Malolactic bacteria

[wineview]

I feel like I've been hammering away on this subject but I still feel unsettled and afraid to bottle. My apologies in advance.
Sixteen months ago I inoculated 12 gallons of wine; twice with Opti malo nutrient each time. First with W-4007 then four months later with CH-35. I did the second inoculation because I wasn't sure about the viability of the 4007. The weather was extremely warm when it was shipped and the freezer packs were warm when they arrived. I kept the wine at 70F for six months and my chromatography tests still showed malic acid on the paper time and time again. Since it seemed like nothing would change, I racked at the six month mark and gave it a dose of SO2. That was seven months ago. The other day I did another chromatography test even though I didn't expect to see any change. I was correct as you can see on the enclosed image. So what do I do next? Is this wine safe to bottle and if I decide to back sweeten just a touch (1.5 C of simple syrup into 5 gallons) would I be risking even more? I remember someone saying in a past post that the yeast is probably dead and it would be ok to bottle. Chime in please............

 

[Ohio Bob]

Kmeta will also stunt, maybe kill the MLF bacteria, so if you’ve been adding Kmeta every 3 months then you should be good by now. Go ahead and bottle.

 

[winemaker81]

After 16 months the yeast is dead. The reported cutoff is ~9 months, and you're nearly double that. You're safe to backsweeten and bottle.

 

[Rice_Guy]

My rule of thumb is nine months age is OK for back sweetening / not refermenting as long as I am not step feeding.

Yeast farming is a numbers game. The general literature says that if you filter/ settle with time/ fine with bentonite/ etc such that the population is reduced SO2 is more effective. Yeast settle fairly fast because they are large,, 2to 5 microns.
You might have bacteria in suspension since they are significantly smaller, BUT with a SO2 treatment they would have been killed off.

 

[montanarick]

you may want to add lysozyme to kill the MLB then you won't have to worry about MLF

 

[Ohio Bob]

you may want to add lysozyme to kill the MLB then you won't have to worry about MLF

Agree that that will work, but it’s very pricey. I got some for my whites a few years ago. $26 for a 57 gram bottle, so ~50 cents a gram. If time is of the essence than it’s a good approach. If you’ve got the time then save your dollars for other things.

 

[wineview]

Agree that that will work, but it’s very pricey. I got some for my whites a few years ago. $26 for a 57 gram bottle, so ~50 cents a gram. If time is of the essence than it’s a good approach. If you’ve got the time then save your dollars for other things.

I’ve got time. Plus I believe, after input on this thread, that the bacteria is probably dead by now. I will leave in bulk for another three months before bottling making a total of 19 months.

 

[montanarick]

Agree that that will work, but it’s very pricey. I got some for my whites a few years ago. $26 for a 57 gram bottle, so ~50 cents a gram. If time is of the essence than it’s a good approach. If you’ve got the time then save your dollars for other things.

hmm....i had purchased powder form that wasn't that expensive as i recall

 

[wineview]

After 16 months the yeast is dead. The reported cutoff is ~9 months, and you're nearly double that. You're safe to backsweeten and bottle.

So with the yeast dead, I can back sweeten without the use of potassium sorrbate correct?

 

[winemaker81]

So with the yeast dead, I can back sweeten without the use of potassium sorrbate correct?

Correct.

 

[wineview]

Finally going to bottle today.