![]() I thought it would be easy to scoop one of these up on the used market, but it wasn’t. I’ve been looking to purchase a press for a few weeks no, to no avail. October 1 – Day 10 Brix -1 – I added malolactic bacteria to fermentors ~24 hours before pressing September 21 – Day 1 Yeast pitched around 3pm I got some yeast nutrients, and malolactic bacteria. But apparently it’s been renamed Bordeaux Red (lame name!). I wanted BDX like I had in 2018 with that Merlot. I went to MoreBeer that afternoon and got the yeast. And I cleaned the containers later that evening with a hose and think I did a great job (I don’t want them to be sticky at all!). I dosed it with 1.25 tsp per bin right after targeting 30ppm. I think I was able to get 97% of all the stuff of it with a hose. I took out the blade and hosed down that with the destemmer (in the street!). That’s it! We started at 10:30 and finished around 1. Hose down ground periodically to prevent staining. Twice a container-load or so, open the destemming area and manually remove stems that get stuck in there. Also, hand pick out some stems that come through. Collect the crushed grapes from the chute while clearing it manually since it gets a little backed up. Here is the process: Rest a container on top of the hopper on its side to slowly drop the grapes to the entry point. There was a learning curve to get it working efficiently, but we got it down quickly. I set it up in the driveway right by the containers, and my dad, Rich and I went to work. This particular one was manual (boo), but included a chute stand (yay). The day before, I drove out to Brentwood to get a Crusher/Destemmer. I wanted to fill those up too, but Scott didn’t have it ready so I left. I left with an empty half bin and two empty buckets. I could have fit one maybe two more bins in my car, but perhaps not all three. It took just over an hour to fully pack all the containers. I fit all but 3 full bins in my car and my dad transported the rest. This resulted in 13 full bins, and 2 half bins, so 70 pounds fit in each bin. Scott had 983 pounds of Merlot in a bin that we moved by hand into my storage containers. I got the call ~4 days prior saying the grapes would be ready today. The grapes arrived a week or two earlier than they have with previous years. So I’m going back to Thatcher Bay to get their Merlot, which I think I can say has produced the best wine so far! ![]() And since I’m increasing the quality of my work, I want a high quality grape. Specifically, I want to own more equipment and not rent, and I’m going to try to age in oak barrels, not steel. So begins year 7 of winemaking! I recently moved into a house, so I have much more space to work and store things.
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