After I crush my red grapes and need to add any ingredients -- what
volume do I use to calculate how much sulfite, acid, yeast, etc to add?
The volume of the must including skins, seeds and pulp OR the volume
of the juice I expect to get from the must?

For example, I crushed 22 cases of Sangiovese that produced 300 liters
of must in the tub. But I expect to get about 200 liters of juice. Do
I use 300 l or 200 l to calculate the amount of sulfite, acid and yeast
to add?

Marc - Use the juice volume...in your case 200 L.
Bill Frazier
Olathe, Kansas USA

"marc" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> After I crush my red grapes and need to add any ingredients -- what
> volume do I use to calculate how much sulfite, acid, yeast, etc to add?
> The volume of the must including skins, seeds and pulp OR the volume
> of the juice I expect to get from the must?
>
> For example, I crushed 22 cases of Sangiovese that produced 300 liters
> of must in the tub. But I expect to get about 200 liters of juice. Do
> I use 300 l or 200 l to calculate the amount of sulfite, acid and yeast
> to add?
>

I shall be controversial and suggest that you might want to consider a
different answer for each of the additives;

Sulfite; I would use the complete must volume (300 l). You are trying to
achieve a projected ppm; that needs to be inclusive of all the material in
the must.

Yeast; it doesn;t matter. I personally think that pitching packets of dried
yeast into must based on "x grams per y gallons" is nuts. One packet can
satisfy even the largest volume. I take one packet, and reserve a given
amount of juice after crush but before sulfite addition. I use wat juice,
and water, with the yeast to create a relatively large starter that I will
later pitch into the must. Yeast cells multipley all by themselves - no need
to buy a bunch of packets.

Acid; I would be conservative and use the juice volume (200 l). But I
suggest you conduct multiple bench trials, and 'nudge' your acid to where
you want it in increments. It's too easy to overadjust.


"marc" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> After I crush my red grapes and need to add any ingredients -- what
> volume do I use to calculate how much sulfite, acid, yeast, etc to add?
> The volume of the must including skins, seeds and pulp OR the volume
> of the juice I expect to get from the must?
>
> For example, I crushed 22 cases of Sangiovese that produced 300 liters
> of must in the tub. But I expect to get about 200 liters of juice. Do
> I use 300 l or 200 l to calculate the amount of sulfite, acid and yeast
> to add?
>

With all respect....300 liters must and 200 liters juice from 22 lugs
of grapes seems to me to be a bit high. Not by THAT much but enough
that you might want to be careful adding that acid.

> wrote in message
ups.com...
> With all respect....300 liters must and 200 liters juice from 22 lugs
> of grapes seems to me to be a bit high. Not by THAT much but enough
> that you might want to be careful adding that acid.

If the "lugs" the op mentioned are 36 pound boxes that some CV grapes are
shipped in, then it is not unreasonable.

There are also different size "Lugs". The ones I use hold about 25 pounds
but there are larger ones that hold over 30 pounds.

We ordered Sangiovese in 36lb cases. After crushing the must volume in
the tub read 300L. The free run was about 210L and we pressed another
30L.

Just curious, do you know the pH of the Sangiovese you got. I got some of
the CV Sangiovese in 36 pound boxes this year also and the pH was 4.01. The
Brix was 24.2. I checked it several times and recalibrated my meter and
compared it to know values of other wine I had. Needless to say I added
tartaric and am trying to keep track of the TA also. It will be ready to
press about Monday. Last year the Sangiovese I got was excellent and I did
not have to do a thing to it. The final pH was about 3.45 and I blended it
with 50% locally grown Cabernet Sauvignon. It turned out really well.


"marc" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> We ordered Sangiovese in 36lb cases. After crushing the must volume in
> the tub read 300L. The free run was about 210L and we pressed another
> 30L.
>

Paul, unfortunately all I have to measure pH is the strips. So it
isn't that accurate. But I thought it came out to about 4.0 and the
Brix was 24. I added TA also. I will testing again when we rack next
weekend.

How long has the must been macerating? What yeast do you use?


Paul E. Lehmann wrote:
> Just curious, do you know the pH of the Sangiovese you got. I got some of
> the CV Sangiovese in 36 pound boxes this year also and the pH was 4.01. The
> Brix was 24.2. I checked it several times and recalibrated my meter and
> compared it to know values of other wine I had. Needless to say I added
> tartaric and am trying to keep track of the TA also. It will be ready to
> press about Monday. Last year the Sangiovese I got was excellent and I did
> not have to do a thing to it. The final pH was about 3.45 and I blended it
> with 50% locally grown Cabernet Sauvignon. It turned out really well.
>
>
> "marc" > wrote in message
> ups.com...
> > We ordered Sangiovese in 36lb cases. After crushing the must volume in
> > the tub read 300L. The free run was about 210L and we pressed another
> > 30L.
> >

Those numbers sound identical to what I had at crush.

I have been fermenting for 8 days and will press tomorrow morning. The cap
has fallen.

I used EC 1118 this year and I am fermenting in my basement wine cellar
where the temperature is about 70 degrees.


"marc" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> Paul, unfortunately all I have to measure pH is the strips. So it
> isn't that accurate. But I thought it came out to about 4.0 and the
> Brix was 24. I added TA also. I will testing again when we rack next
> weekend.
>
> How long has the must been macerating? What yeast do you use?
>
>
> Paul E. Lehmann wrote:
>> Just curious, do you know the pH of the Sangiovese you got. I got some
>> of
>> the CV Sangiovese in 36 pound boxes this year also and the pH was 4.01.
>> The
>> Brix was 24.2. I checked it several times and recalibrated my meter and
>> compared it to know values of other wine I had. Needless to say I added
>> tartaric and am trying to keep track of the TA also. It will be ready to
>> press about Monday. Last year the Sangiovese I got was excellent and I
>> did
>> not have to do a thing to it. The final pH was about 3.45 and I blended
>> it
>> with 50% locally grown Cabernet Sauvignon. It turned out really well.
>>
>>
>> "marc" > wrote in message
>> ups.com...
>> > We ordered Sangiovese in 36lb cases. After crushing the must volume in
>> > the tub read 300L. The free run was about 210L and we pressed another
>> > 30L.
>> >
>

I used same yeast and pressed after 7 days. Where did you get the
grapes?

I got my grapes from S&S in Baltimore.


"marc" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>I used same yeast and pressed after 7 days. Where did you get the
> grapes?
>