Addition of MLF

[derekjames100]

I added my acti ml/vp41/water to each carboy with a table spoon then stirred. When I stirred, some ran out the top when I displaced the wine w the stirring rod. Do you think that mixture diffuses in to the middle well enough or did I lose it all

 

[JohnT]

You might be ok. Give it time and see if MLB kicks off. If not, then you can always re-inoculate.

 

[derekjames100]

Will I see bubbles in the airlock? How many days until that happens

 

[cmason1957]

You probably won't see bubbles in the airlock. In about 30 wines done with Mlf, I have seen bubbles in the airlock maybe twice and then only one or two burps. Mlf produces some very small pin Patrick sized bubbles, sometimes. I have had some wines never show even that, but 3 months later all the malic acid was gone. No two mlf's are the same.

Right now I have 40 gallons undergoing Mlf, 3 carboys have had some bubbles, the rest haven't. All are showing almost complete.

 

[Throwdown]

Planning to pitch my first MLF to my first 3 juice buckets (have 2 more that need to go through secondary first) -- do you top up the carboy for MLF or similar to 2ndary fermentation let it have some air?

 

[cmason1957]

Top up. It might be sitting there for a few months. MLF doesn't give off enough CO2 to protect much of anything.