Hi to all,
Just crushed yesterday, took sugar reading and was quite surprised. The brix
level is 30.8!! I am using traditional California Lodi Merlot, with 25% cab
sav. This is the highest I have ever encountered in my 20+ years of wine
making. I checked the level with both a hydrometer and refractometer.
Question, the batch is 20 gallons, I am going to add a little water back but
not too much, maybe 1 or 2 gallons. How much tartaric acid should I dissolve
in the water, not to throw the acid balance off??
Lou.

Have you measured the acidity of the must ???
If the must is high in acid then you might not need
to add acid to the water.

If the acidity of the must is in the right ball-park I would
add acid to a similar amount to the water.

Luc

Lou wrote:

> Hi to all,
> Just crushed yesterday, took sugar reading and was quite surprised. The
> brix level is 30.8!! I am using traditional California Lodi Merlot, with
> 25% cab sav. This is the highest I have ever encountered in my 20+ years
> of wine making. I checked the level with both a hydrometer and
> refractometer. Question, the batch is 20 gallons, I am going to add a
> little water back but not too much, maybe 1 or 2 gallons. How much
> tartaric acid should I dissolve in the water, not to throw the acid
> balance off?? Lou.

--
http://www.wijnmaker.blogspot.com/

On Sep 20, 9:36*pm, "Lou" > wrote:
> Hi to all,
> Just crushed yesterday, took sugar reading and was quite surprised. The brix
> level is 30.8!! I am using traditional California Lodi Merlot, with 25% cab
> sav. This is the highest I have ever encountered in my 20+ years of wine
> making. I checked the level with both a hydrometer and refractometer.
> Question, the batch is 20 gallons, I am going to add a little water back but
> not too much, maybe 1 or 2 gallons. How much tartaric acid should I dissolve
> in the water, not to throw the acid balance off??
> Lou.

Lou,
I make Central Valley reds and I have had them over 1.1 like yours. I
never add water, they are too light and thin to begin with. 1.13 is
kind of crazy high though. Maybe you can blow some of that sugar off
with a hot ferment? 17% alcohol would be crazy, why not calibrate
your hydrometer just to be sure?

Your TA is probaby 3.5 g/l or less so I would measure and bring it up
to 5.5 or 6 g/l, otherwise you will have a hot, flabby wine. I want a
TA of at least 5g/l and a pH of 3.5 or less to start. I would bet
your pH is 4 or higher with those numbers so adding acid now is a good
idea. This year I went to 6 g/l on mine, I have a Fresno Merlot like
yours. I just ran off my free run so I guess I could measure to see
where it ended up.

I dont press that run, I make a second wine and then press that. I
make 1/3 or less of the original volume of free run. On the Merlot
108 pounds gave me 7 gallons US free run, The Zin was 7.5 gallons for
the same amount.

Joe

Lou wrote:
> Hi to all,
> Just crushed yesterday, took sugar reading and was quite surprised. The brix
> level is 30.8!! I am using traditional California Lodi Merlot, with 25% cab
> sav. This is the highest I have ever encountered in my 20+ years of wine
> making. I checked the level with both a hydrometer and refractometer.
> Question, the batch is 20 gallons, I am going to add a little water back but
> not too much, maybe 1 or 2 gallons. How much tartaric acid should I dissolve
> in the water, not to throw the acid balance off??
> Lou.
>
>
Be careful about how much water you add. Two gallons sounds like a lot. Here's
an article that presents a way of calculating the correct amount:

http://brehmvineyards.com/rehydration.html

On Sep 20, 6:36*pm, "Lou" > wrote:
> Hi to all,
> Just crushed yesterday, took sugar reading and was quite surprised. The brix
> level is 30.8!! I am using traditional California Lodi Merlot, with 25% cab
> sav. This is the highest I have ever encountered in my 20+ years of wine
> making. I checked the level with both a hydrometer and refractometer.
> Question, the batch is 20 gallons, I am going to add a little water back but
> not too much, maybe 1 or 2 gallons. How much tartaric acid should I dissolve
> in the water, not to throw the acid balance off??
> Lou.

It might be too late at this point, but one way of doing this is
bleeding off some juice and replacing it with water. That way you're
taking down the alcohol while not diluting the flavours that much. I
don't think you'll be able to blow off much alcohol just by doing a
hot, open ferment, so dilution is probably your only option.

For acid, aiming for 6g/L is a good ballpark as Joe suggested, so you
can calculate the total acid addition as 6 * 3.8 *
number_of_gals_of_water. This is just for the water addition. If you
need to add more acid to correct the juice itself - pretty much
certain in this case - just add that on top.

The Cal grapes are getting higher and higher in Brix so these high
levels might become a norm rather than exception, unfortunately...

