2019 Cabernet Franc Fermentation

We harvested our 2019 Cabernet Franc on Saturday, October 26, 2019 and took the harvest to Jonathan Edwards Winery on Monday, October 28, 2019 where the harvest was weighed, destemmed and mildly crushed. The must sat in the half ton bin overnight.
On Tuesday, October 29, we rehydrated the yeast of choice, FX10 with the help of winemaker, Michael. Our choice of yeast for this year is a departure from last year, when we used F15 to ferment our first Cabernet Franc.
Michael estimated that we might get approximately 32 gallons of juice. Using that estimate, we rehydrated 32 grams of FX10 in 320 mL of water and waited for it to bloom, which took around 20 minutes.
In the meantime, Michael gave me a taste of their Chardonnays that were fermenting in the barrels as well as the Chardonnays fermenting in their stainless steel tanks. It was delicious!
After the time was up, we took an aliquot of the Cabernet Franc from the half ton bin:

We used the juice to temper the rehydrated yeast:

The must was inoculated with the tempered and rehydrated yeast at 10:40 a.m. The must at the beginning of fermentation was:

Variety	Brix	pH	TA
Cabernet Franc	23	3.32	11.3 g/L

The fermentation began on October 31, 2019. Michael and Alex decided to move the must from the half ton bin into a 55 gallon blue barrel. Daily punchdowns are being done. Today, it was our turn and my husband took photos of me doing the punchdown. The cap initially is a little difficult to break through but once the cap is breached, the rest of the punchdown is easy to do.