Frequently Asked Questions

If you notice that your fermentation kinetics are slowing down and you're concerned about a stuck fermentation, there are a few steps you can take to try and resolve the issue:

Check the temperature: Make sure that the temperature of the must is within the recommended range for the yeast strain you're using. If it's too cold, warming it up may help to reactivate the yeast.

Check the pH: A high or low pH can be detrimental to yeast growth and activity. Adjusting the pH to the optimal range can help to get the fermentation back on track.

Add yeast nutrients: If the yeast are running out of nutrients, adding a yeast nutrient blend can help to provide them with the essential elements they need for growth and fermentation.

Consider pitching more yeast: If the yeast population has been depleted, pitching more yeast can help to jumpstart the fermentation.

Oxygenate the must: If the fermentation is aerobic, adding oxygen to the must can help to reinvigorate the yeast.

Preparing for vintage is a crucial time for winemakers, and there are several important things that need to be done inside the winery. Here are some of the most important tasks:

Clean and sanitize all equipment: Before the grapes arrive, it is essential to clean and sanitize all equipment, including tanks, hoses, pumps, and presses. This helps to prevent contamination and maintain the quality of the grapes.

Ensure probes are installed and varietals added: If you are using the Winely system all you need todo is ensure the probes are fitted in your tanks and the veritals you plan on processing are set up with the correct parameters. If however you are still manually sampling make sure that all instruments, such as pH meters and refractometers, are calibrated and working properly.

Make sure you have enough yeast and other additives: Check your inventory of yeast and other additives such as nutrients and enzymes to ensure that you have enough for the upcoming vintage. You may also want to ensure your Coffee maker is working properly and you are well stocked with beans.

Check all fermentation vessels: Inspect all fermentation vessels, including tanks and barrels, to make sure they are in good condition and ready to use.

Prepare for harvest: Make sure you have enough staff, bins, and transportation to handle the incoming fruit. Create a plan for where the fruit will be sorted and crushed.

Create a schedule: Make a schedule for all winemaking activities, including when to add yeast, when to punch down the cap, and when to press the grapes.

By taking these steps, winemakers can ensure a smooth and successful vintage.

Finding wine jobs or vineyard staff has become a lot easier and can now be effectively done without the need for engaging recruitment consultants thanks to the resources below.

Global - One of the best places to look is on the Facebook page “Traveling Winemakers” There are a number of both employers and people looking for work around the world.

New Zealand - check out this website “WineJobs”

Australia - there are two main websites;

WineJobs

Wine Industry Jobs

United States - there are two websites those being;

Wine Business

UC Davis Careers

It is possible to reuse oak staves that have already been used in one wine fermentation, but there are several factors to consider.

Firstly, the oak staves should be thoroughly cleaned and sanitized to remove any residual flavours or microbial contaminants from the previous fermentation. This can be achieved through a variety of methods, such as soaking in a sanitizing solution or boiling.

Secondly, the extent to which the oak staves have been depleted of their flavour compounds during the previous fermentation should be taken into account. Reusing heavily depleted staves may not impart enough flavour to the wine, while using staves that still contain a significant amount of flavour compounds may result in an over-oaked wine.

Finally, it's important to note that reusing oak staves can increase the risk of contamination or off-flavours in the wine. Careful monitoring and testing of the wine during and after fermentation can help to detect and prevent any issues.

Overall, while it is possible to reuse oak staves, it's important to consider these factors and proceed with caution to ensure the quality of the final product.

Winely uses sensors and algorithms to deliver the values through to the dashboard. Accuracy can vary depending on your winery practices. There is also opportunity to do calibration offsets to your practices to improve accuracy and even customize the algorithms overtime to ensure the most accurate data possible.

Out of the box, with a single calibration point, you can expect:

Brix/Baume: +/- 2

pH: +/- 0.2

Temperature: +/- 0.3

The device uses a series of sensors that provide data to an algorithm for density. This is then converted to Brix/Baume and results in very similar readings to a traditional hydrometer. The measurements are generally 1 to 1 with a well-maintained Anton DMA.

