The board seems unusually quiet these days, so I figured I could slip
in one of my invariably inane questions.
What are your experiences / ratios with must - raw - wine production
from a half ton of red wine grapes?
I have had at least 10% variances, but the ratio would seem to be;

1000 lbs = apx. 120 gallons must = 80 gallons pressed raw wine = 70
gallons finished wine
Anyone have different numbers?

can you tell I'm doing container planning for the '07 season!

--
I'm trying a new usenet client for Mac, Nemo OS X.
You can download it at http://www.malcom-mac.com/nemo

AxisOfBeagles wrote:

> The board seems unusually quiet these days, so I
> figured I could slip in one of my invariably
> inane questions. What are your experiences /
> ratios with must - raw - wine production from a
> half ton of red wine grapes? I have had at least
> 10% variances, but the ratio would seem to be;
>
> 1000 lbs = apx. 120 gallons must = 80 gallons
> pressed raw wine = 70 gallons finished wine
> Anyone have different numbers?
>
> can you tell I'm doing container planning for
> the '07 season!
>
> --
> I'm trying a new usenet client for Mac, Nemo OS
> X. You can download it at
> http://www.malcom-mac.com/nemo

I think your numbers are about right. I would
estimate more like 75 gallons finished but that
depends on how hard you press and how you do your
racking. When I rack, I pour all the lees into
another container, put on an air lock and let it
settle for a few days. You would be surprised at
how much more wine you can recover that way. If
you leave it sit longer than a few days, you will
likely suffer from H2S problems from the gross
lees so I don't let it settle more than about
three days.

Agree completely Paul. Two or thee years ago I had a disastrous case
of hydrogen sulfide in both some Merlot and some Syrah. Ultimately
traced it to just that - letting the raw wine sit on the lees too long
after pressing. Nowadays, I press into - for lack of a better term - a
settling tank --- just a few days, then rack again and get off the
lees.
And I also think you are right about the 75 gallons finished wine - I
tend not to press as fully as some folks do. Probably need to - that's
two cases of wine!

In article > "Paul
E.Lehmann" > wrote:


> I think your numbers are about right. I would
> estimate more like 75 gallons finished but that
> depends on how hard you press and how you do your
> racking. When I rack, I pour all the lees into
> another container, put on an air lock and let it
> settle for a few days. You would be surprised at
> how much more wine you can recover that way. If
> you leave it sit longer than a few days, you will
> likely suffer from H2S problems from the gross
> lees so I don't let it settle more than about
> three days.
>

--
I'm trying a new usenet client for Mac, Nemo OS X.
You can download it at http://www.malcom-mac.com/nemo

AxisOfBeagles wrote:

> Agree completely Paul. Two or thee years ago I
> had a disastrous case of hydrogen sulfide in
> both some Merlot and some Syrah. Ultimately
> traced it to just that - letting the raw wine
> sit on the lees too long after pressing.
> Nowadays, I press into - for lack of a better
> term - a settling tank --- just a few days, then
> rack again and get off the lees. And I also
> think you are right about the 75 gallons
> finished wine - I tend not to press as fully as
> some folks do. Probably need to - that's two
> cases of wine!

Good idea to use that settling tank.

You might want to take the lees from that tank and
transfer to a container with air lock and let
settle again for several days. You have nothing
to loose.

If it is stinky, toss it. If not use it for
topping up wine or add back to the main lot. You
will be surprised at how much additional wine you
can recover this way.

It the lees remain stink free after your second
settling, you can use them as feedstock for ML or
to assist in building complexities for you
wine(s) - or fertilizer for you vines.

We usually buy 30 cases of grapes = 1050lbs more or less, each autumn. After
divvying up 2 cs of splits for "nouveau" and gift giving, we invariably end
up with 60 gals in the barrel & 13.5 gals for top off and slurpitude;
we do press hard because we love to slurp. Soooo, I guess that we're all in
the same bateau. regards, bob

"AxisOfBeagles" > wrote in message
...
> The board seems unusually quiet these days, so I figured I could slip
> in one of my invariably inane questions.
> What are your experiences / ratios with must - raw - wine production
> from a half ton of red wine grapes?
> I have had at least 10% variances, but the ratio would seem to be;
>
> 1000 lbs = apx. 120 gallons must = 80 gallons pressed raw wine = 70
> gallons finished wine
> Anyone have different numbers?
>
> can you tell I'm doing container planning for the '07 season!
>
> --
> I'm trying a new usenet client for Mac, Nemo OS X.
> You can download it at http://www.malcom-mac.com/nemo
>

The ratios seem right to me as well. I've found that it's 100 pounds
of grapes per 30 finished bottles (6 gallon carboy), and that I lose
35-40% in volume in pressing from must to wine.

Rob