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What a rotten luck :-( Sorry to hear that. May be an imperfection in manufacture. Happened to my cousin's 6L demijohn last year. The crack at the bottom. But the bottom didn't fell of - he salvaged 5 out of 6 L. I noticed today's bottles are thinner. Made in China?

Cute babies :-)

:-)

So finally...the contents of the VCT transferred to two beer kegs. So I now have 150L in three kegs, and probably another 10L in the VCT. Well, from the original total volume, 6L was used as a juice, 6L was spent in "tasting" the progress and these 10L in the VCT will continue to be "Tasted"...

Bottled this small batch of Grenache (a small mishandled batch- 20 litres) 10 days after adding the egg white and 2 days after adding tartaric acid. The taste was poor so I use it as an experimental batch. The egg white nicely clarified it to near-rose colour, and the Tartaric acid...

Ha, ha...true. The Ph of the non-MLF wine seems the same - the taste now has a slight lemony ting. So, haven't really achieved much. Will stay away from the chemsitry from now on :) Also, finally properly tasted this non-MLF wine - and (apart from the lemony taste I introduced) decided it's...

While reading up on this, I realised it's usually added into the must. I didn't know that, and didn't have the Ph meter either - so my options are limited to adding (or not) now. What made me action this is a big difference in the amount of sulfite required with the Ph of 4.0 as opposed to...

Haven't realised the Ph change would reflect so quickly. Will check tomorrow. Various articles recommend 1g per litre to reduce the Ph by 0.1. Given the Ph was 3.9, I should be adding 3g per litre - 150 grams. Adding 0.4g per litre seemed conservative. (?)

As per Ajmassa advice I added a bit of Tartaric Acid to the non-MLF-ed wine. Tried a sip before and it tastes more astringent than the MLFed wine. I now understand the difference better and will MLF the lot next year. The PH was checked at 3.9 and I added 20g of Tartaric acid (0.4g per litre)...

Thanks Slappy. Have only two kegs available. I'll have 40 litres left in the VCT still. I guess it's a risk reduction - limit any possible issue to 40 litres only. Will do it through the week.

So I need to leave in two weeks - and will be away for 2 months. The non-MLF batch seemed to have completed the fermentation. The airlock is not bubbling, so I am happy to leave it as is and forget this one until I come back. The MLF batch in the VCT - I am at loss if the MLF is finished. The...

Hm...I pressed Shiraz at 5 Brix and it kept fermenting afterwards. Raked of gross lees after 5 days. Still going. I added the MLF regardless. Will ferment it dry next year.

Quite interesting. Seems to be in use for some millennia. In my home town (Split, Croatia), a Roman emperor built a 100m x 100m palace on top of active sulphuric hot springs and built pools where nobles bathed and "cured illnesses". These springs are still in use today.

Wonder when the sulphites were discovered. As s kid I remember Sulphur strips - these would be light up and hung into the barells through the hole to burn inside - to control the empty space on top of the wine . So the use of Sulphur is not new.

However did they manage without PH meters, TA meters, sulfites, hydrometers... This balancing act is becoming slightly overwhelming :-( Tasted the MLF wine today - really comming together nicely. May just let the nature take it's course. Once the fermentation is over, I'll just add the...

Wonder how people made wine centuries/millenia ago :-)

Thanks. How does one check the TA? 3.8 is still within acceptable range for red wines - if just s bit on a higher end of acceptable range. Hopefully to be slightly reduced aftrr the MLF. The taste... It's currently complicated - the process is still going on - the taste changing every time I...

Added 3/4 of an egg white into this small Grenache batch. Let's see if it would turn into a Rose after 10 days...

Thanks Ajmassa, the airlock can be removed but the lid needs to taken off and the inner nut removed. I would be left with a hole then, and I'll still need the airlock for a while . I'm glad for you comment on the lees stirring not being 100% crucial. Will probably just leave it as is. If it...

Thanks Ajmassa. Will let it finish then, and measure again and adjust. I don't think I'll stir the MLF batch again. I am uncomfortable to expose it to air again. Better to allow it more time to complete and not remove the lid. Whatever CO2 has been generated should stay under the lid and...