MLF after SO2 treatment?

[Pforns]

Hi All

First, I want to thank you all for the valuable advice on here. It has inspired me to join this site. Like most who post for the first time, I need help!

I am grapes deep in my first attempt at home winemaking. All went well through the primary fermentation and pressing. Pressed at 1.014 SG
And an ABV of 14.5%. I let the juice sit for 48 hours after pressing then racked into 5 gallon carboy and affixed an airlock. I have about 4 gallons at this point so there was too much headspace in the 5 gallon. I didn't have a smaller carboy so I left it in the 5 gallon over night and today I purchased a 3gal and a 1gal. When I went to rack it to the smaller containers, my predicament began...

I saw whitish 'things' suspended in the top layer of wine. Thinking it was mold, I crushed 4 camden tablets and mixed in then racked and air locked in the smaller containers, eliminating headspace. After further research, I think it was just yeast being pushed up, as there were some co2 bubbles still forming. Nonetheless, I hadn't treated with SO2 at any point prior, so the treatment was probably needed. I was trying to avoid SO2 treatment because I wanted to inoculate with ML bacteria. The camden tablets I added brought the wine to approximately 75ppm SO2.

How long do I have to wait to inoculate with the ML culture?

Is there any other steps I should take?

If it was in fact mold that I saw beginning, would the camden tablets kill it and discourage its regrowth now that headspace has been eliminated?

Thanks in advance for any help that can be provided!

 

[Pforns]

Can anyone offer any advice?

 

[cmason1957]

I doubt that you had mold. It sounds like you only had the wine in a to large carboy for a short time. Assuming you sanitized the carboy, you are probably fine.

Now for that MLF, I see two potential issues, the abv is a bit high, you will have to get a malolactic bacteria that can withstand the 14.5% abv. And the second issue is probably a bit bigger. That is a really high ppm of SO2. Generally speaking, you don't want to ac any (except for at crush time) prior to adding the MLB. If you can measure your SO2, you can possibly splash rack to remove the extra. Our just wait a bit for it to get bound up. I seem to recall you want it at something like 10-20 ppm.

 

[acorn]

I seem to recall you want it at something like 10-20 ppm.

I would say, probably something like < 10 ppm SO2 would be safe for most MLB.

In a non-commercial setting, I think splash racking is pretty much all you can do to get rid of extra free SO2 in your wine, as cmason suggested. It is always a good idea to add less than more, such that you take into account the pH of your wine, where in lower pH (more acidic) you add less SO2, and vice versa.

You can read this short document that will explain the relationship in more detail.

http://morewinemaking.com/public/pdf/so2.pdf

Also, check out this calculator. You may find it useful for various other calcualtions, as I did, that you will have to do along the way.

http://www.winebusiness.com/tools/?go=winemaking.calc&cid=15

 

[Pforns]

Thank you both for the words of wisdom, it is much appreciated.

Please forgive my ignorance, as it is my first attempt at any type of home brew/winemaking.

I have a thought- I am limited in the 'Art' skillset of this, so I have to rely somewhat on 'science'- what if, after splashing as you say, I were to dilute the SO2 to by adding more untreated wine to the batch? I obviously cannot add enough to completely offset the abundance, but perhaps the combination of the splashing you have suggested and dilution would get me to an acceptable level? Or would the advice be to try to salvage this batch as best possible and keep a second batch completely separate, and just not f*ck it up as I did this one?

 

[GreginND]

What kind of grapes are these and what style of wine are you trying to produce?

I have a couple of thoughts.

Yes, you could dilute your wine with another wine to reduce the SO2 concentration. You could estimate that concentration using Pearson's square probably to get a good idea of how much you need to dilute it.

But . . .

How does the wine taste at this point? You could just continue and make a wine without MLF. It may be a perfectly drinkable wine.

Another option is to just let it age if you are not in a hurry. The SO2 levels will fall naturally with time. And sometime in the spring when the temps warm up and SO2 has fallen, you could try to initiate MLF at that point. You will likely need a good ML nutrient to help.

 

[heatherd]

I have done that, added kmeta based on habit when I planned to MLF. I used a MLF culture that is more tolerant of SO2, after splash racking, and it went through MLF just fine.
Heather


Sent from my iPhone using Wine Makin