Doug Norman of Norman Creek Vineyards contributed 140# of crushed grapes to each of the two TwiddleNutz proprietors, Michael Watson and Joe Hershberger. We each got 70# of must mechanically destemmed and crushed, and 70# manually stomped in a big vat by the harvest team (which was a LOT of fun). All the grapes came from the same grape harvest, so they should be pretty similar except for handling. They do come from multiple rows of vines, so possibly some…
1/25/2015 – Wine day Sanitized fermenter, added a half galllon of hot water, sprinkled in and dissolved two packages of bentonite, then added wine juice. Topped up to six gallons. Put grape skins into a sanitized bag, tied it off, added oak chips and stirred them in, then sprinkled yeast on top. That’s it. All up to nature, now. O.G.: 1.088, 21% Brix Also added 2 Tablespoons of yeast nutrient 2/1/2015 – Check Gravity, rack to secondary I.G.: 1.000, 9%…
09/30/2013 – Picked up Fruit (Shipped from Lodi, CA) 2 Lugs: 37 lbs, 34 lbs 50 ppm – K-Meta 10/01/2013 – Pitched Yeast O.G.: 27.6% Brix pH: 3.9 TA: 6.0 g/L Added to each fermenter (expected 2.5 gal each)… 3 g – RC-212 Yeast 3.75 g – Go-Ferm 1.25 g – Fermaid-K 2.5 g – Opti-Red 38 g – Tartaric Acid 10/03/2013 – Second Round of Fermaid-K @ 12% Brix 1.25 g – Fermaid-K 1 qt – Distilled water Added…
09/30/2013 – Picked up Fruit (Shipped from Lodi, CA) 3 Lugs: 35 lbs, 34lbs, 35 lbs. Crushed into 2 fermenters 50 ppm – K-meta 10/01/2013 – Pitched Yeast O.G.: 28 degrees Brix pH: 4.02 TA: 5.8 g/L In each of the 2 fermenters (expected 3.75 gal)… 4.5 g – RC-212 Yeast 5.63 g – Go-Ferm 3.75 g – Opti-Red 1.88 g – Fermaid-K 71.25 g – Tartaric Acid 10/03/2013 – Second Round of Fermaid-K @ 13% Brix 1.88 g –…
09/30/2013 – Collected Juice 50 ppm K-Meta Pectic Enzyme 10/01/2013 – Pitched Yeast O.G.: 22.1% Brix pH: 4.02 TA: 4.6 g/L 6 g – D-47 yeast 7.5 g – Go-Ferm 3 g – Fermaid-K 10/02/2013 – Added Acid To raise TA to 7 g/L: 54.7 g Tartartic Acid 10/03/2013 – Second Fermaid-K Addition 3 g – Fermaid-K @ 12% Brix 11/09/2013 – Added Bentonite 11/23/2013 – Racked to secondary 01/19/2014 – Racked again This time the wine is extremely clear….
This is a Vintners Reserve kit: see here 09/01/2013 – Started fermentation Added 2 Tbsp of Yeast Nutrient Fermented at 75 F in the fermentation chamber. Michael corrupted the first 2 days of data and didn’t restart logging for another 2 days. While working on the kegerator near the fermenter, the condenser cooling fan got unplugged. As a result the cooling was unable to keep up with fermentation. After 4 days of fermentation, the must was up to 94.5 degrees…
01/14/2013 – Brew Day Made a kit, WineExpert Vintner’s Reserve, Mezza Luna Red (see it here). Since we don’t know how old the yeast was, replaced the yeast packet with a freshly bought one of the same brand and strain, Red Star Premier Cuvee. Then made a starter, as follows: Rehydrate yeast in a cup of water, 100-105 degrees F. After 4 hours, add 1/4 cup sterilized orange juice. Three hours later, add another 1/4 cup juice. Three hours later,…
07/28/2012 – Harvest 07/29/2012 – Pitched yeast Sugar added to bump up gravity 08/04/2012 – Pressed wine Debby offered to share a carboy of the Syrah (since I am so fond of the 2011 Syrah and she is very generous). I’m taking it over from secondary on. 08/20/2012 – Danger… rubber tyre (sulfur ho) Upon Doug’s suggestion, I sampled the Syrah and certainly detected the a stinky smell. Let’s hope his magic bullet can salvage the batches. 09/10/2012 – Racked Added…
07/28/2012 – Harvest Harvested 320 lbs of Tempranillo grapes (among many others) at Doug Norman’s vineyard. He and Debby kindly gave me 70 lbs of must. The grapes were in pretty rough shape. Many of the clusters had spoiled sections in them (probably due to having too many buds left on the plants to be able to ripen fully). They were also swarmed by small flying bugs (beetles?) that seemed to be focused on the Tempranillo but not the…