My plan for 2017 wine from California grapes

[Johnd]

The tiny bubbles have slowed.

Still stirring a couple times a week?

 

[jgmann67]

Still stirring a couple times a week?

Yessir. Wednesday's and Saturday's.

 

[ceeaton]

Yessir. Wednesday's and Saturday's.

Yell when it's been long enough to do a test. Might be a good reason to come taste that blend!

 

[jgmann67]

Yell when it's been long enough to do a test. Might be a good reason to come taste that blend!

This weekend will be three weeks. And, the MLF has been pretty active. Probably time to taste and test, I think.

 

[ibglowin]

And so the carboy tippin' begins.........

 

[Johnd]

And so the carboy tippin' begins.........

Yep, and @ceeaton is planning a trip, and I suspect it's a lot easier when one tips the carboy while the other one slugs wine out of the top.......... They may just use the racking cane, or as Craig calls it, "the big curved straw"......

 

[jgmann67]

They may just use the racking cane, or as Craig calls it, "the big curved straw"......

Anyone else interested in coming by, spending some social time or bottle swapping... Just let me know.

 

[heatherd]

My Cali whites are stabilized and bulk-aging. The reds are MLF-ing along (co-inoculated VP-41) and I'll check them this weekend.

A question: I picked up my lovely Washington Pinot Noir and they are fermenting now. I'm on the fence on whether to MLF. What do you guys think? I'm aiming for a fruity wine with no oak.

 

[jgmann67]

@heatherd I'm a YES on doing an MLF on your Pinot Noir. I haven't done a PN from grapes yet. @ceeaton did with his Chilean PN, IIRC. Others have, too.

When I think of PN's, I think soft and round. Can you do a chromo to see how much Malic acid is present? If it's a big yellow blot on your paper, I'd say definitely do the MLF.

Did you add tannin when you started AF?

 

[Johnd]

[QUOTE="heatherd, post: 667842, member: 30498"

A question: I picked up my lovely Washington Pinot Noir and they are fermenting now. I'm on the fence on whether to MLF. What do you guys think? I'm aiming for a fruity wine with no oak.[/QUOTE]

My vote is yes!

 

[Boatboy24]

My Cali whites are stabilized and bulk-aging. The reds are MLF-ing along (co-inoculated VP-41) and I'll check them this weekend.

A question: I picked up my lovely Washington Pinot Noir and they are fermenting now. I'm on the fence on whether to MLF. What do you guys think? I'm aiming for a fruity wine with no oak.

My CA Pinot is MLF'ing as we speak. Co-innoculated w/ VP41.

 

[cmason1957]

It is red, it is a grape wine. Mlf is standard practice. I would, unless you measure the amount of malic acid and find it to be under about 30 g/l and you probably won't find it that low.

 

[mainshipfred]

It is red, it is a grape wine. Mlf is standard practice. I would, unless you measure the amount of malic acid and find it to be under about 30 g/l and you probably won't find it that low.

How important is testing for malic? Is there a problem if the malic is too low? I was looking at the Vinmetrica SC 55. Cost is reasonable but only does 5 tests. The refills for 20 tests are $50.00 and it seems to require freezing and thawing the chemicals.

 

[Johnd]

How important is testing for malic? Is there a problem if the malic is too low? I was looking at the Vinmetrica SC 55. Cost is reasonable but only does 5 tests. The refills for 20 tests are $50.00 and it seems to require freezing and thawing the chemicals.

If you are doing grape wines, testing for the presence of malic acid in your must is probably not necessary, it's one of the main acids that are in grapes and should be there. As the sharper acid of the three (tartaric, malic and lactic), the removal of this acid in red wines is desirable, not so much in whites (other than chardonnays). I have the Vinmetrica, but typically test for malic acid in two other ways. The first is a test strip, which will actually tell you the amount of malic acid in your wine, indicated by color change. The second, is paper chromatography, which merely tells you if it is there or not, although, I believe that the brightness of the malic spot gives some indication that it is decreasing, especially when you can compare it to previous tests from the same batch.

In red wines, when you do MLF, you are attempting to convert all of the malic to lactic acid, so there is no "too low", unless you have some other plan for your wine which includes having malic acid present. I'm not a grape grower, so I don't know if there is some agricultural reason why a grape might have no malic acid in it, not in my wheelhouse at all..........hope this helps!!

 

[Boatboy24]

How important is testing for malic? Is there a problem if the malic is too low? I was looking at the Vinmetrica SC 55. Cost is reasonable but only does 5 tests. The refills for 20 tests are $50.00 and it seems to require freezing and thawing the chemicals.

Similar to alcoholic fermentation, one of the byproducts of MLF is CO2. If MLF isn't finished, you run the risk of it happening/finishing in the bottle and popping corks, or producing bottle bombs. I haven't really looked into the Vinmetrica unit, but at around $50, the chromatography kit from MoreWine is cheap, and gives you enough to run dozens of tests. As far as refills, I don't bother using the standards anymore, so all I need to replace is the developer solution.

 

[mainshipfred]

Thanks all, didn't know there was malic test strips and I have the chromotography kit. @cmason1957 talked about the 30g/l and thought that might have some reference to something.

 

[cmason1957]

Anything below about 30 g/l is considered finished when converting Malic acid to Lactic Acid, sorry, I should have been clearer. Chromotography shows almost nothing once you getbelow about 50 g/l.

 

[mainshipfred]

Anything below about 30 g/l is considered finished when converting Malic acid to Lactic Acid, sorry, I should have been clearer. Chromotography shows almost nothing once you getbelow about 50 g/l.

Good to knowl, thanks.

 

[Johnd]

Anything below about 30 g/l is considered finished when converting Malic acid to Lactic Acid, sorry, I should have been clearer. Chromotography shows almost nothing once you getbelow about 50 g/l.

And that's why we say "When your chromatography test shows no more malic acid, wait two more weeks before you sulfite and move on". It gives the little buggers time to finish up what they can before you rock their world with sulfite additions............

 

[Ajmassa]

Anything below about 30 g/l is considered finished when converting Malic acid to Lactic Acid, sorry, I should have been clearer. Chromotography shows almost nothing once you getbelow about 50 g/l.

Going by the one time I checked a fully clear chroma test against the strips I noticed that even more drastic. Clear chroma but definitely 100+ g/L strip on one. Basically that test taught me always wait. Which goes with what @Johnd once told me, "procrastinators, this is your hobby"