I have a rose' made from pinot gris grapes fermented on the skins for a week
along with the "seignier"(sp.) from a batch of pinot noir. After pressing it
has now set for 4 days in carboys and there is about 3 inches of white lees
on the bottom of each carboy (11 gal carboys) The stuff has a wonderful
pink color and I am thinking I want to stir these lees every few days for
awhile before letting them settle and racking off. Is this taking a risk? PH
is about 3.3, and acid was 7 gms/liter. I innoculated it with ml on the
second day of fermentation. Usually I make this into a "picnic" wine, no ml,
1% residual sugar to balance the acid and those have been good, but I wanted
to try something a little different this time. What would you do next? Did I
screw up? Thanks in advance for the help!

"Darwin Vander Stelt" wrote in message
...
I have a rose' made from pinot gris grapes fermented on the skins for a
week
along with the "seignier"(sp.) from a batch of pinot noir. After pressing
it
has now set for 4 days in carboys and there is about 3 inches of white
lees
on the bottom of each carboy (11 gal carboys) The stuff has a wonderful
pink color and I am thinking I want to stir these lees every few days for
awhile before letting them settle and racking off. Is this taking a risk?
PH
is about 3.3, and acid was 7 gms/liter. I innoculated it with ml on the
second day of fermentation. Usually I make this into a "picnic" wine, no
ml,
1% residual sugar to balance the acid and those have been good, but I
wanted
to try something a little different this time. What would you do next?

Sounds pretty good to me so far! I'd stir it every couple of days until I'm
sure ML is complete, sulfite it and leave it on the lees for at least 6
months before doing anything else. Then I'd probably rack it, fine it and
bottle it unfiltered and unsweetened after the fining lees settle out.
Should be a nice wine for Summer.

Tom S

Thank you!
"Tom S" wrote in message
...

"Darwin Vander Stelt" wrote in message
...
I have a rose' made from pinot gris grapes fermented on the skins for a
week
along with the "seignier"(sp.) from a batch of pinot noir. After
pressing
it
has now set for 4 days in carboys and there is about 3 inches of white
lees
on the bottom of each carboy (11 gal carboys) The stuff has a wonderful
pink color and I am thinking I want to stir these lees every few days
for
awhile before letting them settle and racking off. Is this taking a
risk?
PH
is about 3.3, and acid was 7 gms/liter. I innoculated it with ml on the
second day of fermentation. Usually I make this into a "picnic" wine, no
ml,
1% residual sugar to balance the acid and those have been good, but I
wanted
to try something a little different this time. What would you do next?

Sounds pretty good to me so far! I'd stir it every couple of days until
I'm
sure ML is complete, sulfite it and leave it on the lees for at least 6
months before doing anything else. Then I'd probably rack it, fine it and
bottle it unfiltered and unsweetened after the fining lees settle out.
Should be a nice wine for Summer.

Tom S

Darwin, Is that (11) 1 gallon carboys with 3 inches of sediment? If it is
then my only concern is that if it is that much then you may have quite a
bit of gross lees in there. Meaning a lot of solid grape matter etc, and not
fine lees or dead yeast at the bottom. Fine lees are fine, but Gross lees
can lead to problems. Just looking for a clarification so you dont run into
a problem.
"Darwin Vander Stelt" wrote in message
...
Thank you!
"Tom S" wrote in message
...

"Darwin Vander Stelt" wrote in message
...
I have a rose' made from pinot gris grapes fermented on the skins for
a
week
along with the "seignier"(sp.) from a batch of pinot noir. After
pressing
it
has now set for 4 days in carboys and there is about 3 inches of white
lees
on the bottom of each carboy (11 gal carboys) The stuff has a
wonderful
pink color and I am thinking I want to stir these lees every few days
for
awhile before letting them settle and racking off. Is this taking a
risk?
PH
is about 3.3, and acid was 7 gms/liter. I innoculated it with ml on
the
second day of fermentation. Usually I make this into a "picnic" wine,
no
ml,
1% residual sugar to balance the acid and those have been good, but I
wanted
to try something a little different this time. What would you do next?

Sounds pretty good to me so far! I'd stir it every couple of days until
I'm
sure ML is complete, sulfite it and leave it on the lees for at least 6
months before doing anything else. Then I'd probably rack it, fine it
and
bottle it unfiltered and unsweetened after the fining lees settle out.
Should be a nice wine for Summer.

