Malvasia Bianca - Day 4, Fermenting away

The wine I'm making is Malvasia Bianca. I am making a dry white wine from the Malvasia. The grape produces a wine with a nice floral nose. You used to see a lot of Malvasia wines around made mainly in a aperitif style.

The Malvasia is in a water bath, actively fermenting away. It will take about 10 days to complete fermentation depending on the weather. Grapes that come in later in the year when the nighttime temps are cool take longer. e.g. cold fermentations take longer, and are best for making white wines.

Home wine makers don't need no stainless steel jacketed fermenters!

The 30 gallon plastic garbage cans filled with water keep the fermenting carboys cool while the juice converts to wine! While the daytime temps can be warm, the night cools the water down negating the need for more expensive solutions to provide a cold fermentation for the white wine. This is a very good solution for home wine makers wanting to make wine white.

I missed taking photos and video of day 1-3 for the Malvasia - pick up the grapes, crush them , press, rack the juice and start the fermentation, But we'll have a chance to see those processes with the other grape varieties that I plan to make this year.

So now there is nothing to do except check the fermenting carboys daily to make sure they don't blow off their fermentation locks!

When the fermentation is really going, foam and juice can pop off the locks and spew gunk all over the place. That why you should not fill the carboys to the top when fermenting the juice. I leave perhaps 5" of space in the carboy...

Wow, I'm realizing that there is so much to talk about... each comment leads to 10 more that I should talk about at some point.

Oh well, if you have a question, just ask!

I've got to go out now and deal with the Malvasia skins from the pressing... into the compost bin with them!