Rondo must is fermenting

We started destemming and crushing this morning at about 1100h. We had about 20 kg of grapes which yielded 14.8kg (14.8 l) must, finishing at about 1430h. It's fab to have the shed to work in as opposed to being cramped in our tiny kitchen in the house. 

Alex sterilised his new clean room boots and proceeded to stomp on the grapes after lunch. It actually made the nicest must. We followed the same procedures as with the Solaris. We measured Brix of the mixed batch while preparing the yeast and nutrient mixture, then measured the specific gravity and sampled the juice. The taste was surprising. Quite dark and cloudy. 

Rondo Harvest

Brix target: 22-26

Brix reading Sunday 17 September 2023: 22

Grape Yield: 20 kg

Hand de-stemming was completed 18 September

Must yield: 14.8 litres

Must Brix: 20

Must SG: 1.084

VenoFerm Nutrisal (Diammonium phosphate) nutrient 9g in ~ 100 ml 50:50 boiled water and must

Oenoferm Terra Yeast reactivated in nutrient solution for 15 minutes. 

Fermentation started at 1615 on the 18 September 2023 @ Room temperature 20.5C.

The Brix is a little low for red wine but Thomas Walk prefers to start with a lower sugar content and have healthy grapes than to wait for a higher sugar content and risk disease. As we did have some loss due to mold, I'd say it was the right decision overall, as the vast majority of the grapes were lovely, big round marbles with lots of juice. We should get to about 11.2% ABV. 

As the red must is fermented with the skins, we didn't hydropress at this stage. That will happen at the next stage. 

Things are starting to be familiar now. We've done this before and it's slowly coming back to us. 

We had several downpours today so we are very glad we harvested yesterday. 

Happy Birthday to Alex's mum, Meike who would have been 90 today but left us almost two years ago. Remember to take the Angel's share, Mammi! 

Rondo is harvested

Rondo grapes, bags removed

We were going to wait for the Brix to increase for the Rondo grapes, but we have a massive storm heading our way on Tuesday which is going to dump loads of rain on Ireland -- the remnants of Lee combined with a giant low off Greenland. So we moved harvest up to today as the Brix was reading 22 (normal for red wines is 22-26 for a higher finished alcohol content). 

It was interesting to see that the clusters we left unbagged were completely decimated by the birds. Inside the bags, we had beautiful red wine grapes. We will wash, destem, and crush tomorrow for the first fermentation.

There were two areas where we had some mold forming on the grapes. I kept those separate and will pick through them in the morning. They say mold is not bad for grapes and that some mold actually helps fermentation. The moldy areas were where the foliage was thickest. We need to prune more heavily in the Spring after the vines have flowered and we can see where the grapes will form. The clusters near the edges where there is good air circulation and access to sunlight were the healthiest and largest.

What I did not see this year is powdery mildew, which I'm pretty sure the vines had last year.  Fortunately, I have learned that Potassium bicarbonate – similar to baking soda – has the unique advantage of eliminating powdery mildew once it’s there. Potassium bicarbonate is a contact fungicide that kills the powdery mildew spores quickly. In addition, it’s approved for use in organic growing.

I'm so relieved we got that done. 

PS The hydropress was leaking around the pressurised gasket so Alex increased the pressure. But it didn't help. So I suggested that the airlock was malfunctioning. Alex then remembered that Thomas had told him to check and raise the lid periodically as the must expands as it ferments. Sure enough the airlock had filled with must and was blocked. We'll have to check it daily. At least we know the fermentation is happily progressing.

Look at those babies!

Left - unbagged, right bagged

Clusters that were bagged below clusters that weren't

Gorgeous!

Not a bad haul for 6 vines

Lots of wind and heavy rain on Tuesday.

Looks professional.

Gorgeous.

Not bad for 6 vines

Hydropress leaking around pressure seal

Changing forecast

The forecast has changed and we are now going to get a whammy of a storm on Monday night into Tuesday. The remnants of Lee are combining with a massive low coming down from Greenland, so we are going to get lots of rain and wind on Tuesday. We must now harvest the Rondo today and tomorrow. After lunch we pick.

Must is fermenting!

Yesterday, we finished destemming and pressing the Solaris grapes. At about 8:30 pm, we added the yeast and nutrient mixture and sealed the vat. Here are some stats from the harvest.

