September 25, 2010
Grapes from Lodi off highway 12.
Today Mike and I got a 1000 pounds of Zinfadel grapes from a vineyard in Lodi at $650/ton so this cost $325. The grapes were stemmed automatically from the machine that shakes and picks the grapes. We then crushed the grapes at the vineyard. Here is my journal and notes:
September 25, 2010 – purchased 1000 pounds of Zinfandel. Grapes taste very sweet !
• Brix measured at my house after bucketing into the bin in my garage around 26 -27 brix. Potential alcohol is 15%.
• We did a small delusion to get the sugar down by “removing one gallon of bin juice” and adding one gallon of distilled water. Not sure if I understand why we needed to remove one gallon of juice… Need to look into this.
• Note: the max potential alcohol is 15%. The yeast I bought at Beer and More Beer is “BM45 Brunello”. This yeast can with stand 16% alcohol so we are ok.
• So we have to add “Lallzyme EX” – this enzyme breaks down the grapes to create more sugar and juice. See formula below.
• We also added SO2 which kills the wild yeast and any bacteria before we add the good yeast, which we add in a day or two.
• Ok, to measure the gallons of “Must” (the slurry of crushed grapes in the bin). We take the depth in the middle of the bin which in this case is 14.25 inches and multiply it by “8.17”. The amount of gallons of “must” we measured is “116 – gallons”
• Ok, the amount of Lallzyme EX I need is 1/10 th of the gallons to grams. (I need to double check this to be true) – So I need to put in 11.6 grams of enzymes (116 gallons /10). The packets of enzymes come in 8 gram packets so I put in 16 grams (the people at Beer and More Beer said it would not matter if I added more then I calculated).
• Ok, so how much SO2 to kill the wild yeast and bacteria ? Multiply the gallons (116) by 0.315. (Mike) This yields 36.7 grams of SO2. Add the SO2 to the must, be sure to spread evenly and stir the must. (I used a 4 foot clean 2x4 to stir).
Ok now for day two…..
September 26, 2010 – Added Yeast
• Made a yeast starter (see page 51 of the “Guide to Making Red Wine). First added approx three liters of distilled water to a large pot (note the book says not to use distilled water)
• Heated the water to 104 degrees F. Added 176 grams of Go-Ferm. We calculated a need of 1.5 grams times 116 gallons of must = 174 grams so 176 grams was close enough. Go-Ferm is basically a fast food for the yeast to eat when they come back alive from the dormant try state.
• We measure the ph of the must. It's at 3.64
• We added 136 grams of yeast (It needed 116gal/100 = 116 grams). The yeast was BM45 (DYW74) Brunello. It comes in packets of 80 grams and 8 grams at Beer and More Beer.
• We wait for 15 minutes and note that the yeast is active and bubbling.
• We slowly add about 1.5 liters of must. Be sure to bring the 1.5 liters of must and yeast started to within 18 degrees F of each other or you risk shocking and killing the yeast.
• We let this sit for about 15 minutes.
• We then added this yeast starter to the must in separate spots so they don't mix.
• Temperature of the must is 66 degrees F.
Day Three
September 27, 2010
• Stirred or “punched down” the must. Took a brix reading and it read 26 brix. The temperature was 67 degrees. The yeast looked alive and well !
• Each day I will stir the must and take a brix reading until the reading gets to two thirds the original or about 18 brix
Day Four
September 28, 2010
• Stirred the must and did a temperature reading and brix reading. Temperature = 81 degrees F and the brix is 23.
Day Five
September 29, 2010
• This morning I stirred the must and the temperature was 90 degrees ! And the brix dropped to 15 ! An 8 point drop in brix in 24 hours ! I am freezing some water to use to cool the must down if it gets much higher. Probably at 92 degrees I will cool it down. Wouldn't you know it we are having a heat spell in late September, 102 degrees yesterday…