It Is Done

[Johnd]

Had a nice, early restaurant dinner last nite with the wife, went home and watched a show on DVR, punched down the Zin before bed and decided to take a quick SG. 3 and 5 Brix on the two buckets, full day ahead of what I anticipated. Well, grapes wait for no man, so I started pressing grapes at 10:30 last nite. All went well, cleaned up, showered and in bed for 1 AM, Zin happily bubbling along in a 6 gallon carboy and 1 gallon jug on its way to completing AF. It was late, so I didn't run any tests but will run the Ph and TA this weekend to see where it finished up.

On to MLF. Adjusted my schedule, will let it finish fermenting and rack off of the heavier lees a couple days later, add some MLB nutrients, rehydrate and pitch the culture.

 

[dcbrown73]

Must read up on MLF as my kit says nothing about it.

...so much to learn.

 

[Boatboy24]

Must read up on MLF as my kit says nothing about it.

...so much to learn.

MLF and kits should not be mentioned in the same sentence.

MLF on wine from fresh fruit/juice only.

 

[Boatboy24]

Had a nice, early restaurant dinner last nite with the wife, went home and watched a show on DVR, punched down the Zin before bed and decided to take a quick SG. 3 and 5 Brix on the two buckets, full day ahead of what I anticipated. Well, grapes wait for no man, so I started pressing grapes at 10:30 last nite. All went well, cleaned up, showered and in bed for 1 AM, Zin happily bubbling along in a 6 gallon carboy and 1 gallon jug on its way to completing AF. It was late, so I didn't run any tests but will run the Ph and TA this weekend to see where it finished up.

On to MLF. Adjusted my schedule, will let it finish fermenting and rack off of the heavier lees a couple days later, add some MLB nutrients, rehydrate and pitch the culture.

You probably could have waited, but I love your enthusiasm.

I usually wait until pretty close to 0 Brix, then press, rack 24-48 hours later, and pitch MLB.

 

[Johnd]

Must read up on MLF as my kit says nothing about it.

...so much to learn.

As Jim said above, MLF is not part of the kit regimen. I've not tested my kit acids (other than TA), but my understanding is that the acids in the kits are managed such that converting Malic acid to Lactic acid is not necessary. Additionally, if you use the sorbate that comes with your kit, and subsequently put Malolactic bacteria into the wine, the result is a major wine flaw, geranium taste and smell, it will ruin your wine. Happily plug along with the kits and don't fret MLF.

By all means, study the chemistry and the process, understand when and why you do MLF, ask questions and learn about it so that when you need to do it you will be ready. This is my first wine from grapes and, subsequently, my first MLF.

 

[Johnd]

You probably could have waited, but I love your enthusiasm.

I usually wait until pretty close to 0 Brix, then press, rack 24-48 hours later, and pitch MLB.

Ha, you pretty much hit the nail on the head. I wasn't bummed out when is saw where the wine was, kind of looking forward to it. Problem was, work all day Friday, baseball practice after work and two of the boys from the team sleeping over Friday night with my son, two games Saturday morning. I wasn't going to get to it until Saturday afternoon and didn't want to wait that long.

Hard work with my little press, 2 presses per bucket, but got it done pretty efficiently, nearly full carboy and 1 gallon jug. Fullness is a little close for comfort, but after AF and a racking, should be right on track..........

Two big bags of Zin skins for an upcoming project, which I'm still contemplating. I have the two Fourtitudes, but also just received a Meglioli Old Vine Zin that I preordered. I'm thinking one bag of skins for the Zin, and maybe splitting the other for the Fourtitudes.

 

[Johnd]

Well, the Zin was down to .997 this evening and still bubbling pretty healthily, looks like the BM 4x4 is gonna get it done pretty nicely.

Soon as it's done, I'll rack off of the lees and rehydrate the VP41 with ActiMalo, add the OptiMalo to the carboy and let MLF rip through the malic acid.

Looking forward to getting the Zin into a barrel, the 3 of them will be ready for a new wine in 2, 3, and 4 weeks.

 

[Johnd]

Racked Zin off of gross lees, added 6 g Opti Malo to the wine.

MLB starter : 50 ml water, 5 g Acti ML, 2.5 g VP 41, goes into the carboy in 4 minutes.

 

[Johnd]

Two days in, activity in the glass airlock, could still be a little AF not quite done, or MLF. Little bitty bubbles rising up, I'm betting on MLF. Just finished setting up a paper for a chromatography test, mostly for practice, but also to establish a baseline. Have to say, it's pretty darn easy to do this test, but results take a while to get, but I've got the time to wait anyway.

 

[ceeaton]

...but results take a while to get, ...

