Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Malbec Mid-Fermentation Update

Seems like just a few days ago that I had added the yeast culture starter to the malbec fermenters and was anxiously awaiting the first signs of fermentation--oh, wait a moment, it was! The yeast took about 18 hrs to get going, and they haven't looked back since! Each fermenter has warmed up to about 76 °F just from the fermentation activity. The rise in temperature is good for color extraction and setting. I honestly was hoping for a little higher temperature, but that's the best I could do without external heating. After only 3 days of fermentation, the Brix sugar levels have dropped by more than half. I'm hoping to pick up my syrah grape order this weekend, but I think I will also be pressing the malbec wine off the skins on Saturday or Sunday if this fermentation rate keeps up. So far, I'm very pleased with the result. Very, very dark color--looks like ink when I'm punching down the cap. And no sign of H2S formation thus far.

Salute,
a Wine Student.

Prior Chilean Malbec 2008 posts:
Chilean Malbec Grape Crush
Malbec Fermentation Has Commenced!

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