2008 Merlot Wine - 1 Week Update

I started the wine by killing the native yeast last Saturday with potassium metabisulfite. On Sunday, I added a yeast Saccharomyces bayanus from Lallemand, which is a powdered yeast. The theory being that this yeast will give me a nice high alcohol conversion, better than the native yeast. I also added both yeast nutrient and yeast energizer from Carlson.

The density and the underlying sugar content dropped quickly over the first 24 hours. 

Density Date

1.091 g/ml 22 Sept

1.022 23 Sept  Big drop

1.012 24 Sept

1.011 26 Sept

1.010 27 Sept

Today I washed out the demijohn, and transfered the wine in with a siphon. I put the trap on top, and it was bubbling. I have a video of it, but it was a little dull, so I did not post it. The demijohn was about 2L too big, so I topped it off with some Yellow Tail Merlot.