2008 Fermentation Graphs Available
Our fermentation graphs are now up on Crushnet. We are still in cold soak with our Hein Pinot, as evidenced by the 11.2C temperature reading. You can see at this point we are starting with a Brix level of about 25.5. Brix is a measure of the sugar content in the grape must solution. The higher the Brix, the higher the alcohol content of the finished wine. You can also see that our Annahala Pinot has just started primary fermentation, as the Brix level is falling fast with the rise in temperature. The yeast cells are devouring the sugar in the must at this point, busily converting it to alcohol. The byproduct of this chemical interaction is heat and CO2. On the right vertical axis of the graphs you can see how many punch downs were completely on a given day. A punch down is simply a mixing of the grape must to extract flavor and color. In small-lot winemaking, hand punch downs are the rule. This is a classical Burgundian technique that allows for gentle and precise handling of the fermenting juice.
In keeping with our minimalist approach, and similar to last year , we are again fermenting both 2008 wines naturally without the use of commercial yeast strains. The topic of fermenting natively versus inoculating with a commercial yeast is a topic for another post, as that debate has many sides and perspectives. For us, we want to minimize what needs to be done to the wine during the winemaking process and will be going native whenever possible. Now, it may be that we start a ferment natively, but then need to inoculate in order to get the job done. Sometimes this happens, but again, it's all about minimizing the interactions and treatment of the wine at every stage of the process.
You click on the wine name link to go to the real time fermentation graph for each wine:
The link to the live Hein Pinot Noir graph was not working at the time of this post so I will update things once we figure out the issue. Here is the latest graph from earlier today:
*EDIT* Here is the link:
Jeremy
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