prevent or promote MLF, and we kept the free SO2 low - lower than I'd be comfortable doing this year.  And in December MLF started up on it's own.  

2100

• Brix = 1.0

Juice is at ambient room temperature.  Measured brix from a single carboy.  Will rotate going forward.

2016 Chardonnay, day 101: a silly malolactic longer

See that tiny horizontal chain of bubbles at the top of the wine in the neck?  That's all that's left from the thin priest's collar of CO2 from the MLF that was going on.  The very slightest activity in all four vessels.

When this round of fermentation is definitely over we'll rack for the last time (I hope) before bottling.

2016 Chardonnay, day 71: more MLF

All four 5 gallon carboys now fermenting again.

2016 Chardonnay, day 70: Malo?!

It's turned sharply colder here in new Amsterdam, the heat's been on in the house every morning and on and off through the day, the cellar (with furnace) is hanging around 69/70 F.  Mornings are 5 degrees cooler upstairs.

Not much has been happening with the wine, but this evening I decided to get down on my knees to see if any potassium bitartrate crystals were forming as they have in the last few years.  (See particularly the picture in the December 1 post from 2013.)  Nope, no crystals, but... two of the 4 five gallon carboys have become active again!  I'm hoping it's malolactic fermentation kicking in on its own and not a dead mouse or something worse.  Not popping the bubblers, but steady streams of gas.

Will keep a careful watch to see if the others join them.  If they don't, we'll try to keep them separate at the next racking.

2015 Grenache Rosé, day 8

1500:  162 hours since yeast.

Brix -0.2 (that's minus, not dash)
Made up a 10% meta solution and raised all of the vessels by 30 ppm SO2.  Counting on this being enough to halt any malolactic fermentation.  Am also thinking about surrounding the cbs and jugs with water & an ice paddle for the next few days.

2014 Muscat, day 90, Jan 2 2015

Did a quick check on the Muscat yesterday morning, and getting ready to rack before heading back to work on the 5th.  The wine was about 57F and the cellar maybe a few degrees warmer.  Stopper on CB Charlie was less tight than it should have been and I reseated it.  No testing yet.

---

Holy moly, testing is done and it's effin good!

10 gal muscat on the bench

pH around 4.06 on the meter.  Sulphur around 15 or 16 ppm by Titret.  Acid around .65% tartaric, or 4.2 ppt sulfuric.

about 1.5 ml of NaOH 

Color shift at 2.6 ml

color shift vs wine

The acid level is a great relief, given how flat the must seemed, and then how sharp the wine was immediately after primary fermentation.

Color is right on, light lemon yellow.  The nose struck me immediately - for the first time since we started I thought this is delicious!  Mouth-feel was a surprise - I'm sure it went through malolactic fermentation: we did nothing to force it or prevent it, but I guess my mouth wasn't quite expecting it.  

I'm breathing a sigh of relief.  This summer's party is on!

2010 Reds, 5 weeks in

Took a look at the Primitivo, it's possible that the the TA is still 9 g/L and the malic acid is still 110 mg/L, but it's also possible that we're at 8.5 and 75.  Can't tell what's real and what's wishful interpretation of the Accuvin charts.  PH seems to be 3.53, down from 3.57 by meter.  Splitting hairs.

Haven't tested the Cal Blend yet - waiting to see if the Savino Grimaldi clan visits.

Need to consider if we want to rack next week, or wait on a positive change of the malic acid toward 30 mg/L.

2010 Reds, one month in

Using Accuvin, both wines show 110 mg/L - unchanged from last week.  Hmmm.  I've known for a long time that I'm not the most color acute person in the world: maybe I'm just not an Accuvin guy?  (But, really, no change from last week.)  Raise the temp in that part of the cellar?

Used the new Hanna meter for the PH.  3.45 on the Cal Blend and 3.58 on the Primitivo.  Last week we tried these tests by Accuvin and settled on 3.8 for the Primitivo and 3.5 for the blend.  I guess in the long run, unless you're making adjustments, using the same test consistently is all you really need, but I'm glad to use an instrument where I can.  I don't see myself setting up lab apparatus to replace the Accuvin.  (But I have priced it out, just for the heck of it...)

Anyway, the thing to think about is whether to try to force the MLF along, and whether we can do it without adversely affecting the Muscat that we want to keep cooler in the same space.

2010 Reds, day 22 - readings

Primitivo:

• PH 3.8, 
• SO2 18 ppm, 
• Malic Acid 110 mg/L

We didn't have PH tests (and my meter still hasn't arrived from PI Wine, sigh) when we started, so this is the first reading.  Corresponds to the high acid readings we started with, which we're hoping will be brought down by the MLF.

I think the SO2 is where we want it to be right now, low enough not to inhibit MLF.  Target SO2 for wine this high in PH would be pretty darned high, and if we hit our target Malic Acid, we'll boost the SO2 accordingly.