Tom S

It is 40 litre plastic carboys (2), each with 3 inches of sediment, and I
posed the question because I wondered if there could be problems with them
going reductive (which is the problem I assume you are concerned with). I am
only working on my 3rd year of this and have never experienced that
phenomenon or any rotton egg odor at all. Idaho is a fabulous place for
grapes partly because its desert dry, gets over 95 a couple times a week
early in the season, always cools below 70 at night, and drops into the 40's
and 50's (at night) in September)(2700 foot elevation), and I don't spray
any anti-fungal , (or anything else) and never see mold!(except for a little
shaded corner and that tree is outa here) We get good sugar and good acid
too. I'm assuming not using sulfur compounds helps a little in not getting
the rotton egg odor. So is 3" too much? Thanks for your help!
"J Dixon" wrote in message
. net...
Darwin, Is that (11) 1 gallon carboys with 3 inches of sediment? If it is
then my only concern is that if it is that much then you may have quite a
bit of gross lees in there. Meaning a lot of solid grape matter etc, and
not
fine lees or dead yeast at the bottom. Fine lees are fine, but Gross lees
can lead to problems. Just looking for a clarification so you dont run
into
a problem.
"Darwin Vander Stelt" wrote in message
...
Thank you!
"Tom S" wrote in message
...

"Darwin Vander Stelt" wrote in message
...
I have a rose' made from pinot gris grapes fermented on the skins
for
a
week
along with the "seignier"(sp.) from a batch of pinot noir. After
pressing
it
has now set for 4 days in carboys and there is about 3 inches of
white
lees
on the bottom of each carboy (11 gal carboys) The stuff has a
wonderful
pink color and I am thinking I want to stir these lees every few
days
for
awhile before letting them settle and racking off. Is this taking a
risk?
PH
is about 3.3, and acid was 7 gms/liter. I innoculated it with ml on
the
second day of fermentation. Usually I make this into a "picnic"
wine,
no
ml,
1% residual sugar to balance the acid and those have been good, but
I
wanted
to try something a little different this time. What would you do
next?

Sounds pretty good to me so far! I'd stir it every couple of days
until
I'm
sure ML is complete, sulfite it and leave it on the lees for at least
6
months before doing anything else. Then I'd probably rack it, fine it
and
bottle it unfiltered and unsweetened after the fining lees settle out.
Should be a nice wine for Summer.

Tom S

That sounds ok so long as it doesn't look like a bunch of grape matter and
is mainly all light lees. Just stir it every couple days and give it a
sniff. Any signs of trouble rack it off the lees immediately. You seem to be
on the right track so far. Good luck
John Dixon

"Darwin Vander Stelt" wrote in message
...
It is 40 litre plastic carboys (2), each with 3 inches of sediment, and I
posed the question because I wondered if there could be problems with them
going reductive (which is the problem I assume you are concerned with). I
am
only working on my 3rd year of this and have never experienced that
phenomenon or any rotton egg odor at all. Idaho is a fabulous place for
grapes partly because its desert dry, gets over 95 a couple times a week
early in the season, always cools below 70 at night, and drops into the
40's
and 50's (at night) in September)(2700 foot elevation), and I don't spray
any anti-fungal , (or anything else) and never see mold!(except for a
little
shaded corner and that tree is outa here) We get good sugar and good acid
too. I'm assuming not using sulfur compounds helps a little in not getting
the rotton egg odor. So is 3" too much? Thanks for your help!
"J Dixon" wrote in message
. net...
Darwin, Is that (11) 1 gallon carboys with 3 inches of sediment? If it
is
then my only concern is that if it is that much then you may have quite
a
bit of gross lees in there. Meaning a lot of solid grape matter etc, and
not
fine lees or dead yeast at the bottom. Fine lees are fine, but Gross
lees
can lead to problems. Just looking for a clarification so you dont run
into
a problem.
"Darwin Vander Stelt" wrote in message
...
Thank you!
"Tom S" wrote in message
...

"Darwin Vander Stelt" wrote in message
...
I have a rose' made from pinot gris grapes fermented on the skins
for
a
week
along with the "seignier"(sp.) from a batch of pinot noir. After
pressing
it
has now set for 4 days in carboys and there is about 3 inches of
white
lees
on the bottom of each carboy (11 gal carboys) The stuff has a
wonderful
pink color and I am thinking I want to stir these lees every few
days
for
awhile before letting them settle and racking off. Is this taking
a
risk?
PH
is about 3.3, and acid was 7 gms/liter. I innoculated it with ml
on
the
second day of fermentation. Usually I make this into a "picnic"
wine,
no
ml,
1% residual sugar to balance the acid and those have been good,
but
I
wanted
to try something a little different this time. What would you do
next?

Sounds pretty good to me so far! I'd stir it every couple of days
until
I'm
sure ML is complete, sulfite it and leave it on the lees for at
least
6
months before doing anything else. Then I'd probably rack it, fine
it
and
bottle it unfiltered and unsweetened after the fining lees settle
out.
Should be a nice wine for Summer.

Tom S