concurrent malolactic fermentation

[rantan]

help, what the hell is that, is it good, bad, do i want it, do i need it, should i be ashamed if i have it, is there a cure, will i still be able to have children?


what ever it is, if i've got it, i caught it from a dirty toilet seat

[Duffbeer]

It is a secondary fermentation caused by malo lactic bacteria, it can be a good thing and make a smoother earlier drinking wine, but in the event of potassium sorbate being present can be a bad thing and result in the fault known as "Geranium".

It can often be detected by much smaller bubbles than those in a normal ferment, and often has a slight cheesy smell.

[rjb222]

I have a chardonnay from juice and a merlot from juice that are going through this right now. There is a constant ring of small bubbles around the edge of the wine The first ferment went down to 0.996 on the chardonnay and 0.998 on the merlot. I did not acid test this must when i got it as things were well under way my SG was already down to 1.060 on the chardonnay and 1.025 on the merlot I will acid balance and sulfite check after all is done.The first ferment ended three weeks ago.

[NorthernWiner]

Ahh, but Rantan specifically mentions concurrent malolactic fermentation, which is a little different than malolactic fermentation, in general.

Concurrent malolactic fermentation (or co-fermentation, as it's sometimes called) refers to inoculating with a malolactic culture at the same time you pitch your yeast.

It's neither good or bad, but rather a somewhat non-traditional method of doing it, as opposed to waiting until alcoholic fermentation completes before inoculating with a MLF culture.

[Duffbeer]

Good point there Steve (geek)

[NorthernWiner]

(geek)

Guilty.

[rjb222]

Ahh, but Rantan specifically mentions concurrent malolactic fermentation, which is a little different than malolactic fermentation, in general.

Concurrent malolactic fermentation (or co-fermentation, as it's sometimes called) refers to inoculating with a malolactic culture at the same time you pitch your yeast.

It's neither good or bad, but rather a somewhat non-traditional method of doing it, as opposed to waiting until alcoholic fermentation completes before inoculating with a MLF culture.

Ok good point so what is happening to mine would be spontaneous MLF. Caused by the bug being naturally occurring as I was afraid to stop the process due to the advanced stage it was already at when I received the buckets?

[NorthernWiner]

Ok good point so what is happening to mine would be spontaneous MLF. Caused by the bug being naturally occurring as I was afraid to stop the process due to the advanced stage it was already at when I received the buckets?

Exactly. I've run across that a LOT in juice pails before. Last year I started adding Lysozyme to kill off all the ML bugs before pitching yeast.

But with Chard, it's probably not a bad thing, since that's one of the few white wines that actually benefits from MLF.

[rjb222]

This is my first pail juice wine that is not a set up kit. I was very nervous about stopping the process when it was as far along as it was. Do you think I was right or could I have stopped the process and set up to make a better wine?

[NorthernWiner]

...could I have stopped the process and set up to make a better wine?

Lysozyme added at a dosage rate of 350 mg/liter will effectively stop unwanted MLF dead in its tracks.

MLF on a Chard or Merlot will be fine. Now if it were Riesling... well... Riesling and MLF is not such a good combo, unless you like your Riesling "buttery".

[rjb222]

Ok I was more asking about the whole process. Like k-metta twenty four hours reinfect acid and so2 test. Just some advice for the next time.