Ordered some Merlot juice in a bucket

[TommyTbar]

Just ordered some Californian Merlot Juice in a bucket and need some help with a recipe. I am unsure if the juice contains solids ( i tried to find out today but called a little late) I am a serious all grain beer brewer and have made a few batches of mead but never use additives only yeast and yeast nutrient and never have any problems with spoilage and flavor problems. After reading into what it takes to make a "real" wine such as a Merlot to achieve the right flavor profile there is a little more involved. Ie tannin additions especially if there's no skins involved, acid and ph balance and sulphite additions. I do know the wine is pre sulphited to 50ppm and inoculated with Kv 1116 if i remember correctly, then refrigerated. The guy said i could pitch what ever i wanted as the yeast addition was just to prevent spoilage and that the cell count would be low enough to not worry about it. Also i have read into adding an maltolatic culture to help reds mellow, this doesn't seem to difficult but it probably helps to have some experience with the culture. I am going to oak this batch but have had experience with oak in beer and feel comfortable with that process.

So my questions are really about additives and any insight on the general process, what are completely necessary? do i need to add pectic enzyme or is it too late with a yeast already pitched? I plan on adding the white labs merlot yeast as my primary strain. Also acid test kits, unsure which ones are the best for reds. And any experience with a malolatic culture.

My main goal is just to produce a good drinking merlot and learn as much as i can in the process, really starting to enjoy wine. Also to impress my lady friends that are not really the biggest beer drinkers

 

[pumpkinman2012]

This is going to be a long reply….lol

My normal process with red wine juice buckets is:

• As soon as i get the buckets home, I make sure to bring them up to room temp, most times, naturally, the reason for this is that yeast will start faster at room temp then at walk in cooler temps.
• The extra time that I have while the buckets come up to temp, gives me times to start getting everything that I need together.
• Once at room temps, if you have the means to test the PH, TA and SO2, I would take a reading on these levels and correct them now, it is much easier to correct these levels before the wine starts to ferment.
• I transfer the must into my 8 gallon fermenting bucket.
• I hydrate my selected yeast by heating the water up to 110° and adding Go-ferm at the rate of 1.25 grams per gram of yeast, when the temp gets down to 105°, I add the yeast, I normally just sprinkle it on top of the hydration water (with the goferm) and gently mix it in.
• Within 10 mins you'll see movement in the cup, the yeast is coming alive, and starting to multiply, I add an equal amount of the room temp must, this is a food for the yeast, it will help it to continue reproducing - remember, a happy yeast makes a great wine!
• Make sure to take a gravity reading with your hydrometer and record it.
• Once I pitch the yeast and give it a good stir, I put the lid on the fermenter and put the airlock in the lid. An 8 gallon fermenter has enough head space (oxygen) to accommodate the yeasts requirements.
• After I pitch the yeast, I add yeast hulls, this isn't a make or break it additive, but it does help to keep some of the nasties in check.
• If you plan on oaking the wine, I would highly recommend oak infusion spirals, French, medium toast, adding them during fermentation adds a nice level of complexity.
• I use oak barrels.
• You will know when fermentation is complete, the airlock activity will slow down, make sure to take another reading with your hydrometer, when the gravity hits .998 or lower, the wine has nearly finished fermenting, at this point, I usually put all of my reds through malolactic fermentation, I highly recommend using Lalvin 31, or Bacchus.
• If you are putting the wine through MLF, I recommend using Opti-Malo, a MLB nutrient. Stir the wine twice a week, the lees will act as a nutrient as well.
• MLF will be complete within 30-60 days, your wine will be smoother, more body and better mouth feel.
• When it is complete, rack to a clean carboy and stabilize with Potassium Metabisulfite (meta).
• I usually rack every 2 months or so until no more lees drops, no real need to use clearing agents, time will do a lot of things for us.
• I encourage you to taste the wine, but I can assure you that it will taste acidic, bitter and so forth because it will be young, you really need to age your wine 1-2 years, this sounds like a long time, but if you make a few berry wines that will be done faster, maybe make a few batches of home brew beer, before you know it, you will be bottling.
• Make sure to test you SO2 every few months, if your levels drop too far, your wine can spoil.

