Malo Lactic Fermentation

[malcmackenzie]

I am about to make some Chambourcin havin cadged a load of grapes. It would seem tha Malo Lactic fermentation is a good idea for such a wine.

Does anyone knoe wher I can buy some enzyme online and what to buy?

I am told the sugars are obout 15 Brix any idea where this would be on a hydrometer?

Any ideas on the procedure with this dark wine?

Malc

[lockwood1956]

15 Brix is SG 1.059

see here to convert

http://www.winesathome.co.uk/downloads/calculator.htm

you may need to increase the sugars (chaptalise) I would try to get closer to 1.080

see here for info on chaptalisation

http://www.winesathome.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=5513

Karl (duffbeer) sells malo lactic cultures, and he does mail order (I dont think its listed on his website, but he does have some)

www.hobbywinesupplies.co.uk

hope that helps
regards
bob

[lockwood1956]

I attended a wineskills masterclass last year on this subject.....some interesting ideas

see here for thread on subject

http://www.winesathome.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=4350&highlight=hentie+sweigers

they maintain that as long as temps are right and sulphite levels controlled there should be no problems at all with MLF completing.

Koomber did a talk at grapefest on the subject of MLF testing, it was very interesting and informnative, it will be available on DVD as soon as I can find the time to edit it, and produce the DVD's

regards
Bob

[NorthernWiner]

When well made, Chambourcin can be a very good wine. It was actually invented by the son of the fellow who created Seyval Blanc. We grow quite a bit of it here in the states.

Brix is just a measure of the percentage of sugar in the juice, so 15 brix would be 15 percent sugar.

This sounds very underripe. 22-23 brix would be closer to what you would normally see in ripe Chambourcin. At 15 brix you may have problems with green/vegetal flavors in the finished wine.

One way to help reduce these unwanted flavors is to add some toasted oak chips to the fermenter. A large handful for every 50 kilos of grapes should be sufficient.

[malcmackenzie]

Thanks for that tip would be a shame to get to the end and find it's not much good

[bzac]

with brix that low , I would use the concentrate from a wine kit to get the brix up to 20 and then sugar to bring it up to 23-25

this will really make a differnce .

I usually only use sugar to shift 3 brix , but for wine under 18 brix concentrate is a better way to go.

fermenting the wine with a heat spike for 2 days will help burn off the green flavours , and as Steve says a good addition of american oak power is a big help

[lockwood1956]

Koombers talk available on DVD....

however, I have uploaded it to the youtube channel, and because I have allowed adverts to show, it will allow the whole video (1 hour) to be viewed in one go

here is the link (youtube squishewd the widescreen video down, will look to fix that at a later date

http://www.youtube.com/winesathome#p/a/u/0/bmf5H1DNyjA

enjoy

[Cellar_Rat]

..fermenting the wine with a heat spike for 2 days will help burn off the green flavours

What would you recommend is normal temp and how much of a spike ?

[bzac]

What would you recommend is normal temp and how much of a spike ?

Into the upper range of the yeasts tollerance , or 85'F

GRE is also the best yeast to use for less than optimaly ripe fruit.