Thank you professor for these great videos, very informative !! I would love to hear your recommendation on the following: I do strawberry wine (pressed juice) in a stainless steel fermentor (with like 20% head space) and keep it in the same container until fermentation is complete (specific gravity less than 0.996). I also used to add yeast nutrients at the begining of the fermentation with no additions when sugar level drops. Would you also recommend following the steps you described for my strawberry wine like racking when specific gravity is around 1.03 and spliting the dose of yeat nutrients to two applications, one at the beginning and one during racking? Will there be any difference between these two methods?
Those are great questions. I do not have experience with strawberry wine. My suggestion is to try out your questions and compare. That is part of the fun of it! Good luck! and take good notes!
I’ve been wondering about vessel size when fermenting. This series inspired me to start my own small vineyard of Cabernet franc here on the east coast. I want to get the right fermentation vessels for the amount of wine I will be making next year. Both your carboys were not filled up all the way. What impact does this have on primary fermentation, and does the need for a more precisely sized vessel come about next episode when you rack the wine? What kind of impact would ullage have in these vessels before getting the finished product into bottle? Love watching your videos!
@@jadengunn7839 For primary fermentation, you want enough head space that you avoid having foam go up into your airlock/blow off. After primary, you are looking to reduce contact with oxygen and you reduce head space.
I am glad you fill inspired! Carboys are good. As elementecho said you need to create head space during fermentation. A lot of CO2 gas is produced and pressure will build up. I was using plastic containers with plastic lids on my very first fermentation I ever did and the pressure blew the lids off so hard it flew up and splattered fermentation on the ceiling of the garage! As long as your container remains sealed, the CO2 will protect the wine from oxygen, hence the excess head space is not a problem until you rack off the wine and reintroduce the oxygen. Then you will want to reduce the surface area and head space. I will cover this in my next video. The 100 L variable volume container (adjustable lid) that I use is ideal for variable harvests! You are going to need variable sized carboys and containers down to 1 gal without a variable volume container.
In order to minimize color extraction, I would assume cold and the reduction of time are the main factors. Do warm climates and their tendency to thicken skins have an affect in this area?@@grantcramer
Yes, you are correct, colder temperatures and short extraction times will reduce color extraction. Skin thickness is mostly determined by the varietal.
@@grantcramer Thank you for the response. I had thought I had heard that hot climates encouraged thicker skins. I am down in Texas at the tail end of my first year of my little home vineyard haha. I am sure I still have a lot to learn, forget, and relearn.
I agree with you that hot temperatures may indeed increase the thickness of skins, but relative to genetic factors, it is less important than the genetic factors that contribute to the thickness of skins.
Thanks!
Many thanks Antonio! You are first and the best!
Thank you professor for these great videos, very informative !! I would love to hear your recommendation on the following: I do strawberry wine (pressed juice) in a stainless steel fermentor (with like 20% head space) and keep it in the same container until fermentation is complete (specific gravity less than 0.996). I also used to add yeast nutrients at the begining of the fermentation with no additions when sugar level drops. Would you also recommend following the steps you described for my strawberry wine like racking when specific gravity is around 1.03 and spliting the dose of yeat nutrients to two applications, one at the beginning and one during racking? Will there be any difference between these two methods?
Those are great questions. I do not have experience with strawberry wine. My suggestion is to try out your questions and compare. That is part of the fun of it! Good luck! and take good notes!
I’ve been wondering about vessel size when fermenting. This series inspired me to start my own small vineyard of Cabernet franc here on the east coast. I want to get the right fermentation vessels for the amount of wine I will be making next year. Both your carboys were not filled up all the way. What impact does this have on primary fermentation, and does the need for a more precisely sized vessel come about next episode when you rack the wine? What kind of impact would ullage have in these vessels before getting the finished product into bottle?
Love watching your videos!
@@jadengunn7839 For primary fermentation, you want enough head space that you avoid having foam go up into your airlock/blow off. After primary, you are looking to reduce contact with oxygen and you reduce head space.
I am glad you fill inspired! Carboys are good. As elementecho said you need to create head space during fermentation. A lot of CO2 gas is produced and pressure will build up. I was using plastic containers with plastic lids on my very first fermentation I ever did and the pressure blew the lids off so hard it flew up and splattered fermentation on the ceiling of the garage! As long as your container remains sealed, the CO2 will protect the wine from oxygen, hence the excess head space is not a problem until you rack off the wine and reintroduce the oxygen. Then you will want to reduce the surface area and head space. I will cover this in my next video. The 100 L variable volume container (adjustable lid) that I use is ideal for variable harvests! You are going to need variable sized carboys and containers down to 1 gal without a variable volume container.
Is color extraction from saignee fairly consistent over time or highly dependent on variety, harvest, temperature of extraction, etc?
Yes, extraction from the skins is highly dependent on the variety, time of extraction and temperature.
In order to minimize color extraction, I would assume cold and the reduction of time are the main factors. Do warm climates and their tendency to thicken skins have an affect in this area?@@grantcramer
Yes, you are correct, colder temperatures and short extraction times will reduce color extraction. Skin thickness is mostly determined by the varietal.
@@grantcramer Thank you for the response. I had thought I had heard that hot climates encouraged thicker skins. I am down in Texas at the tail end of my first year of my little home vineyard haha. I am sure I still have a lot to learn, forget, and relearn.
I agree with you that hot temperatures may indeed increase the thickness of skins, but relative to genetic factors, it is less important than the genetic factors that contribute to the thickness of skins.