Must Fermenting Early, Which Yeasts will Take?
Hi Everyone... I ran into a "situation" today and was wondering if
anyone knows enough about yeast to know if I have a problem.
I have six gallons of Chardonnay fermenting in a 13.5 gallon barrel
(currently at 17 Brix). I have another 11 gallons in the cold garage
waiting until the barrel reaches Brix 10, then I'll rack to a carboy
and then place the other 11 gallons in the barrel and start
fermenting on that.
Okay... My "situation." I walked in the garage today to find the 11
gallons bubbling away! It wasn't bubbling last night, but I did see a
little foam around the meniscus of the six gallon carboy, which made
me concerned. I didn't see rising bubbles like I do today. The
weather warmed a bit today. There was no discernable lees at the
bottom of the glass carboys, so I'm hoping I caught this fast!
I immediately racked the wine in the barrel to another carboy, then
racked the two other early-fermenting carboys into the barrel. I
purposely left about 1/2 gallon of wine/lees on the bottom of the
barrel. I thought that would make a nice yeast starter ready to go.
Regardless of this, I created a yeast starter with enough yeast for
the 11 gallons and pitched it in the barrel.
My concern is, which yeast will take? Obviously I have wild yeast
that's become active. I'm hoping my yeast will take over and dominate
the wild yeast. Everything is fermenting nicely, I just don't know
which yeast is doing what in the barrel! :-(
Should I be concerned? Is there anything else I should do? I'm using
CY3079 yeast.
Any help or advice would be appreciated.
-Paul
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