Pp

On Sun, 21 Sep 2008 05:55:20 -0700 (PDT), Joe Sallustio
> wrote:

>On Sep 20, 9:36*pm, "Lou" > wrote:
>> Hi to all,
>> Just crushed yesterday, took sugar reading and was quite surprised. The brix
>> level is 30.8!! I am using traditional California Lodi Merlot, with 25% cab
>> sav. This is the highest I have ever encountered in my 20+ years of wine
>> making. I checked the level with both a hydrometer and refractometer.
>> Question, the batch is 20 gallons, I am going to add a little water back but
>> not too much, maybe 1 or 2 gallons. How much tartaric acid should I dissolve
>> in the water, not to throw the acid balance off??
>> Lou.
>
>Lou,
>I make Central Valley reds and I have had them over 1.1 like yours. I
>never add water, they are too light and thin to begin with. 1.13 is
>kind of crazy high though. Maybe you can blow some of that sugar off
>with a hot ferment? 17% alcohol would be crazy, why not calibrate
>your hydrometer just to be sure?
>
>Your TA is probaby 3.5 g/l or less so I would measure and bring it up
>to 5.5 or 6 g/l, otherwise you will have a hot, flabby wine. I want a
>TA of at least 5g/l and a pH of 3.5 or less to start. I would bet
>your pH is 4 or higher with those numbers so adding acid now is a good
>idea. This year I went to 6 g/l on mine, I have a Fresno Merlot like
>yours. I just ran off my free run so I guess I could measure to see
>where it ended up.
>
>I dont press that run, I make a second wine and then press that. I
>make 1/3 or less of the original volume of free run. On the Merlot
>108 pounds gave me 7 gallons US free run, The Zin was 7.5 gallons for
>the same amount.
>
>Joe

I got some Lodi Merlot from PIWINE this year, usually do cabernet or
syrah, next year will be the zinfandel.

My TA (don't remember actual brix) is only 13.2 % or so, your
hydrometer seems way high. Acid is low and PH is high, I added a
bunch of tartaric this year, and will NOT do malo.

I do a second ferment also, and press lightly.... expect 6 gal out of
90# or 5.5 or so.... and will try to get a full 5 gal out of second...
it's lighter of course, but palatable while i'm waiting on the good
stuff....

How does yours turn out Joe?

Greg, Erie, PA

On Sep 24, 1:19*am, Hoss > wrote:
> On Sun, 21 Sep 2008 05:55:20 -0700 (PDT), Joe Sallustio
>
>
>
>
>
> > wrote:
> >On Sep 20, 9:36 pm, "Lou" > wrote:
> >> Hi to all,
> >> Just crushed yesterday, took sugar reading and was quite surprised. The brix
> >> level is 30.8!! I am using traditional California Lodi Merlot, with 25% cab
> >> sav. This is the highest I have ever encountered in my 20+ years of wine
> >> making. I checked the level with both a hydrometer and refractometer.
> >> Question, the batch is 20 gallons, I am going to add a little water back but
> >> not too much, maybe 1 or 2 gallons. How much tartaric acid should I dissolve
> >> in the water, not to throw the acid balance off??
> >> Lou.
>
> >Lou,
> >I make Central Valley reds and I have had them over 1.1 like yours. *I
> >never add water, they are too light and thin to begin with. *1.13 is
> >kind of crazy high though. *Maybe you can blow some of that sugar off
> >with a hot ferment? * 17% alcohol would be crazy, why not calibrate
> >your hydrometer just to be sure?
>
> >Your TA is probaby 3.5 g/l or less so I would measure and bring it up
> >to 5.5 or 6 g/l, otherwise you will have a hot, flabby wine. *I want a
> >TA of at least 5g/l and a pH of 3.5 or less to start. *I would bet
> >your pH is 4 or higher with those numbers so adding acid now is a good
> >idea. *This year I went to 6 g/l on mine, I have a Fresno Merlot like
> >yours. I just ran off my free run so I guess I could measure to see
> >where it ended up.
>
> >I dont press that run, I make a second wine and then press that. *I
> >make 1/3 or less of the original volume of free run. *On the Merlot
> >108 pounds gave me 7 gallons US free run, The Zin was 7.5 gallons for
> >the same amount.
>
> >Joe
>
> I got some Lodi Merlot from PIWINE this year, usually do cabernet or
> syrah, next year will be the zinfandel.
>
> My TA (don't remember actual brix) is only 13.2 % or so, your
> hydrometer seems way high. *Acid is low and PH is high, I added a
> bunch of tartaric this year, and will NOT do malo. *
>
> I do a second ferment also, and press lightly.... expect 6 gal out of
> 90# or 5.5 or so.... and will try to get a full 5 gal out of second...
> it's lighter of course, but palatable while i'm waiting on the good
> stuff....
>
> How does yours turn out Joe?
>
> Greg, Erie, PA- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Suprisingly, good. My expectations were pretty low so that enters
into it. It's light but it's more than just a tpping wine.

Joe