John, after I take my rolled paper out of the canister, I hang it outside in the garage for about an hour (to take the nasty edge off) then I have a place in the basement where I hang it in front of the vent that supplies heat/cool/ventilation for the basement. It has nice air movement around it and if I set that up the night before, the paper is totally dry by the next morning. Just a thought. Oh, and it is near a fish tank and they haven't died yet, or grown two heads or tails or anything like that, so I think it is safe.

 

[Johnd]

@ceeaton,
I've got a spot in my kitchen where I used to have a window (wine room casualty). Anyhow, the A/C supply diffuser now washes that wall with cool, dry air, that's the spot I'll be hanging the PC. It's already AC season down here, so plenty of air flow. Assuming it's ready before bed tonite, I'll hang it there before turning in. If not, it'll get hung in the morning and hopefully dried by the time I'm back from coaching baseball.

Do you unroll yours before hanging to dry, or just hang it rolled up?

 

[ceeaton]

I keep it as it was in the canister, rolled up. I have a clip I use at the top that has a wire loop in the top of it and hang it on a nail opposite the vent in the basement. I figure the less I mess with it the less chance I'll mess up the sheet. Once I sneezed on it and blue areas showed up where the results of the sneeze landed.

 

[Johnd]

The results of my first baseline MLF chromatography, MLB pitched two days ago. Does the darkness of the spots indicate concentration? I assume it does, so the tartaric acid is of greater concentration than the reference solution (.3%), the malic acid slightly less than the reference solution, and the lactic acid considerably less?

As I understand the process, in subsequent testing over time, if MLF is progressing productively, the lactic spot should become increasingly larger and brighter, while the malic progressively smaller and dimmer until it's completely gone, indicating all malic converted to lactic - MLF complete. On the right track here?

 

[geek]

Yes pretty much.
You'll see the malic spot kind of fading away.

 

[ceeaton]

@Johnd - Okay, I'm too stupid to link a post I had this picture in already, so I'll post it again. This was from last fall and shows, I think, MLF was nearly completed on my Dornfelder and Chardonel batch. I believe I let it hang out for another few weeks since someone here said that the test only picks up Malic acid above a certain threshold (I think it was @cmason1957 ). Notice the blue "sneeze marks". Hope this helps.

 

[Johnd]

@ceeaton, thanks for the post. Question. I notice you also have the reds showing up in your two Dornfelders, but not the Chardonel. Do you have record of TA on the three?

 

[ceeaton]

@ceeaton, thanks for the post. Question. I notice you also have the reds showing up in your two Dornfelders, but not the Chardonel. Do you have record of TA on the three?

Dornfelder - to start - pH 3.67, TA 8.2 g/L; after MLF pH 3.78 TA 5.8g/L (split batch, had room so tested both)
Chardonel - to start - pH 3.21, TA 7.3 g/L; after no F-ing clue, guess I could test since we have an open bottle in the fridge.

I will say the Chardonel is a very pleasant (and light) drinking wine, so acid is not an issue anymore.

Will edit this post if I get some resolve to get off my butt and do something. Tired from cooking and cleaning all day. Waiting for my apron to get out of the dryer. My tutu is in the next batch of laundry I'm doing.

 

[Johnd]

Dornfelder - to start - pH 3.67, TA 8.2 g/L; after MLF pH 3.78 TA 5.8g/L (split batch, had room so tested both)
Chardonel - to start - pH 3.21, TA 7.3 g/L; after no F-ing clue, guess I could test since we have an open bottle in the fridge.

I will say the Chardonel is a very pleasant (and light) drinking wine, so acid is not an issue anymore.

Will edit this post if I get some resolve to get off my butt and do something. Tired from cooking and cleaning all day. Waiting for my apron to get out of the dryer. My tutu is in the next batch of laundry I'm doing.[/QUOTE

Wow, that's a big drop in TA!

 

[ceeaton]

Have to admit, never really noticed it. It was a starting number, an ending number, taken at two distinct points in time. All I know is the resulting wine was much more pleasing than when the process started.

What I have noticed is that I need a better way to keep records. Slips of paper with tape with writing on them in an envelope does not constitute a really good way to keep records.

 

[Johnd]

MLF was started about two weeks ago, with lots of visible signs of activity, visible bubbles rising and action in the airlock about a bubble a minute. I've been stirring a couple times a week, but the activity has slowed a lot. I know that there are sometimes no visible signs, so I ran a chromo a few days ago, still have malic present.

The Zin is consistently in the 73-74 degree range, tested the Ph this morning, it's at 3.33. Should I consider another dose of nutrients or just turn the patience meter up to a higher level?