Posted by Jack Keller's WineBlog in HealthFeb 16th, 2009 | Comments Off
An entry in my Home Page Guestbook asks if it is true that I once made a cocklebur wine and if so would I share the recipe? The truth is that I made a wine from what I thought were cockleburs, only to discover that my base was really sand burrs, and that cockleburs contain a toxin and are unsuitable for winemaking. My sand burr wine was entered in four competitions and won three first places and a second.... The seeds of both the common cocklebur (Xanthium strumarium) and spiny cocklebur (X. spinosum) contain a toxic glycoside that is probably poisonous, although it reportedly can be boiled successively in clean water to rid it of the toxin. I would not chance it when there are so many other things that are safe to make wine from - like sand burrs Read more....
Posted by Ben in 2008, General, Other, malbec, pressing, syrah, yeasts, zinfandelFeb 16th, 2009 | No Comments
There were a few more buckets of red grapes still left to press from the 2008 vintage. We had done two earlier pressings last fall of the fresh grapes (
one batch pressed dry, and a
second under extended maceration); and a
pressing two weeks ago of the first batch of frozen grapes. Brian joined me for these festivities (ie, work!).
A late arriving bucket of malbec was put to AMH and VQ15 yeast, and is dry after two full weeks of fermentation. Meanwhile, two buckets of Alexander West Side Syrah are approaching dryness after four weeks of fermentation (one with AMH, the other with VQ15 yeast).
And, finally, the crazy Limerick Lane Zinfandel from Sonoma, which started life at an incrediblly sweet 38 degrees brix, was being pressed today too. I may put half of this under brandy as port, leaving the other half with natural residual sugar. We'll see. Here's Brian checking out the zin:
Yum!
Posted by Ben in General, Other, yeastsFeb 14th, 2009 | No Comments
I use
Fermaid-K as initial and mid-fermentation nutrient mix for pretty much all fermentations. To use it, I add it directly to my five-gallon fermentation pails in two steps (following my initial rehydration of the yeast with
Go-Ferm:
1) the day after I inoculate with yeast, I add a heaping one-half teaspoon (approx 2.5 grams) of Fermaid-K directly to the pail of juice or must, stirring well.
2) about 1/3 of the way through fermentation (time depends on yeast, grapes and temperature - usually a couple days to one-week), I add a second heaping one-half teaspoon (approx 2.5 grams) of Fermaid-K again to the pail, stirring well.
With the combined treatment of Go-Ferm for rehydration of the yeast, and Fermaid-K in split additions during the fermentation, I have not encountered HS2 problems in any of my fermentations, despite experiments with a wide range of musts, juices and yeasts, with widely varying YANC (Yeast Assimilable Nitrogen Content) levels.
Posted by Ben in General, Other, yeastsFeb 14th, 2009 | No Comments
I use
Go-Ferm for rehydration of all yeast these days. For each five-gallon pail of juice or must, I mix one heaping teaspoon (6.25 grams) of Go-Ferm with 85 ml of water, and stir it until all the Go-Ferm is dissolved. To that I add one packet (5 grams) of yeast, stir and let sit for 15 minutes. Then I add that to the room-temperature pail of juice or must.
Fermaid-K will be added once fermentation gets under way, usually the next day.
Posted by Ben in 2008, General, Other, yeastsFeb 8th, 2009 | No Comments
A week after the 2008 vintage wine was pressed, all of the gross lees have settled to the bottom of our Chez Ray pails, and the wine can be racked (essentially, decanted) from the five-gallon pails into glass carboys. (We call them "carboys", but they're really the old three- and five-gallon glass water cooler jugs from the old days.)
To "rack" the wine off its gross lees, you simply pour the juice through a funnel into a carboy, stopping just before the gross lees (the yucky stuff on the bottom) makes its way to the funnel. Voila, clear racked wine.
At this point, it is appropriate to begin malolactic fermentation, which is a bacterial fermentation that helps to convert malic acid to lactic acid, softening the wine and leaving it more stable for storage.
For the 2008 vintage, I used Enoferm Alpha malolactic starter, mixed with Acti-ML as a nutrient solution. After mixing, I spooned it evenly across the freshly-loaded carboys.
I will let the carboys sit for a few weeks in warmer room temperatures to give the malolactic fermentation a chance to begin, then move them to the basement for longer-term storage.
Posted by Ben in 2006, General, Other, merlotFeb 4th, 2009 | No Comments
Review: The 2006 Suscol Ranch Merlot, from Napa Valley
Brehm Vineyards frozen grapes . The vintage was
fermented cool, with Assmanshausen yeast.
Like the rest of the cool-fermented 2006 vintage, the wine is light red in the glass. Doesn't LOOK like merlot! Aroma is husky, balanced, touches of pepper, maybe chocolate. On the palate, extraordinary balance, even in its youth. Sweet, layered middle is the first note. That brings even touches of chocolate along with a luscious, underlying fruit. The finish is a very, very slow fade. Then, when you think it should be gone, here it comes, back again, milk chocolate as a finish.
Outstanding example of this vintage, and indeed from the entire Chez Ray line. Four stars out of five, with a plus for its continued promise. Imagine more promise on a four star rating!!
Posted by Ben in 2008, General, Other, pressingFeb 1st, 2009 | No Comments
Wine waits for no man (or woman)... but only when it comes to pressing. Almost everything else may be done at leisure.
For the 2008 vintage of Brehm frozen grapes, I wanted to press at dryness (eg, as brix sugar level approaches zero). Two weekends after yeast inoculation, dryness occurred (for all except the Alexander Valley Syrah and super-high-sugar Limerick Lane Zinfandel).
So here is the setup on our frozen deck, in the midst of pressing. Temperatures soared to 28 degrees Fahrenheit, making the process somewhat bearable.
Wine was pressed and restored to original buckets for settling. I'll allow the gross lees to settle for a week, then pour off (rack) into carboys and inoculate for malolactic fermentation. My plan is to allow the bottles three or four weeks in room temperature before retreat to the cooler basement for aging.
At this point, a late arriving bucket of malbec has just been put to AMH and VQ15 yeast, the Limerick Lane zinfandel and Alexander Valley syrah continue fermentation.