You can download a CSV file of all your data in Winely, so you can easily store this in your existing software systems if desired.

We’re working towards further integrations, such as into pumpover systems and cooling systems and direct connections to inventory management software.

We’re excited to see our system being used to close the loop with these systems, allowing you to fully control your ferments autonomously with your Winely data.

At this stage we can’t consider integrations for trials but once full scale, long term deployment is on the cards we can work together on integrating with your systems.

60 Degrees Celsius (140 Fahrenheit)

Most likely it is possible. We have managed successfully to connect our devices, through gateways, to our customers' internet systems. We will consult with your IT team prior to installation, to help ensure you are set up correctly before we arrive. Some customers in poor-service areas have considered options, such as Starlink, for their wineries to not only make the connection to our devices possible but to improve technology operations across their entire business.

Our technology can be installed into existing tanks, without any interference, using a removable mounting system, which we provide. We have installed in to many different types of tanks successfully and can provide many solutions, even within red tanks. Tanks types, sizes and types of pump overs are discussed with your team prior to installation, to ensure we arrive with the right mounting systems to install. We do not drill into your tanks, but in some cases may recommend welding or fixing to internal staves/infrastructure, if the tank may exert extreme pressure.

We would recommend a trial of our technology in your first vintage (10 to 20 tanks is ideal; although we do trials with less or more units) prior to a full-scale fit out of your facilities. Please reach out to us via the contact page here on our website and we can set up a demonstration of the technology and run through the trial process.

We are a specialist in real-time fermentation analysis. We measure fermentation biological kinetics. Therefore we’re interested in anything that helps our customers manage and monitor their fermentations. We are constantly collecting feedback on the things wineries would like to see. Our unique approach utilising machine learning in combination with our sensors means we can very quickly add additional features that offer you more insights into your ferments, without you needing to upgrade the sensor.

Time: Our customers have started relying on the Winely data due to its accuracy and have stopped manual sampling in the tanks with our systems. This has allowed them to redeploy staff to other critical tasks within the winery

Quality: Due to the provision of real-time data, and the predictive intelligence our customers are ahead of the game. Knowing when to manage temperature control systems and additives, which has removed the guesswork and helped them to have control over the quality of their wine

Inventory management: stuck ferments are incredibly rare with our technology, due to the enhanced visibility (and therefore control). Meaning tank rotation is consistent and predictable. Allowing our customers to get through their harvest with greater efficiency in terms of tank utilisation, staff rostering and deployment.

You own your raw data and it will never be shared with anyone else. You may request it be deleted at any time and you can download your data as a CSV for any use you like. Winely uses the anonymised and aggregated data (non-identifiable) to train our Artificial Intelligence (AI) mathematical models. The AI is there to provide predictability and control of fermentations. The use of the data for AI training does not share trade secrets or creative craft, which is unique to your company. And we will never share this data with anyone.

Installation is very quick and efficient. We work with our IT department to ensure connectivity through gateways. Our team will install the units prior to the start of vintage. Each tank takes approximately 10mins to install.

If your Health and Safety policy means our team cannot install, the units have been designed to easily self-install. We can be on-site to give installation guidance, in this scenario.

The Dashboard, where your data is accessible on your PC or mobile phone, is very intuitive to use. Prior to the start of vintage we will give your team a 10min Dashboard training session; this is usually all it takes to get the hang of things. We do this either online via a video call or in-person whilst at your winery for installation.

During vintage, there is a “chat” function, within the Dashboard, where our team is on standby to answer any questions. If you require any further training throughout vintage, we are always happy to provide this.

Additionally, as we can remotely view your data and receive alerts, we may periodically send a tech team member onsite (with your prior permission and notification) to check structural and environmental scenarios within a tank, and make any adjustments required.

We will replace it for you, at no extra charge. We care mostly that you are getting the data you need for vintage. So will ensure the hardware devices remain in working order. Please just notify us and we will send a tech team member out to your winery.