November 28, 2007 – 11:01 am
Last night I tested the malic acid level of the Syrah with an Accuvin malic acid test strip. It showed a level below 30 mg/L, indicating that malolactic fermentation is finished. I added 1 gram of potassium metabisulfite to stabilize the wine. This morning I splash-racked (somewhat more gently than the first time) the Syrah [...]
November 22, 2007 – 8:49 pm
The pH of the Syrah is still high, so I added another 1/2 gm/L of tartaric acid. It will precipitate out during the winter when it gets really cold in the garage, a process called “cold stabilization.”
November 20, 2007 – 8:30 pm
Today I “splash-racked” the Syrah; that is, I poured it out of the carboy into a plastic pail and then back into the carboy with much splashing, something one normally avoids doing. But it was generating hydrogen sulfide, perhaps from yeast autolysis in the lees, which are needed for the malolactic fermentation, and this will [...]
November 11, 2007 – 9:22 pm
Today I stabilized and fined the Shiraz with the addition of potassium metabisulfite (sanitizer), potassium sorbate (preservative), and chitosan (a shellfish-based fining agent that will filter out particles that would otherwise make the wine cloudy). It will sit now for 8 days before I check to see if it’s ready for racking.
I stirred up the [...]
November 8, 2007 – 6:32 pm
Today when I tested the specific gravity of the Shiraz, it was unchanged from yesterday, meaning that fermentation has completed. Tomorrow I’ll take the next step: clarifying and stabilizing the wine.
Meanwhile, the pH of the Syrah is rising, for no reason I can figure out. On the advice of Rick at Fermentation Solutions, I added [...]
November 4, 2007 – 7:41 pm
Today I stirred up the lees in the Syrah, which brought up a lot of bubbles, indicating that malolactic fermentation is still underway. The wine smells wonderful.
November 3, 2007 – 7:33 pm
Today I transferred the Shiraz from the primary fermenter to a carboy for secondary fermentation, and finally discarded the grape skins from my vineyard, which I’d added for extra flavor and complexity (I hope).
Harvest Day +16, 3:45 PM: Transferring the Shiraz to a carboy to finish fermentation
Then I put it in the fermentation chamber with [...]
October 31, 2007 – 6:44 pm
Today the kit wine was fermenting merrily away. I stirred up the lees in the Syrah with a thin dowel, and could see lots of tiny bubbles coming up, indicating that malolactic fermentation (MLF) is underway.
I’d left a small sample of the Syrah overnight to settle out the solids, and tested its ph and [...]
October 30, 2007 – 6:03 pm
Yesterday was pretty busy, so I put off pressing the wine until today. Early in the afternoon I set up the basket press and dumped the contents of the fermenter into a nylon pressing bag in the press.
Harvest Day +12, 1:20 PM: In the press
Normally, you don’t dump the entire contents of the fermented into [...]
October 24, 2007 – 8:37 pm
This was the first day post-harvest that I didn’t have much to do. This evening I checked the must and punched it down. No off odors, and the punch-down brought up bubbles, so the wine hasn’t gone still yet. I tasted a small quantity, and it’s developing nicely. Rather astringent, but good fruit—it really tastes [...]
