Went to a wine class at FH Steinbarts and a couple of hours later I had signed up to get 100lb of Washington Cabernet Sauvignon. Here’s to the first wine from grape I’ve made.
Started : 09/20/2015
- Wine grower's numbers
- Brix: 28
- TA: 0.53
- pH: 3.45
- Measured
- Brix: 27
- TA: 0.55
- Yeast:
- K1-V1116 : dry with sharp tannin taste
- DWY83 : fruity nose, vegetal taste
Racked off lees 10/24/2015, added 2.5 oz of medium toast french oak cubes, and set for malolactic fermentation starting at 21.1C and ramping up to 24.1C in 4 days. Then let rest at 24.1C for 2 weeks. Interesting enough fermentation stared up again. I’m not sure if it’s malo or regular sugar fermentation but there’s definitely a lot of bubbles going up the sides of the carboy.
Maybe next year it’ll be a good idea to let fermentation happen for 2 weeks on the fruit, press when it’s between 10-20 Brix and then increase the fermentation temperature to 24.1F after that to let it finish.
11/17/2015 racked off to final carboy and added .5 tsp of potassium metabisulfite and now it will rest until the fall. The half-teaspoon is kind of a hack job as the scale I have only has gram resolution. I need something that has tenth-of-a-gram or better.