Truffle Pig Wine

The second batch of Riesling was racked today, so the fermentation process is now officially over. Both wines are now racked to tank, and all we can do now is wait and rack every six weeks or so for the next 6 to 8 months.

I racked the last 45L or so of wine into two carboys, one 23L and one 20L. There wasn't any left over for topping, so at my next racking, I'll move the 23L bottle over to a 20L and use what's left over to top up the other containers. That should be alright.

Depending on outside variables, this is the schedule I'll try to stick to:

1rst racking: Christmas vacation
2nd racking: Mid-February
3rd racking: start of April (I'll add fining agent at this time, if required)
4th racking: Mid-may
Bottle: start of July.

The BA11 was racked to carboy today. It's throwing off relatively little C02 now, so I racked all 15L over to another 20L carboy, and topped up with 5L of the R2 (which is also finished, I just don't have the time to rack it as well).

The temperature outside this weekend dropped to a low of 5°C (40°F), so I've been moving the demijohn inside at nights to prevent the juice from getting too cold.

This raised the temperature of the juice considerably on Saturday, and fermentation picked up a bit. Since then I've been keeping Ice on it while inside at night, and moving it out during the day.

On Monday, I noticed a slight whif of sulfer, so added 1.5 teaspoons of Fermaid K. The smell was gone by Tuesday.

Here are Saturday's numbers:

R2: 11°B @ 52°F
BA11: 12°B @ 56°F

And Sunday's numbers:

R2: 9°B @ 64°F
BA11: 10°B @ 57°F

And Monday's numbers:

R2: 7.5°B @ 55°F
BA11: 9°B @ 54°F

Fermentation rate is starting to speed up a little on both Rieslings. Both dropped almost 4 brix last night, despite being kept relatively cool. This is fine with me—fermentations always seem to speed up 3-to-4 days into their run. It should slow down again in a couple days, and I anticipate today fermentation lasting around 2 weeks.

Here are today's numbers, taken at 2:00pm:

R2: 11.5°B @ 54°F
BA11: 13.5°B @56°F

I moved the demijohn of Riesling outside so it has a better chance at staying cool. The icepacks work fairly well, but I just didn't enough to split between it and the Gewurtz.

Last night was 10°C (52°F) and today is 11°C (54°F), so that should be cold enough. Tonight it gets down to 4°C though, so I'm not sure what I'll do to prevent it from going that low - R2 yeast will only ferment above 5°C (41°F)

Numbers from today at 1:00 pm are:

R2: 14.5°B @ 54°F
BA11: 16.5°B @ 56°F

The Riesling seems to be doing a better job and keeping cool, and thus fermentation rate is much slower than the Gewurztraminer.

Current numbers are:

R2: 16.8°B @ 60°F
BA11: 17.5°B @ 54°F

I didn't take number of the Riesling yesterday, because fermentation was just starting, and I doubt the sugar would have moved much at all. But it's going strong today, and brix are falling:

R2: 18°B @ 62°F
BA11: 18.5°B @ 59°F

Like the Gewurztraminer, I'm having trouble keeping the temperature of the demijohn down below 60 degrees. I'm currently packing it with icepacks, and rotating these out every 3-4 hours, but it's not quite enough. I'll let you know if I think of anything.

I also added the second dose of Fermaid nutrient additions: 1/2 a teaspoon into the BA11 and 1 teaspoon into the R2.

Scott Labs recommends R2 and BA11 as its top-two picks for fermenting Riesling, and since that's what I'm using on my 2006 Gewurztraminer, it seems right to do the same with the 2006 Riesling.

Again, I'll use R2 for about 2/3rds of the batch, and BA11 for the other 1/3rd, splitting them up in a demijohn and carboy.

I innoculated both around noon today, with initial fermentation numbers looking like this: 19.6°B @ 62°F

I also added the first dose of Fermaid nutrient additions: 1/2 a teaspoon into the BA11 and 1 teaspoon into the R2. Each dose was mixed with a thief-full of wine, and added in right after the re-hydrated yeast was pitched.

You will be able to track fermentation using this chart (updated daily):