Solaris Harvest

Brix target: 20-24

Brix reading Thursday 14 September 2023: 22

Grape Yield: 45 kg

Hand de-stemming and hydro-pressing were completed 15 September

Must yield: 19.6 litres

Must Brix: 23

Must SG: 1.094

VenoFerm Nutrisal (Diammonium phosphate) nutrient 10g in ~ 100 ml 50:50 boiled water and must

Oenoferm Terra Yeast reactivated in nutrient solution for 15 minutes. 

Fermentation started at 2030h 15 September 2023 @ Room temperature 19.5C.

The sugar content should get us to about 12.8% alcohol BV. We had a taste of the juice and it was very flavourful, not like the juice we made from the Ross House grapes. So this entire process has been very encouraging this year. 

We need to figure out how to program the Farho Ecogreen heater. I just downloaded the instruction manual and it looks tedious. But room temp has to be 22C for the red wine. The Brix is reading of the Rondo grapes is 20-23 today and the target is 22-26 so we opted to leave it for a few more days. I hope the coming rain won't dilute the juice too much. 

Very excellent book. 

Complicated programmable heater.

Fermentation vat with floating lid

Waste after pressing

Stems for the compost

Hydrometer Scale Conversion Table

The sunset over the shed

HYDROMETER SCALE CONVERSION TABLE

Specific gravity at 20°/20°C	Oechsle	°Brix / Balling	Baumé
1.00000	0.0	0.0	0.00
1.00078	0	0.2	0.1
1.00155	1	0.4	0.2
1.00233	2	0.6	0.3
1.00311	3	0.8	0.45
1.00389	4	1.0	0.55
1.00779	8	2.0	1.1
1.01172	12	3.0	1.7
1.01567	15	4.0	2.2
1.01965	20	5.0	2.8
1.02366	24	6.0	3.3
1.02779	28	7.0	3.9
1.03176	32	8.0	4.4
1.03586	36	9.0	5.0
1.03998	40	10.0	5.6
1.04413	44	11.0	6.1
1.04831	48	12.0	6.7
1.05252	53	13.0	7.2
1.05667	57	14.0	7.8
1.06104	61	15.0	8.3
OK from here for red per TW
1.06534	65	16.0	8.9
1.06968	70	17.0	9.4
1.07142	71	17.4	9.7
1.07404	74	18.0	10.0
1.07580	76	18.4	10.2
1.07844	78	19.0	10.55
1.07932	79	19.2	10.65
Very Good for red from here per TW
1.08021	80	19.4	10.8
1.08110	81	19.6	10.9
1.08198	82	19.8	11.0
1.08287	83	20.0	11.1
1.08376	84	20.2	11.2
1.08465	85	20.4	11.35
1.08554	86	20.6	11.45

 

Specific gravity at 20°/20°C	Oechsle	°Brix / Balling	Baumé
1.08644	86	20.8	11.55
1.08733	87	21.0	11.7
1.08823	88	21.2	11.8
1.08913	89	21.4	11.9
1.09003	90	21.6	12.0
1.09093	91	21.8	12.1
1.09183	92	22.0	12.2
1.09273	93	22.2	12.3
1.09364	94	22.4	12.45
1.09454	95	22.6	12.55
1.09545	95	22.8	12.7
1.09636	96	23.0	12.8
1.09727	97	23.2	12.9
1.09818	98	23.4	13.0
1.09909	99	23.6	13.1
1.10000	100	23.8	13.2
1.10092	101	24.0	13.3
1.10193	102	24.2	13.45
1.10275	103	24.4	13.55
1.10367	104	24.6	13.7
1.10459	105	24.8	13.8
1.10551	106	25.0	13.9
1.10643	106	25.2	14.0
1.10736	107	25.4	14.1
1.10828	108	25.6	14.2
1.10921	109	25.8	14.3
1.11014	110	26.0	14.45
1.11106	111	26.2	14.55
1.11200	112	26.4	14.65
1.11293	113	26.6	14.8
1.11386	114	26.8	14.9
1.11480	115	27.0	15.0
1.11573	116	27.2	15.1
1.11667	117	27.4	15.2
1.11761	118	27.6	15.3
1.11855	119	27.8	15.45
1.12898	129	30.0	16.57