Extended Maceration

You can do it for some time with a layer or two of plastic wrap like Saran on top - I've done about a week like this with no ill effects. But make sure to taste and nose the wine every day and press quickly at any sign of trouble. To reduce the danger, split the batch and do the extended maceration on a smaller amount, that way you can also compare the result with the regular treatment to see which you like better.

Pp

I would first ask myself - "why", and look for an answer other than 'other people have been doing it'.

A chart in Margalit's book suggests that color extraction DROPS after about

8 days - so that would not seemt o be a valid reason.Increasing tannins? Does the grape need it?

I am making Cab. The last one I made I did not extend the maceration or do cold soaking and the result lacked body. I will be doing cold soaking for about 2 days with dry ice, but I was wondering how it is even possible to extend the maceration safely.

Ric wrote:

I've done extended macerations on each of my reds for the last few years. The results have been great so far. As discussed in the thread, I've put a double layer of saran-wrap directly on the liquid (in 55 gallon drums) and fill the remaining headspace with Co2 or Argon (you can get a tank of either relatively cheaply) and then tape the lid of the drum shut. It doesn't ensure a total oxygen-free zone, but it seems to work. You will want to check it frequently to make sure all is good, replace the gas, etc. All in all, macerations make for a more full-bodied wine, especially with big reds like cabs, zins or syrahs.....

ble layer of saran-wrap directly on the liquid (in 55

I have a tank of C-25, a mixture of 25% CO2 and 75% Argon for oxygen exclusion to MIG weld. Any reason why I can't use the tank I have and just use my regulator to let it trickle into a MacroBin? I want to extend Maceration a week or two as well.

Cold soak and extended maceration don't make sense done together on one wine. Generally speaking, the first is used to extract colour with the intent to press early to get a fruity wine ready to drink. The second is used to extract tannins and give them time to polymerize, and it's done to make well-structured, big reds. As somebody already mentioned, after about a week you're start losing some colour, so extracting colour early via cold maceration doesn't make sense in this scenario. If you decide to macerate, I'd go with the extended maceration for a Cab as long as you've got good grapes.

Pp

I can't make distinct references, but I have read of wineries doing both. I'm new to this, only having made wine twice before. My results have been good, and I'm trying to get better and better. This year, cold soaking, I'll see if I get better results. I am trying to only change one variable at a time. But this is hard to do when the cycle time for wine is so short and the desire to get better is so great.

pp wrote:

If you only want to change one variable and you are trying to achieve more body then you should go with the extended maceration rather than cold soaking since, as pp points out, cold soaking is for increased color extraction.

Also as pp also points out, poor quality grapes will not improve with extended maceration, you will only end up with a poor, highly tannic wine.

I have to disagree with this statement. Sure cold soak gives you a leg up on color for an early press but, I see nothing inconsistent with extracting all you can into the aqueous followed by extented time for tannin extraction and polymerization. Both processes are routinely done on many high end cabs I enjoy. I've seen nothing lacking in the color of Cakebread cabs, for example.

RD

Thanks, all. I'm going to go ahead with cold soaking. I am thinking through the extended maceration. Last time, I fermented for 7 days with a peak of 86 degrees at about day 5. I've read about extending this time for up to a month (which I am not about to do), but perhaps I will try to seal off the wine for a couple of days. I am not going to go the co2 route- maybe next year when I have a better setup. Also, there was mention of "good grapes" . I have no idea what I am getting. I live on the east coast, so I get my grapes through a distributor. the grapes are cab from sierra foothills ( I know it's not the best, but I have limited options for 23.50/case delivered, unless someone out there has a suggestion.

thanks again

miker wrote: