Making Wine From Frozen Grape Must
We started making wine with our Oregon and Washington fruit last week. It took about 3 days to dethaw the pails in a heated shed. After the fruit was fully de-thawed and thoroughly mixed we took measurements of the brix, pH and TA. The numbers were close to what we measured on the crush pad but there was some variation. Pail to pail variation is common in the reds and that’s why it is important that everyone takes their own readings. Here’s what we observed:
Tempranillo Brix = 23.4, pH = 3.83, TA = .49
Pinot Noir Brix = 24.75, pH 3.56, TA = .51
Cab Sauv Brix = 25.1, pH 4.12, TA =.39
Mourvedre Brix = 22.25, pH = 3.65, TA = .68
Roussanne Brix = 22.5 pH = 3.3 TA = .6
So the only adjustments we made were to add tartaric acid to the Cabernet and Tempranillo to bring the pH down a little bit. We also made additions of Fermaid K, Optired, and FT Rouge to the reds (except the Pinot which got special treatment). For yeast we used RP4600 on the Roussanne and then split the Pinot between RC212 and ASMH and split the other reds between BDX and Rockpile (RP15). No real differences between the different yeasts. No issues with H2S production.
We punched down two to three times a day and reached peak temperatures of 88F. After 9 days all the reds had reached negative brix and we’re planning on pressing on day 12.
The wines are young, but I’m feeling very good about how they’re tasting now.