need help

[RIjoe]

I need help in my wine making. I picked my Frontenac grapes, enough for 1 gal of wine. Brix was 24 , SG was 1.100 on 9/13/2021
picked and added 1/8 TSP of POT meth and and Pectic enzyme to hand crushed MUST. Stored in 5 gallon pail until 9/14 tested Brix 21, SG 1.185, Ph 3.5 added yeast punched down from 15th to 21st at 75 deg. 9/21 Tested free run SG 1.005, Ph 3.4.
9/24 crushed MUST strained to carboy 1 tested free run 1.000, Ph 3.3 added 1/8 TSP potassium methabisulfite apllied Air lock stores at 68 deg.
10/1 racked to Carboy 2 checked SG 1.000, Ph 3.6. Started Malo lactic, w/ 1 gram yeast nutrient , added 1 cup Malo lactic Bacteria, after 15 min stirred gently, applied air lock stored & covered, at 55-60 deg until 10/29 there has little or no gassing.

Where did I go wrong sounds like something is wrong should there be gassing ? do I re rack and test Sg again what if SG did't change?, do I need to keep it stored longer?
Thank you

 

[mainshipfred]

Not sure you did anything wrong from what you are saying. The initial dose of K-meta was probably a little high but if it fermented your fine. The one cup of MBL confused me a little but regardless of that with the additional 1/8 tsp of K-meta The MLB no matter which one you used will not work with that high of sulfites. It is very possible your wine is already degassed.

When I first saw "POT meth" it gave me a chuckle ever though I knew what you were talking about, I was thinking maybe I should try drugs in my wine.

 

[sour_grapes]

Welcome to WMT!

I don't see any deep problems. I have a few comments.

Ooops, Fred just chimed in with all of my same comments! Namely, you probably won't get any malolactic fermentation with that much K-meta (also known as potassium metabisulfite). But other than that, your wine seems like it should be fine. We might hope that the final SG would be a little lower, say, 0.996 or something, but 1.000 is tolerable. How does it taste? Is it sweet at all?

I would just put it under airlock (as you have) with minimal headspace, and let it sit for ~6 months.

 

[RIjoe]

Not sure you did anything wrong from what you are saying. The initial dose of K-meta was probably a little high but if it fermented your fine. The one cup of MBL confused me a little but regardless of that with the additional 1/8 tsp of K-meta The MLB no matter which one you used will not work with that high of sulfites. It is very possible your wine is already degassed.

When I first saw "POT meth" it gave me a chuckle ever though I knew what you were talking about, I was thinking maybe I should try drugs in my wine.

sorry I added 1/4 gram of Malo Lactic Bacteria not a cup. Are you saying my adding additional 1/8 TSP of potassium Methabisulfite at when I pressed the MUST was wrong? Can I correct this at this point?

 

[RIjoe]

Welcome to WMT!

I don't see any deep problems. I have a few comments.

Ooops, Fred just chimed in with all of my same comments! Namely, you probably won't get any malolactic fermentation with that much K-meta (also known as potassium metabisulfite). But other than that, your wine seems like it should be fine. We might hope that the final SG would be a little lower, say, 0.996 or something, but 1.000 is tolerable. How does it taste? Is it sweet at all?

I would just put it under airlock (as you have) with minimal headspace, and let it sit for ~6 months.

Sounds encouraging. I tasted it after the 1st racking, couldn't really tell if it was good, more on a juice level

 

[RIjoe]

Sounds encouraging. I tasted it after the 1st racking, couldn't really tell if it was good, more on a juice level . what would be good SG and PH after 6 more months?

 

[mainshipfred]

sorry I added 1/4 gram of Malo Lactic Bacteria not a cup. Are you saying my adding additional 1/8 TSP of potassium Methabisulfite at when I pressed the MUST was wrong? Can I correct this at this point?

Yes and no, I can't remember what a 1/4 tsp of K-meta weighs but I believe 1/4 per 6 gallons takes you to around 50 ppm. Just rough math 1/4 tsp per one gallon is 300 ppm. The highest threshold MLB I'm aware of is 45 ppm. Some does get bound but bound also plays a role. So yes you shouldn't have added it and no it will not go through MLF. It's only a gallon though and you might like the higher malic content.

 

[Rice_Guy]

Frontenac at 1.100 SG is extremely ripe, which means your total acids may be OK. , , anyway at this point taste is what matters.
Gas release is higher at warmer temperatures, you are cool, MLF will shut down if the wine is coo and completely stop with high free SO2.

welcome to WMT

 

[RIjoe]

thank you for the reply, should I throw it out or could I get it started again. is it worth a try ?

 

[Rice_Guy]

you will find many threads on WMT which say patience is needed to make wine

thank you for the reply, should I throw it out or could I get it started again. is it worth a try ?

Opinion; my guess is you have not learned all you can from this ferment so I would not toss it. ,, I also question if running a malo lactic fermentation is worth it. (by the way I have run Frontenac and never done a malo lactic fermentation yet made a reasonable tasting back sweetened wine).

The MLF issues are that it is too cold and you added metabisulphite. The easiest choice is to wait for spring when it is already 65F and free SO2 has naturally decayed, and see if it starts all by itself, likely you will have to reinoculate though. ,,
The choice for those with less patience is to remove free SO2 then warm the wine as with a brew belt, ,,,, splash rack/ aerate the wine which consumes the free SO2 and removes the risk that you have a chemistry where the organism can not grow, after splash racking reinoculate.

 

[mainshipfred]

thank you for the reply, should I throw it out or could I get it started again. is it worth a try ?

Absolutely don't throw it out, you are probably not going to get rid of the malic but that doesn't mean it can't be an enjoyable wine.

 

[D&S]

I need help in my wine making. I picked my Frontenac grapes, enough for 1 gal of wine. Brix was 24 , SG was 1.100 on 9/13/2021
picked and added 1/8 TSP of POT meth and and Pectic enzyme to hand crushed MUST. Stored in 5 gallon pail until 9/14 tested Brix 21, SG 1.185, Ph 3.5 added yeast punched down from 15th to 21st at 75 deg. 9/21 Tested free run SG 1.005, Ph 3.4.
9/24 crushed MUST strained to carboy 1 tested free run 1.000, Ph 3.3 added 1/8 TSP potassium methabisulfite apllied Air lock stores at 68 deg.
10/1 racked to Carboy 2 checked SG 1.000, Ph 3.6. Started Malo lactic, w/ 1 gram yeast nutrient , added 1 cup Malo lactic Bacteria, after 15 min stirred gently, applied air lock stored & covered, at 55-60 deg until 10/29 there has little or no gassing.

Where did I go wrong sounds like something is wrong should there be gassing ? do I re rack and test Sg again what if SG did't change?, do I need to keep it stored longer?
Thank you

I'm no expert but it seems a little cool for MLF to happen, from what I read 68 to 72 deg. for MLF

 

[RIjoe]

thank you