I’ve had about six gallons (23 liters) of Chardonnay fermenting in two 5-gallon (19 liter) carboys since 10/17/07. That’s when I took delivery of my purchased grapes, 100 lb of Chardonnay and 100 lb of Merlot. I pressed the Merlot on 10/22/07, and racked the Chardonnay a few days ago.
Up to this point, I’ve kept the free run separate from the press wine and I analyzed both of them before I racked.
Free Run – Specific Gravity (SG): 0.992, pH: 3.57, Titratable Acidity (TA): 7.5 g/L
Press – SG: 0.991, pH: 3.72, TA: 7 g/L
Virtually identical except for the pH, which is noticeably higher in the press wine. I decided to rack some of the free run into a 1-gallon jug, and combine the rest of the free run with the press wine in a 5-gallon carboy. The carboy needed topping up, and I used some of my 2005 Riesling and a bottle of “topping wine,” odds and ends form different batches that I combined into a single wine bottle.