"c4miles" > wrote in message
hlink.net...
> Hi folks,
>
> Nice group you have here!
> I hope you can help me out.
>
> I've been making a 50/50 blend of Alicante/Grenache for the past 4 years.
> It's a total of 780 lbs of grapes that makes about 60 gallons of wine by
the
> time it's done.
> I crush the grapes with an electric crusher into a large primary
fermentation
> tub.
> I've always relied on the natural yeast on the grape for fermentation and
never
> sulphited.
>
> I basically followed a simple, old Italian recipe passed on by a friend of
my
> father.
>
> But .... I'd like to improve my wine and have been reading a lot lately.
> I've figured out how much pot. meta. to add, but I'm having trouble trying
> to come up with the quantity of yeast.

I encourage your attempt to improve on your product. Just a few simple
things can make a _huge_ difference in quality.

IMO you should not add _any_ sulfite until after pressing (assuming clean
fruit [no rot]), and preferably not until ML is complete. SO2 slows down
the ML, and you _want_ that to go smoothly.

You should check your initial pH to make sure it's within acceptable limits.
3.4 - 3.6 is reasonable. Higher than that suggests adding tartaric acid to
bring it down to ~3.5 or so.

As far as yeast is concerned, you can hardly overdo that - but let's be
reasonable. Right after crushing, sprinkle about 50 grams of dried,
cultured yeast (your choice of strains, but Pasteur Red is a good choice)
over the top of the must (assuming 700 lbs of fruit, crushed into one
container). Leave it alone (covered) for half a day or so. It should begin
frothing as it rehydrates, and the easy access to air will help the yeast
along. It's not a bad idea to add yeast nutrient at this time to promote
yeast growth and prevent potential problems down the line, such as stuck
fermentation or "the stinkies". When the fermentation is obviously going
(white, foamy mung on the surface), stir it into the bulk of the must.
Punch down the cap several times a day during the active fermentation and
keep it covered.

As the fermentation slows down, you should keep the walls of the
fermenter(s) wiped clean, and it's not a bad idea to lightly spritz the
surface of the must (after punching down) with a sulfite solution from a
spray bottle, just before putting on the lid. I know I said "no sulfite",
but a little here is a good idea.

When the wine is dry, press the juice into drums or a tank. Let it settle
for a couple of hours and rack the clear portion into a barrel. Combine all
the rest into kegs and let it settle. Rack that too within a day or so.
The idea is to separate as much of the clean wine from the lees as quickly
as possible. The wine won't be anywhere near clear yet, but the difference
between the clearest fraction and the mucky stuff will be quite apparent.
You can salvage wine from the muck over the course of time, but at some
point the heavy lees may tend to go reductive on you and start to stink like
rotten eggs. By then, you should have already separated almost all of the
good wine from the goop, so you can just dump the latter. Believe me, it
isn't worth the trouble to try to salvage that last little bit. If you have
a fraction of clear stuff that's marginally stinky, _don't_ mix it into the
good stuff or you'll ruin the entire lot. Put some clean, pre-1982 pennies
(or even better, sterling silver) into it for a few days. That might clean
up the stink.

Keep the barrel topped up and airlocked until ML is complete. Then sulfite
it, top it up and bung it tight. Taste and top once a week or so until it's
nearly ready to bottle.

Then it's time to think about fining trials. Come back in a year or two and
we can get into that.

Tom S