As with PH, we started the process without a Malic Acid reading, so 110 mg/L is the level we'll ride into next week's tests.  Could have been 2 to 3 times as high at start. Just dunna know.  Target is 30 mg/L.

And for the heck of it, of course I also tasted the juice.  As warned by the yeast sellers, this strain leaves a barnyard nose which dissipates over 6 months of aging: mooooo.   Very tart, but no off tastes at all.

And Mike's come over to test the...
Cal Blend:

• PH 3.3, 
• SO2 23 ppm, 
• Malic Acid 110 mg/L

Wow wow, seeing the different PH readings of the two and then tasting the two is a very short, very clear lesson in what PH does to your mouth.

2010 Reds, day 16: malolactic bugs added

Mike over this morning and we added the bugs and Optimalo to all vessels of both wines.  That's a full week after the Cal Blend press and 5 full days after the Primitivo crush. 

Also tested TA with fresh Accuvin kits - up around 9 for both wines.  We're looking for the MLF to bring it down some.  PH meter still hasn't arrived (halloooo, Presque Isle?) so we're just guessing it's hand in hand with the acid.

And ran into Bernardo on the street - he's put the bugs into his Staten Island red: don't know if he also used any nutrients.

Let's MLF

I think both groups bought the same malolactic bacteria - Enoferm B - and I'm going to forge on here with that assumption.

The 2.5 g package of EB is good for 66 gallons of wine.  We have 21 gallons of Primitivo and 18 gallons of the Merlot / Cab / P. Verdot, so we can use a single package if we're going to work the two wines at the same time.

EB wants to be hydrated in 20 times it's own weight of 20 C chlorine-free water for not more than 15 minutes.  2.5 g package of EB, 50 g water, 50 g water = just a tad over 1/4 cup.  So, dump the packet in 1/4 C room temp distilled water and set the timer for 12 minutes.

We're also going to use Optimalo Plus as a nutrient for the malolactic bugs.  1 g per gallon, dissolved in just enough water or wine, and then added and stirred into the body of the wine prior to adding the malolactic bugs.  So, use a wine thief to draw off some wine from each vessel, weigh & add proper amount of Optimalo, swish-wait-dump-stir.  The Optimalo comes in 6 g packages, so for the 5 gallon carboys we can weigh out the 5 g or eyeball it - you're call.

By the time we've added all of the nutrients we should be ready to add the bugs.  Let's use a rule of 1 ml of hydrated bug juice per gallon of wine.  I'm basing this on our 1/4 cup = 2 oz = +59 ml for 66 gallons, round it off to 1 ml per gallon and round that to 5 ml per carboy = 1 tsp bug juice.  Jah?  So add 1 tsp bug juice to the 5 gallon carboys that already have nutrients added, stir, cap, relax.

2010 Reds, day 13

7 AM:
An uptick in bubbling activity from four of the five Primitivo vessels.  Two days post zero Brix.  Maybe MLF?  No similar activity from the Cal Blend, but I may have missed it if it was short lived.  So: we need to set the date for adding the MLF bugs and nutrients.  Suggestions have been from 2 days post press, to 7.

2010 Reds, day 8

7:30 AM:
Mike over to do the honors.  Cal B 74 F, 1.3 B.  Primitivo 73 F, 3.7 B.  We're assuming a press f the Cl B tomorrow, and assuming we will no be pressing the Primitivo tomorrow.

Chatting about when to initiate the MLF.  Bernardo says that Doug of Presque Isle recommends two days after pressing, when things are settled and we're not introducing any more oxygen into the wine.  Makes good sense to me.

3:00 PM:
Punchdown of both wines, without readings.  The ferm still be doing.

It's sharply cooler outdoors today, and the heat has been on in the house a couple of times, but the cellar temperature is unchanged - between 65 and 68 over the last 8 days.  This would have been ideal for the Muscat, but when we worked that wine the weather and house were still very warm - 75 to 76 F in the cellar when we crushed, and down to 72 later that week when the wine went to zero Brix.  Perverse.  Mike's fretted out loud a number of times in the last week about the low temperature of the Cal Blend must - and maybe it would have gone to the 80's if the cellar were in the mid 70's.  (I'm guessing Mike goes for a heat girdle next year, just in case.)

Malolactic culture added

I just added the malolactic culture to all three red wines. We're using Chr Hansen Viniflora Oenos. 1.5 gram package, shared out amongst all the containers.

2008 malolactic bugs have been added, day 9

The 2 chapitalized barrels had small cakes and some initial fizz on punching down, but get hydrometer readings of abut zero, so we've added (at about 8:15 AM) the freeze dried Chris Hansen malolactic bacteria. Divvied up the small amount in the pouch (1.5 g.) as best we could to match the relative volumes of the barrels.