2014 Muscat, day 8, Oct 12, 2014

0700:
Brix Muscat 3.15.  Brix Raisin 8.

There's not so much fizz that I can't consolidate the Muscat today.  I'm pretty sure that I'll wind up 5+5+5+1+1, which is a little bit of a drag - I'd love to have those last two combined.  I'll check with Brooklyn Homebrew later today to see if they have anything like a 2 gallon jug.

1800:

5+5+5+1+1 condensed Muscat

Et voila.  Condensed the Muscat into 5+5+5+1+1, as expected.  Very happy with that - it puts us about a gallon and a half ahead of where we were last year at this point.  Plus we have a gallon+ of Raisin, if it's not poison.

There's something very beautiful about the rush of CO2 bubbles up the slope and neck of the carboys at this stage of the wine.  Really I can sit there and watch it for a very long time.

2000:
The bubblers on the two 1 gallon jugs were fouled with foam and juice.  Cleaned and reset.  Everything else is well behaved.

---

Late this morning I hiked over to Brooklyn Homebrew and picked up some buffer solution to calibrate the pH meter, some drilled #2 stoppers so I can put a bubbler in a 750 ml bottle, an adhesive thermometer because I'd never used one before and wondered whether they are reliable, a grease pencil to see if it would work on carboys, and a "sanitary air filter" which is the gizmo that I blow into on the siphon device I use to rack out of carboys.

Haven't calibrated the meter yet, but a stopper's in the Raisin spillover, the thermometer is reading accurately enough adhered to a CB and makes me want to test it next year on the 100 liter tank for the white wine, the grease pencil works only so so on the carboys (maybe because they aren't quite dry?).

Pressing good news!

Psych!!

Hello Steve,
Thank you for the email. Our east coast warehouse has just received the bladder presses, so they should be shipping out over the the next 1-2 days.
Please email or call with any questions or concerns.
Thank you,
...
MoreFlavor! Inc

2010 Reds, day 7

Calibration: 
Using plain water, which the short scale hydrometer read as zero or darn close to it, I adjusted the paper scale in the regular hydrometer by nearly 5 B. Squirrels.  Haven't yet adjusted the spreadsheets to reflect corrected readings - and of course the long scale may have changed a bit over the week.  In another year I'll either resolve to check it every day - or just buy a new one that's less flaky.  Anywho...

6 AM:
Cal Blend 77 F and 4.6 B on the real live short scale hydrometer.Still putting up a bug cap, but ferment is calming.  Primitivo 76 F and 6.5 B on the newly calibrated long scale.  (Lori and I constantly read the thermometer we're using differently - Lori would read this temp as 72.)

And the Muscat... not clear yet but still brightening.  This is day 21 for that wine.  In 2009 we racked it at day 43 or so (starting from press).  That was the same time we racked the reds.  This year the white and red will be maybe three weeks apart, I'm guessing.

11:30 PM:
Cal Blend 75 F, 2.3 B; Primitivo 4.7 F and 74 F.Still good sized caps, but obviously less less active underneath when punched down.  Random berry tasting has the Primitivo tasting more sweet, and the Cal B tasting... what?  tart?  Someone else ought to give it a taste.

Time to figure out when the MLF bugs get added.
Sunday press, at least for the Cal B?

Fresh Accuvin acid tests have arrived, and Titret tests that can be used to measure SO2 in the Muscat (but not the red wines).

I remember again why I should calibrate that darned hydrometer

Yeah, the old one that doesn't have a visual calibration guide.  As we're approaching dry I've switched to the short scale hydrometer (+5 to -5) and it's pretty apparent there's a 2 or 3 Brix disagreement.  3, probably.  I'll add an "adjusted Brix" column to the tracking spreadsheet, and note in posts which device I'm using.  Begorah.

(The also probably explains the diference between the initial refractometer readings and the initial hydrometer readings.)

2010 Muscat day 4

Morning:
Still active and hot.  See readings.  Switched to short scale hydrometer (+5 to -5) that we bought in the off-season, which which is giving us a much easier reading here in the sudden early end game.

