MLF ON MLK

[porkchopmessiah]

So, back during the fall crush season my spell check/auto correct of MLF was good for a few laughs, and had kinda been stymied by my lack of progress in my 4 carboys with respect to MLF completion..
For those who don't already know heres my story thus far..

Started with 4 pails of jucice, Sang, Syrah, Valpo and a red blend which they loaded in my truck by mistake...im forget what I actually asked for at this point.

everything went well in primary ferment and I inoculated with Malo on transfer to buckets, VP 41 and the proper hydration with Acti ml, and dose of Opti malo..

hasn't seemed to have done much, I tested periodically with accuvin test strips, which I posted pics of..
have also re inoculated with the liquid malo strain they had at my local supply store following directions to a t.



after using all my strips up and not really convinced of their clarity (mostly bc it looks like nothing has changed in a few months) I now have the vinmetric malo tester, which im gonna break out on MLK day. My gut is telling me that once I check im gonna see a failed malo...

im willing to chalk this up as a learning experience if it didn't work, so what id like to know should I hit it lysozyme and just continue aging or are there any other things I should be doing..

also curious what factors contributed to lack of success....so im sure theres a bunch of stuff your gonna ask me that I didn't say so fire away...

 

[cmason1957]

Here's the things I always like to know about failed Mlf's : pH, ta, total & free SO2, Abv, yeast used, varietals, temp they have been kept at, stirred or not and how often. I think that's about all.

 

[porkchopmessiah]

I'll post all the numbers I have available once I test with the vinmetric for malo, however as far as the so2 levels I havent bought that tester yet since thought I'm still far away from needing one...have t added meta yet, and have been waiting for MLf to finish...

For now I'm just looking for the proper usage of lysozyme, and trying to salvage the wine

 

[Ajmassa]

Hey man. So why are ya set on using lysozyme? If willing to chalk it up as failed MLF- why not just hit it with so2 and continue aging ? Unless your planning to try MLF again. Could be a huge headache though. Wine still perfectly fine as is correct?

I did use lysozyme once before- but was for a pretty specific circumstance.
MLF has just finished. Ph was very high. And needed to do some work to prepare the wine before an attempted restart. So lysozyme was used to protect the wine during the process —not wanting to use So2 and potentially inhibit the yeast restart.

 

[cmason1957]

Hey man. So why are ya set on using lysozyme? If willing to chalk it up as failed MLF- why not just hit it with so2 and continue aging ? Unless your planning to try MLF again. Could be a huge headache though. Wine still perfectly fine as is correct?

Lysozyme, as I understand it will inhibit starting MLF again. It actually is a more sure thing to use than adding SO2, since SO2 gets bound over time and it's effectiveness drops. That is if Free SO2 is the only thing that keeps MLF from taking off, which I'm not sure I think is true. Please remember, I am not a chemist, haven't studied this greatly and am only commenting based on my own personal experience. That right there is your grain of salt.

 

[Ajmassa]

I’m basing that off of what I read. And depending on dosages, lysozyme can be used for a variety of reasons.

I used it to protect a completed MLF while doing work on high ph wine requiring multiple racks and didn’t want to add so2.
But in the right dose it’s said can protect the wine while delaying the MLf. According to morewine.com.
Tho I still don’t think it’s needed in this case.

And I agree that bound so2 can also inhibit MLf- many studies I’ve read note this. Just not reported as widely as the free so2 tolerances.

 

[cmason1957]

Agreed, those are the same words I have seen. I think if I ever encounter an MLF that has proven to be a no go, I would add the lysozome at the amount to inhibit MLF, just to be safe. But I (knock on wood, say a prayer, throw salt over my shoulder, anything I missed for good luck?) haven't encountered that problem in about 10 times of doing an MLF.

 

[Ajmassa]

But what’s the harm in not adding it throughout aging? Best case scenario it picks back up on its own and finishes before bottling.
Worst case ya bottle and it blows corks. Lol. But for what it’s worth I made juice pails for a while without so2 or malo or anything and never had that happen.
But even if just dosing with so2 I’d think only extreme circumstance would have MLf spontaneously pick up in the bottle. If gonna go through the hassle of adding some messy pain in butt lysozyme I think I’d rather just inoculate mlb again.
Obviously lots of variables. Ph-so2- temps. Eh. Too much unknown. Let’s see what porkchops numbers are showing

 

[cmason1957]

Agreed. The numbers may give a hint, if Malo is ever going to finish.