21 December 2007
[Epi 18] TintoTV - wine kit primary fermentation
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Happy holidays 2007 to everyone out there! I hope you are giving out some of your wine as gifts!!! As for us, hopefully this Winexpert Argentine Malbec will mature into a great Christmas gift in 2008, we shall see.
In this episode, we simply track our primary fermentation for the few days after reconstituting the juice and pitching the yeast. After each 24 hour interval, we note the temperature of the juice-wine and take a specific gravity reading. Instead of following the Winexpert instructions which detail racking schedules based on the number of days, we thought it would be more accurate to track the fermentation simply by watching how the specific gravity fell. We planned to rack somewhere around 1.010 and 1.000.
Unfortunately, being home winemakers, we cannot dedicate as much time as we’d like to the wine, and we weren’t going to be ready to rack by the time the wine reached our target SG. So, in that regard, we sealed our primary fermenter and added the airlock to the lid. Because we are fermenting in a bucket, we don’t really have a risk of the wine bubbling over, and the wine is still producing enough carbon dioxide to protect it from excess oxygen (or too much air in that space between the wine and the lid). The airlock ensured no more air would enter into the wine. Did you notice how the airlock was going crazy in the video?
That’s it for now… stay tuned to watch how we racked our wine. Best wishes to all!
-Stephany and Nico
Ok you two! You have finally persuaded me to buy a thermometer and hydrometer. I never thought I would get that detailed in my winemaking. However, now I’m confused about whether to buy a wine-thief or tall tube. Will the wine-thief work in a 1 gal. jug? Could it empty in a 1 gallon jug? I need to know before I go this way. Thanks for the video. Well done.
— Harry Hebert Dec 22 #
hey Harry!!! Thanks for visiting!
Yeah I think the hydrometer especially is VERY valuable. For the 1-gallon jugs, I would go for the pipette and test-jar instead of the wine-thief. I think the wine-thief is too big, and it won’t even fit through the mouth of the jug. There may be a 1-gallon version of the thief, but I haven’t seen it.
Thanks again for the compliments and the visit!
cheers and happy holidays!
-Nico
— Nico Dec 22 #
Nico & Steph,
Good choice on putting the lid and air lock on the primary ferment. I have put the lid and lock on my primary ferments from the start and the only “problem” is taking the lid off for the punch down of the cap. I am liking the wine thief, did you get it at your local store or from the internets? You were concerned about the drop in the temp (80-50), I have the luxury of making my wine in the basement with a steady 65F air temp. The lower temp might have slowed the process, but it looks like it is still working.
Have you tried any of the wines that you clarified? I am curious if the clarification products change the taste of the wines?
Thanks again for the site, Bob
— Bob Dec 26 #
Good afternoon Nico and Steph. Enjoying your videos. We too are working on our first batch of wine. We chose a Grand Cru Petite Sirah and are just two weeks into initial fermentation. I notice you stirring the wine often, do your directions say to do that (you’re doing a different wine than us). The reason I ask is that I’d imagine that would be stirring up the lee’s at the bottom of the fermentor. Keep up the video blog. We’ll keep watching.
— Darren and Laura Dec 26 #
hey Bob, thanks for visiting and commenting!!!
The wine-thief? I actually got it from my local retailer, but they have it in their online catalog as well, here’s the link: http://www.finevinewines.com/ProdDetA.asp?PartNumber=5432 (if you do buy there, please mention that we “Nico Sanchez”/“Tinto TV” sent you over).
I was a little concerned with the ambient temperature drop from 80 to 50 deg F. I did anticipate that and turned on the heater. So, I think the indoor temperature may have fallen from something like 75 to 68 deg F. If I had a basement like you, I’d definitely take advantage!
I have done tastes of the wines I’ve clarified and honestly have not noticed any change in taste. I think a lot of the clarifiers are doing better to prevent any change in color or taste, and I have noticed that to be the case so far. Soon we’ll bottle though.
Cheers and thanks again for visiting,
-Nico
— Nico Dec 27 #
hi Darren and Laura!!!
I’m glad you’re enjoying the videos, thanks very much for visiting and commenting! Wow, Grand Cru Petite Sirah? That sounds delicious!
So, our instructions focus on our stirring “vigorously” especially in the beginning when we are reconstituting the juice by adding water to the concentrate. Afterward, I think the mixing during fermentation is simply to add oxygen to the fermenting juice and make sure some of the particles are affecting the flavors as a whole (as opposed to the oak dust simply settling at the bottom). You’re right that this would agitate any settling lees, but at this stage of the winemaking, I personally am less concerned with clarification and more focused on uniformity and overall quality of the juice. Anything “heavy” should settle out quickly before racking and then I’ll worry more about lees settling when we reach the clarifying stage of the winemaking. While this was not in the instructions, it’s sort of more of what we learned while doing our one gallon fruit batches. We’ll see how they turn out.
Thanks again for watching! Cheers and happy new year!
-Nico
— Nico Dec 27 #
I missed watching the shows!!! =)
— Juan Carlos Apr 20 #
Great video guys, I have started my first wine kit today. I’m making a Black Raspberry Merlot and am very excited about it. Thanks…………..RC
— RC Nov 15 #