Evening:
Down to 1.5 Brix.
There are a fare number of grape skins, dessicated and floating now, that made it in from the pressing.  Not a cap in the red wine sense, but maybe 50 or 100 grapes.  I skimmed them out.  Next year need to be more careful and strain all the juice going into the fermenter.

Quick test of the destemmer

Wanted to make sure the big thang works before crush day, so clipped a quarter bucket of the concord grapes over the patio and fired the sucker up.  It is not quiet.  It works.  I think.

Destemmed for sure, but it's hard to say if the grapes were treated gently.  They were in bad shape going in, and were in worse shape coming out. 

Also built a rolling cart from the skid it arrived on so we can move it around the cellar during the winter.  (Pics later this morning.)

Destemmer arrives, weekend at Shinn, and, oh yeah, total unsought for validation

The destemmer and stand arrived Friday the 10th from St. Pats.  We've got it assembled out back and under tarps, and hope to use it out doors on crush day.

Then it was off to Shinn for the weekend (including a vertical Merlot tasting, their first - 2002 - through 2007, plus the reserves).  Friday late afternoon we were talking to Barbara Shinn and I pointed to the destemmer on their crushpad and I said that we'd just had a new one delivered earlier in the day.  Barbara launched into questions about it and a mini-lecture, the point of which was DON'T CRUSH!  Just destem.  Be gentle.  Wella, wella, music to Lori's ears and all the validation we need.

Shopping list, 2010 pre grapes

(Yeah, this is like my Aug. 1 post, only with a little more urgency.)
OK, destemmer and stand already ordered.
Much of our other equipment will be going to B's new place on Staten Island, so here's a list of what we're looking to acquire, with notes. 

Primary fermentation tanks,

• at least one 44 gal., one 32 gal.,  one ten gal.  James Guido thinks he can get them for us at a commercial restaurant supply here in NY.  We'll know on Monday, Aug. 30.  Food grade: would like to avoid plain trash cans.  Lids yes, dollies no.
• one 50 gal purchased @ Lapide, 8/29/2010
• another 50 gal @ Lapides, 9/4/2010
• We have plenty of 5 gallon buckets already on hand.  
• We'll want additional large fermenters if Mike and Pam want to make a different wine than S&L&P.

Bottling:

• corker, 
• Portuguese floor corker @ Lapide, 8/29/2010
• bottle washer, 
• @ TP&S, 8/29/2010
• large plastic funnels (2), 
• @Bowery Restaurant Supply, 8/30/2010
• 12 feet of 3/8" tubing, 
• @TP&S, 8/29/2010
• 150 colmated corks (for the remainder of our productions still in carboys).  
• 100 @TP&S, 8/29/2010

We can get this either from Presque Isle or one of the other houses we've used, or from Terminal Market.

Secondary fermentation, aging:
another stainless steel variable capacity tank is what we would really love to get, but it's a little too rich for us this year after the destemmer, so

• just more carboys.  M&P own four, S&L own two, but two have P's 2007 Cab. S. in them, and three have 2009 wines in them.  I think we're going to want to have a total of 10 empty at press time at the end of next month.  Probably best to buy these at Terminal Market.  
• one 5 gal cb @ TP&S, 8/29/2010
• 3 more 5 gal cb @TP&S, 9/4/2010 
• 6 more 5 gal cb @ TP&S 9/18/2010
• We'll also want new caps and bubblers for these, which I'll order from P.I.
• 6 caps & bubblers @ TP&S, 9/4/2010

Chemicals, additives, tests:

• KS02, 
• 2 # ordered 9/6/2010 from MoreWine.
• malolactic bugs.  
• ordered 9/6/2010 from MoreWine - enough for 66 gal. 
• Anyone want any extracting enzymes?  (I'm willing to pass on these this year, though I've been the one who's suggested them in the past.)
• Clinitest (which I think I might like to use for the white wine)
• Accuvin acid tests
• Tartaric acid ordered 9/6/2010 from MoreWine.

