Pressing matters

Sunday, 10/2, needed to press the Riesling, and add the yeast to both the red and white and get the fermentation going. Pressing is pretty much grunt work--filling the basket press with the must, catching the free-run, pressing to get the rest of the juice out, all the time catching the juice, and running it through a sieve as we add to the container--a 44 gallon food grade plastic container in this case. Once pressed, the grape "pie" or pomace is discarded.



So the guys supply the brawn to operate the press, the girls get down and sticky, pouring the must, transferring the juice, cleaning up and discarding the pomace. It takes a number of pressings to go through the 100 gallons of must, and this year, we got a yield of 65 gallons. We added the yeast, which had been growing since Friday. We are lucky to have a small incubator just big enough for two gallon jars so we can grow the yeast under fairly well-regulated conditions. Also we added yeast nutrient, as if the yeast needed anything else to keep it happy. I suppose the microbiologist in me says well, yeah it does (all those trace elements, vitamins and amino acids)...so yeast nutient is good. The yeast we are using is Steinberg which is a "classic German yeast from the Rheingau district. Produces full bodied wines with great depth, dry smoky characteristic with a sharp finish, drier than Rudisheimer. Flocculation: medium to high, residual sugar, 0-0.75% alcohol tolerance 12-13%" Rudisheimer is what we have used in the past, and have had great results, and so-so results. Since our taste runs to a dry rielsing, the Steinberg should give us what we want. Flocculation with whites can be problem....because we ferment in a closed carboys, we don't want the fermenting wine to overflow the containers, but we want to keep the contact with air at a minimum. So, as we take the juice, after the yeast has been added, we filled our containers 2/3 full. We use 3 15-galllon stainless steel kegs, and 7 5-6 gallons glass carboys.



The red just needed to be moved into the appropriate fermentation containers: the syrah into two 44 gallon containers, and the grenache into a 15 gallon container.

Then we divided the yeast among the containers, and added yeast nutrient. For the red we are using Bordeaux, which is described as "producing a distinctive intense berry graham cracker nose, jammy, rich, very smooth complex profile, slightly vinous. Well suited for higher sugar content musts. Alcohol tolerance 14%, residual sugar 0-0.5 %" so whatever that means.....graham cracker throws me a little, but I like graham crackers. Definite plus that this yeast is good for high sugar musts, because the syrah is particularly high. We measured the brix of the must, and it is 25. Using a formula from the Davis monograph, we can figure just a smidge over 14% alcohol content. So, we should be okay with this. We also measured the brix of the Grenache at 21. So, the grenache would be less alcoholic, and take the blend down a bit, too.