Just finished the second racking of a 5 gal batch of Seyval blanc
wine. This is from fresh pressed juice. In addition to the normal
sediment in the carboy was a good amount of brownish crystals of some
type, the size of rock salt. There was a large amount present when I
racked off the primary container. There is no noticeable off aroma.
When I tasted the wine, which is somewhat tart, and there is a sort of
fizzy feeling on the tongue. Is this normal for Seyval? If not how
do I proceed?

Sounds like tartrate crytals, it's normal. This was a high acid year
in the northeast, where are the grapes from?

The 'spritzyness' may be the wine finishing fermentation, dissolved
CO2 or MLF if the bubbles are really tiny...
Regards,
Joe

(genekay) wrote in message . com>...
> Just finished the second racking of a 5 gal batch of Seyval blanc
> wine. This is from fresh pressed juice. In addition to the normal
> sediment in the carboy was a good amount of brownish crystals of some
> type, the size of rock salt. There was a large amount present when I
> racked off the primary container. There is no noticeable off aroma.
> When I tasted the wine, which is somewhat tart, and there is a sort of
> fizzy feeling on the tongue. Is this normal for Seyval? If not how
> do I proceed?

Yes, probably tartrate crystals but I never heard of them being as large as
rock salt. I would not worry about them. The fuzziness will go away when
the wine degasses. This will occur naturally as it bulk ages for 4 to 6
months. Maybe less. If you cannot wait to bottle, then you can force
degassing by stirring vigorously. I would recommend waiting depending on
your patience.

Ray

"Joe Sallustio" > wrote in message
m...
> Sounds like tartrate crytals, it's normal. This was a high acid year
> in the northeast, where are the grapes from?
>
> The 'spritzyness' may be the wine finishing fermentation, dissolved
> CO2 or MLF if the bubbles are really tiny...
> Regards,
> Joe
>
> (genekay) wrote in message
. com>...
> > Just finished the second racking of a 5 gal batch of Seyval blanc
> > wine. This is from fresh pressed juice. In addition to the normal
> > sediment in the carboy was a good amount of brownish crystals of some
> > type, the size of rock salt. There was a large amount present when I
> > racked off the primary container. There is no noticeable off aroma.
> > When I tasted the wine, which is somewhat tart, and there is a sort of
> > fizzy feeling on the tongue. Is this normal for Seyval? If not how
> > do I proceed?

I know; around here rock salt is used on roads to deice and it's
pretty big. I assumed it was just coarse salt size. Sevyal can be
nice dry, but this years will probably be pretty tart, I would
probably deacidify too.

All my Northern whites came in from 12 g/l to 22 g/l for catawba. I
used chalk to reduce them to 9, (amelioration and chalk on the
catawba). I also used 71B in hopes of reducing the malic, since I
seem to recall unripe grapes are more malic than tartaric. Time will
tell, this is not the best must I ever worked with.
Regards,
Joe

"Ray" > wrote in message m>...
> Yes, probably tartrate crystals but I never heard of them being as large as
> rock salt. I would not worry about them. The fuzziness will go away when
> the wine degasses. This will occur naturally as it bulk ages for 4 to 6
> months. Maybe less. If you cannot wait to bottle, then you can force
> degassing by stirring vigorously. I would recommend waiting depending on
> your patience.
>
> Ray
>
> "Joe Sallustio" > wrote in message
> m...
> > Sounds like tartrate crytals, it's normal. This was a high acid year
> > in the northeast, where are the grapes from?
> >
> > The 'spritzyness' may be the wine finishing fermentation, dissolved
> > CO2 or MLF if the bubbles are really tiny...
> > Regards,
> > Joe
> >
> > (genekay) wrote in message
> . com>...
> > > Just finished the second racking of a 5 gal batch of Seyval blanc
> > > wine. This is from fresh pressed juice. In addition to the normal
> > > sediment in the carboy was a good amount of brownish crystals of some
> > > type, the size of rock salt. There was a large amount present when I
> > > racked off the primary container. There is no noticeable off aroma.
> > > When I tasted the wine, which is somewhat tart, and there is a sort of
> > > fizzy feeling on the tongue. Is this normal for Seyval? If not how
> > > do I proceed?

I agree that this year's juices are much more acidic than usual...
(Walkers, Western NY). If it's this year's vintage, continue to cold
stabilize so you get out as many crystals as possible, because this
supposedly reduces total acids in the wine.

Mark L.

(Joe Sallustio) wrote in message om>...
> Sounds like tartrate crytals, it's normal. This was a high acid year
> in the northeast, where are the grapes from?
>
> The 'spritzyness' may be the wine finishing fermentation, dissolved
> CO2 or MLF if the bubbles are really tiny...
> Regards,
> Joe
>
> (genekay) wrote in message . com>...
> > Just finished the second racking of a 5 gal batch of Seyval blanc
> > wine. This is from fresh pressed juice. In addition to the normal
> > sediment in the carboy was a good amount of brownish crystals of some
> > type, the size of rock salt. There was a large amount present when I
> > racked off the primary container. There is no noticeable off aroma.
> > When I tasted the wine, which is somewhat tart, and there is a sort of
> > fizzy feeling on the tongue. Is this normal for Seyval? If not how
> > do I proceed?

Yeah, it does reduce total acid, and due to some chemistry that I won't go
into it also drops your pH (if it is below 3.65 or so forget the actual
figure).

This is a technique for reducing total acid and getting your pH where you
want it for higher pH lower TA wines

Rob L
"Mark L." > wrote in message
om...
> I agree that this year's juices are much more acidic than usual...
> (Walkers, Western NY). If it's this year's vintage, continue to cold
> stabilize so you get out as many crystals as possible, because this
> supposedly reduces total acids in the wine.
>
> Mark L.
>
> (Joe Sallustio) wrote in message
om>...
> > Sounds like tartrate crytals, it's normal. This was a high acid year
> > in the northeast, where are the grapes from?
> >
> > The 'spritzyness' may be the wine finishing fermentation, dissolved
> > CO2 or MLF if the bubbles are really tiny...
> > Regards,
> > Joe
> >
> > (genekay) wrote in message
. com>...
> > > Just finished the second racking of a 5 gal batch of Seyval blanc
> > > wine. This is from fresh pressed juice. In addition to the normal
> > > sediment in the carboy was a good amount of brownish crystals of some
> > > type, the size of rock salt. There was a large amount present when I
> > > racked off the primary container. There is no noticeable off aroma.
> > > When I tasted the wine, which is somewhat tart, and there is a sort of
> > > fizzy feeling on the tongue. Is this normal for Seyval? If not how
> > > do I proceed?

(Joe Sallustio) wrote in message om>...
> Sounds like tartrate crytals, it's normal. This was a high acid year
> in the northeast, where are the grapes from?
>
> The 'spritzyness' may be the wine finishing fermentation, dissolved
> CO2 or MLF if the bubbles are really tiny...
> Regards,
> Joe
>
The fresh juice was from the finger lakes region. The starting Brix -
19.8, PH 3.43 and TA 1.00. Those are their figures, I did not check
PH or Ta. I did adjusted the SG to 1.095. The size of the crystals
vary from sand size to the near rock salt size. There is no sign of
bubbles, just the a fizzy sensation on the tongue when tasted. I will
continue to cold bulk age and monitor the progess. Thanks for all
replys.