Stemmer, no crusher, it's official

Laddies and lassies, it's official.  After much back and forth the House has decided to go with destemming and no crushing.  The final nudge came from Alison's Crowe's entry on the topic in the Wine Makers Answer Book.  So, we're there.  We've ordered the Eno 10-S (pictured above) with the standard height stand, which will accommodate a 5 or 10 gal bucket under the chute.  We'll destem and not crush, trusting that there will be enough gentle damage to the grapes in the process to put the juice into contact with the yeast.  And if we're wrong, Lori goes into the tub with the grapes. Purchase was from St. Pats.

Last wine making supplies purchase of 2009

Just put in an order at Presque Isle for:

• 3/8th inch tubing - 10 feet of it and we can cut it to size as we want.  Some of the last tubing we bought got left in a bucket of water, and while it's still fine to use, the clear vinyl has turned cloudy.  Yuck;
• Solid rubber stoppers in sizes 6.5 and 7, 4 each.  It's finally occurred to me that the 2 year old Sangiovese and other old carboys really don't want a gas-lock on them any more - they want solid stoppers to hold off evaporation.  Got the two sizes because it seems that the 5 gallon carboys have changed in recent years.  Who knew?
• Titratable Acide tests from Accuvin.  This is a splurge, especially since the shelf life of the tests is only 6 months and I'm buying them now, after fermentation.  But it might be an interesting learning experience for us to match acid measurements against what we taste.  I'm betting Syrah the juice Mike & Pam have fermented will measure very low and, who knows, maybe can be touched up with just a bit of tartaric acid.  (Smart money might be against me.)
• Bentonite: the Muscat wants fining.  Whether now at 2nd racking or at a third racking, I dunno.  
• Narrow gauge hydrometer.  This will be fun for next year.  Measures from 5 to -5 brix.  Might even be interesting to look more closely at the Muscat to see how dry it really is.  I don't see it changing anything we do, just knowing a bit more.
• Corks, 1.75 inch amalgamated.  These are the cheapest natural corks PI sells, and just fine for a few years or more.  If the Grimaldi Savino gang wants to shoot higher, go for it.  I did in the 2nd year of our winemaking.  Only bought 100, at about 26 cents each.  

That's it.  Still need to make oak decisions pretty soon, and a bunch more corks later.

Lending the new press

Going to lend the new press to the 4th Ave group this evening or tomorrow. They're also working with grapes from Lapide and started 7 or 8 days after our crush.

About the press: after washing it when we were done with our pressing, I used mineral oil (food grade) on the screw and the ratchet - anything that would have skins ground into threads. And the ratchet seems to be moving more freely.

Well, we closed our eyes and threw our money...

... and it landed in a 40 cm dual ratchet basket press at Lapide's. The deal is done. Let's hope our nieces' and nephews' children are still enjoying it when we're a-mouldering in the grave.

A boy and his masher

Ever since seeing a couple of CrushNet videos showing workers doing punchdowns, I've realized that our hereditary approach to punchdowns needed some adjustment. Some oomph. A commercial stainless steel punchdown tool is $85, and I couldn't get my brother to make us one - so today I hit the Bowery, and in the first restaurant supply place I went into I found this lovely mammoth potato masher for $13.95. No tax. Vavoom!

New press now?

Chat yesterday afternoon about buying a replacement press, as the Barbers' Special will be heading to Staten Island before next year's use. If now, then we'd use it for next week's red press.

It'll be a basket press. The question is 35, 40, or 45 cm diameter basket size. These descriptions are from Grape & Granary:

• 35: Basket diameter is 35 cm. Basket dimensions are about 14 inches by 18 inches. 12 gallon capacity basket. Holds 2 cases of grapes uncrushed or 7-10 cases crushed. ($465, single-ratchet.)
  
  
• 40: Basket dimensions are about 16 inches by 22 inches. Capacity is 18 gallons. Basket diameter is 40 cm... Holds 3 cases of uncrushed grapes or 11-15 cases of crushed grapes. Diameter of base is 23.5 inches. Overall height of press is 55 inches. ($535, double ratchet.)
  