Of course this is just a generalization, many things can happy during the process, the most important thing to do is be proactive, you don't need to check your wine daily, you will introduce a lot of oxygen this way, patience is the key, but in the same breath, make sure that you address any potential faults immediately.

Please remember one important fact: If you ask 10 different wine makers to tell you how they make wine, you will get 12 different answers.
Most of what I posted is common practice.
Don't be apprehensive about asking questions, most of use are happy to help!


I hope that this helps.

 

[TommyTbar]

This is going to be a long reply….lol

My normal process with red wine juice buckets is:

• As soon as i get the buckets home, I make sure to bring them up to room temp, most times, naturally, the reason for this is that yeast will start faster at room temp then at walk in cooler temps.
• The extra time that I have while the buckets come up to temp, gives me times to start getting everything that I need together.
• Once at room temps, if you have the means to test the PH, TA and SO2, I would take a reading on these levels and correct them now, it is much easier to correct these levels before the wine starts to ferment.
• I transfer the must into my 8 gallon fermenting bucket.
• I hydrate my selected yeast by heating the water up to 110° and adding Go-ferm at the rate of 1.25 grams per gram of yeast, when the temp gets down to 105°, I add the yeast, I normally just sprinkle it on top of the hydration water (with the goferm) and gently mix it in.
• Within 10 mins you'll see movement in the cup, the yeast is coming alive, and starting to multiply, I add an equal amount of the room temp must, this is a food for the yeast, it will help it to continue reproducing - remember, a happy yeast makes a great wine!
• Make sure to take a gravity reading with your hydrometer and record it.
• Once I pitch the yeast and give it a good stir, I put the lid on the fermenter and put the airlock in the lid. An 8 gallon fermenter has enough head space (oxygen) to accommodate the yeasts requirements.
• After I pitch the yeast, I add yeast hulls, this isn't a make or break it additive, but it does help to keep some of the nasties in check.
• If you plan on oaking the wine, I would highly recommend oak infusion spirals, French, medium toast, adding them during fermentation adds a nice level of complexity.
• I use oak barrels.
• You will know when fermentation is complete, the airlock activity will slow down, make sure to take another reading with your hydrometer, when the gravity hits .998 or lower, the wine has nearly finished fermenting, at this point, I usually put all of my reds through malolactic fermentation, I highly recommend using Lalvin 31, or Bacchus.
• If you are putting the wine through MLF, I recommend using Opti-Malo, a MLB nutrient. Stir the wine twice a week, the lees will act as a nutrient as well.
• MLF will be complete within 30-60 days, your wine will be smoother, more body and better mouth feel.
• When it is complete, rack to a clean carboy and stabilize with Potassium Metabisulfite (meta).
• I usually rack every 2 months or so until no more lees drops, no real need to use clearing agents, time will do a lot of things for us.
• I encourage you to taste the wine, but I can assure you that it will taste acidic, bitter and so forth because it will be young, you really need to age your wine 1-2 years, this sounds like a long time, but if you make a few berry wines that will be done faster, maybe make a few batches of home brew beer, before you know it, you will be bottling.
• Make sure to test you SO2 every few months, if your levels drop too far, your wine can spoil.

Of course this is just a generalization, many things can happy during the process, the most important thing to do is be proactive, you don't need to check your wine daily, you will introduce a lot of oxygen this way, patience is the key, but in the same breath, make sure that you address any potential faults immediately.

Please remember one important fact: If you ask 10 different wine makers to tell you how they make wine, you will get 12 different answers.
Most of what I posted is common practice.
Don't be apprehensive about asking questions, most of use are happy to help!


I hope that this helps.

Thanks for the awesome reply you defiantly cleared up some things for me, i do understand every wine is different and needs to be treated accordingly and i am sure ill have some more questions down the road. We'll see how well i can adapt to wine. I am pretty excited

 

[pumpkinman2012]

Always glad to help.