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nickjam

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Patterson, CA
I stopped by a local winery today that gives you their juice straight from the tank. I got a strain of yeast (Lalvin Bourgovin RC 212). That is what the resident vitner recomended. He handed me a "How to Sheet" they had printed up and I went on my way. When I got home I was surprised to see that the fermenting temp was 82-85 degrees Farenheit! I keep my fermenter at 58 for my Apfelwein to ferment! now the yeast has an operational range of 50-87 degrees.

Question #1: Will I be harming my flavor of the wine if I cold ferment the red wine at 58 degrees Farenheit?

Next,

I grabbed a back of French Oak and receive instructions on adding a little in each step until I feel the flavor is just right. Not a lot just a little, like adding salt to a soup, you add too much and you can not take it out!

Question #2: Do I have to sanitize the oak chips before adding them to the carboy? If so, how? Iodophor? Camden for 10 minutes?


Thank you very much for the assistance and I am sure I will be back for more. I picked up some white wine juice too and have that going concurently with the red. White is easy for me since it is similar to the Apfelwein.
 
Most wine yeasts like to be warm, and do best in a warmer environment. You won't get bad flavor from a cooler fermentation, it'll just take a lot longer. You don't have to sanitize the oak chips, assuming that they are new and "clean". They'll be fine. If you feel you have to, you can bake them for a while to ensure they are sanitized. I wouldn't- I'd just put them in.
 
I soak my oak chips in boiling water to both sanitize and also remove the harshest flavors. They are more powerful than you think.

Fermenting at 80 isn't a problem, though 75 is optimal. When fermenting colder you are stressing the yeast out just as much as when it is warm, so aim for 65-75 if you can.

If you are doing Pinot then too hot will strip out the color (already a light grape), if something more heavy then you will get fruity character the higher and lower temp you ferment at. Also if you are getting local grape juice you might want to look into using some acid to keep the PH around 3.6. Central valley fruit is notorious for big flavor and no acid.

Good luck!
 

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