  
• 45: Basket diameter is 45 cm. Basket dimensions are about 18 inches by 24 inches. 25 gallon basket capacity... Holds 4 cases of grapes uncrushed or 15-20 cases crushed. ($670, double ratchet.)
  

Figuring out our existing press is not so easy (and that's not so surprising - it's been a long strange trip): 15" diameter to the inside, 17" to the outside, 18" tall. So we need to find a reference that tells us how the diameter is measured. If it's to the center of the slats, we have 40 cm.

The larger sizes have double ratchets, the smaller single. Which means only different speeds?
Here's the answer, at leeners.com: "The larger presses #40 & #45 are supplied with a two slot ratcheting head which will operate fast (key in inner slot) or slow (key in outer slot). More pressing torque is available at the slow setting."

Locally, both Lapide and Pagano have the presses (which means no shipping costs, and that can matter given that the presses are damned heavy). If we decide to hold off until next year, we can wait on sales, shop for price, etc.

Trip report: Brooklyn Terminal market

Lori and I visited both Lapide and TP&S (Tony Pagano) today. Here's what we saw.

Confirmed: both have only Central Valley CA grapes. And pretty much the same range of grapes. What Lapide has today (and next week will be similar, but not identical) is:

• Alicante, 42#, $38
• Barbera, 36#, $34
• Cab. S., 36#, $39
• Grenache, 36#, $34
• Merlot, 36#, $38
• Zinfandel, 36#, $41
• Sangiovese, 36#, $38

We looked at Pagano's list - it was similar, but we did not think to pick up a copy. Both shops also have a couple / three whites, most notably Muscat.

We also looked at equipment.

Neither shop rents destemmers (damn them) but both sell motorized versions for about a thousand bucks. Pagano also had a hand-cranked destemmer for $600 or $700. All had stainless steel hoppers and painted body parts. The one at Lapide also had some plastic body parts. Pagano had a wider variety of primary fermenters (which I have in mind for the cruel 2010 season when Bernardo will be ensconced on S.I.). We picked up a couple of 5 gal. carboys, since we still have three in the cellar with 2008 and 2007 wine in them.

Anyway, a nice outing. Pagano had more equipment and supplies, but Lapide had more buzz. Damn soon we'll be there buying, no?

(PS: have a new & greatly improved route to the market.
Ocean Parkway to a left on Avenue J.
Avenue J 2.4 miles to a left on Flatlands.
Flatlands .5 miles to a left on 87th.
87th, a coupleof blocks later, is the main entrance to the Market.)

New gasket

Have ordered a new gasket for the 100 gal. steel tank. Have been losing pressure every coupl eof days, and a mold is forming where the valve comes through the lid and attached to the tube to the pump / pressure gauge.

Have cleaned everything.
Tasted on Sunday - I'm worried, but then I brushed my teeth with anise toothpaste just before tasting. Lori thinks it's OK. Will taste again when the new gasket arrives.

I guess this is the potential downside of a single bulk-aging vessel. It would be a lot to lose.

Presque Isle was also a little shaky on this - Debbie Lam and Doug giving directly contradictory info on which gasket to but. We're going with the AG45, for a 100 liter tank approximately 30 inches tall and 18 inches in diameter.

Super Crusher!

Crusher vs Crusher-Destemmer vs Destemmer-Crusher. Makes the head swim. Daniel Pambianchi weighs in at Winemaker Mag.

Thread re ratchet / basket vs. bladder

More GAS. See here. A little hard to imagine using the bladder press indoors. But still, one can imagine...

All I want for Christmas is...

• The Marchisio Crusher & Destemmer, [FP170].
• A nice double-ratchet press, with no life threatening folk-hacks, like the R-30 or R-35.

Guitarists call this GAS. (Gear Acquisition Syndrome).

A few small supplies ordered

Ordered a handful more of those sassy orange carboy caps (in case B & L want to switch to them), some new bubblers to insert in them, more K2S2O5, and oak for Peter's 2007 Sangiovese and Barbera (medium toast American, in spiral form). Should be here in a few days.