Using Paper Chromatography to Monitor MLF in Wine

November 30, 2010

This year, I grabbed 300 pounds of Petite Sirah grapes. I've found that these single varietal dry reds use quite a different process than fruit wines. The vineyard will wait to harvest the grape until it reaches the ideal brix for that varietal so to the winemaker the variables are a bit more controlled than that of a typical fruit wine where the variables are all over the place.

One of the things we do in red wine is undergo malolactic fermentation. This is where malic acid is converted to lactic acid... contributing to more rounded flavors and mouth-feel.

We need to know when malolactic fermentation is completed and we do this through the use of paper chromatography. In this video, I demonstrate the test and explain it as best I can. Hope it's helpful.

Tags: how-to , wine

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A story of Petite Sirah, from the truck to the carboy

November 18, 2010

Many have asked about it... others didn't but still got to hear me blather about it. Here's my story from the truck to the carboy. To appreciate it as I do, you must REALLY like red wine... and then appreciate that it's made right here. I just pressed the grapes off the skins today and it's rollin' in the cellar. I already can't wait to do it again next year. But next year, I think we'll shoot for a clean 500 lbs. Hope you enjoy.

Tags: grapes , wine

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The final grape crush of 2010 brings me 300 pounds of Petite Sirah

November 09, 2010

I hope to make wine from my own grapes one year, but until I do, I have to buy them. I've been growing grapes, planting a new row and variety each year, for about 5 years now. I battle with the deer, the black rot... you name it, about everything that has prevented me from bringing in the bounty. This year, however, I brought in my first lot of Concord grapes, but there wasn't enough worth making wine with, so we made pies and jams and froze the rest.

Speaking of buying grapes, I brought home the last bounty on Saturday. 300 pounds of Petite Sirah and I am very excited about this one. It feels almost like--ok, time to stop messing around and make some good, red grape wine. So, this Petite Sirah has been somewhat of a project for me delving back into books, picking brains and talking to people.

I really appreciated the help from my friend Dave whose been a student of winemaking lately as well. Dave makes excellent wine and so I wanted to really get a up-close look at his process. When I was in Art School, we were told to "copy the masters". Doing so may not make complete sense at the time, in fact it seemed like plagiarism, but looking back, I found that it brought me up to a plateau where I could look back down to where I really was to see where I did good, or bad. For me, I'm a quick study in most things, mainly because I have no problem admiting that I don't know it all and then asking someone to tell me everything they know.

Ultimately, I choose to stay on that higher plateau because afterall, it's the place to be, right? Knowing what i know now... is better then what I never knew. You heard that here first.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy these pics of the fine people I get to mingle with when we take off on a cold morning to smash grapes, eat pizza and drink wine! Cheers.

Tags: friends , grapes , wine

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Harvesting and processing black walnuts

November 08, 2010

Processing walnuts reminds me when I was a kid... when my dad made us all help him :) All of us--my friends too. There was a time I felt I was in danger of loosing my friends because of all the "chores" my dad made them help with. Simple nostalgia drives often drives me to do the things I do. I told myself I wasn't going to step over the walnuts and forget them this year.

In our family, there was always a bowl of nuts on the table... through the winter. Maybe I did it just to have some nuts layng around. Black walnuts have a hard shell that takes a hammer (or a heavy duty cracker) to bust the shell. I recall using a hammer and my dads anvil to crack black walnuts and tediously pick the nuts out of the shells for hours when I was a kid. But the reward was something else. It is something I crave more now as an adult then I did when I was a kid. Here, in our my back yard... the best quality nuts for the taking, and all I need is the desire.

My dad would collect them when they were soft and mushy and would drive over them with the truck to loosen the hulls. I took a more precise approach. Here's the process I employed. I clamped a drawknife in the vise and rolled the walnut over it to cut the husk in half. Then, using both hands (with latex gloves on,) twisted either side of the hull in opposite directions. The greener ones came right out... the darker, harder ones took rolling them on the ground under my shoe.

Cleaning the gunk off is a multi-day process. Put them in a bucket of water and use a paddle on a drill or something to agitate the goo off. The water will be black. Again, this will stain your clothes and hands. I got some holes in my gloves and had black fingers for weeks. Still on my hands as I type as a matter of fact. Nothing will take the stain out, except time.

Afterwards, I put them under some screen or wire to let the sun hit them and dry out. After the hulls are clean enough, bring them in side and store them in a cardboard box in the corner... even near the fireplace. The nut will contract and be easier to get out of the shell.

Do this with your kid, but allow them to become bored and don't force them to appreciate this process like you do. It's only important to expose them to it, so that one day, they may look back as I have... and maybe take it up on their own. Afterall, us Morgan's become a little nuts over time. Take a look at the pictures to see the process.

Tags: garden , how-to , nature

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How to measure acidity in wine using an acid titration kit

November 02, 2010

The home winemaker will typically use a basic acid titration kit to measure acidity in wine because other manners can be quite expensive.

While not 100% accurate, it's close... and it's a test whose results I do not ignore. You can rely on it especially when you have become consistent enough in the process of conducting the test. This video shows you how.

Just to clarify... once I have achieved the color change that is described in the video, I will subtract the amount of sodium hydroxide that remains in the syringe (3 cc's) from what I started with (10 cc's). So the result is 7 cc's and each cc is approximately .1% acidity (expressed as tartaric acid, TA)

So, we started with 10cc's and we consumed 7cc's, leaving 3 cc's. So that gave us an acidity reading (expressed as TA) of .7% for this white, Sauvignon Blanc.

Update: I said Cabernet Sauvignon in the video, but it's obviously a white wine. I meant to say Sauvignon Blanc :) Happens to the best of us, right?

Tags: cellar , how-to , wine

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