Malolactic Fermentation doesn't seem to be starting

[WineHombre]

Pressed my Cab sauv. batch 5 days ago. Did a tranfer off gross lees 2 days later and added Opti-malo nutrients and pitched some enoferm Beta Malo into each carboy. Been watching the airlocks and not seeing any activitiy. Is this normal? How long does it nomally take for Enoferm Beta to take off?

PH was 3.53 with a TA of 9.3 from our titrate test.

 

[Ohio Bob]

Bubbles in the airlock tell you nothing. The only method is to run a test. Personally I just give the bacteria a month and then rack and add Kmeta. I have no idea if any of my wines actually finished, never started, or finished MLF successfully or not.

 

[WineHombre]

Bubbles in the airlock tell you nothing. The only method is to run a test. Personally I just give the bacteria a month and then rack and add Kmeta. I have no idea if any of my wines actually finished, never started, or finished MLF successfully or not.

Malolactic fermentation should still prodice CO2 so there should be tiny bubbles in the wine and the airlock should bubble...

 

[Paulie vino]

You may see small bubbles floating up, those are most likely CO2 bubbles off gasing. Only real way to track mlf is paper chromatography. I think most people here just wait 4-6 weeks. Also your ph seems high, not sure if that will impact mlf

 

[WineHombre]

You may see small bubbles floating up, those are most likely CO2 bubbles off gasing. Only real way to track mlf is paper chromatography. I think most people here just wait 4-6 weeks. Also your ph seems high, not sure if that will impact mlf

Sorry, that was a typo. Its 3.53.

 

[cmason1957]

I have had successful malolactic fermentations with tiny bubbles visible and without. I have never detected an airlock burble from any of the seven or eight years I have done.

The only way to know if malolactic fermentation has done anything is to check. I prefer to use the malolactic test strips for my checking.