Stuck MLF

[Jay A]

Hello all, I did an end of the season batch of Washington Cab Sauv in late October. Starting #'s were; 24* brix; 3.45 pH; TA 4.2. Pressed @ 0* (which took close 4 weeks) racked 3 days later & added Wyeast 4007. The 4007 was suggested by vendor, I requested VP41. They said the 4007 had all the nutrients, less $, & was good to go out of the refrigerator. When i asked if I should co-inoculate or sequential, it was left up to me.

My 180 lbs of fruit got me 11 gallons. Its been stored at a steady 65-70*F during MLF. Never noticed the typical MLF activity in either 5 or 6 gal glass carboy, just the very very rare & occasional blurp out of fermentation lock.

Ran a chromatograph yesterday & as suspected, traces of lactic & plenty of malic are present. Still no visible evidence of MLF.

I would like to re-inoculate with VP41 & get some sulfite in it sooner than later. My question is whether or not to add MLF nutrients? I hate to add more if the 4007 includes it & run the risk of spoilage. Any input would be much appreciated.

Happy New Year to all!

 

[cmason1957]

I would add the VP41 or I have become a fan of Enoform Alpha and Beta, it can handle lower temps than VP41 and is more tolerant of SO2. But with either, I would probably add some ml nutrients. Your vendor is the first I have heard anyone say that the 4007 contains nutrients. I'm not saying it doesn't, but I've never heard anyone say that.

 

[Jay A]

Thanks for the reply. I"ll read up on Alpha & Beta. I called Wyeast before inoculating. Much to my surprise, they were unable to answer any of my questions regarding nutrients or inoculation, they suggested I speak to vendor. Live & learn.

 

[Ct Winemaker]

We just went through a similar situation with 30 gallons of Chardonnay. We thought MLF hadn't started based on Chromatography results showing "no change" over a month or so (see prior post), and seeing no signs of any activity (usually see tiny bubbles). We now have it going and are seeing the typical "tiny" bubbling that we usually see with MLF. The solution for us was purely temperature. We thought we were OK with temp since we had the wine in our home living space (about 70-72 deg f), but when we put a thermocouple directly onto one of the carboys, the actual temp was more like 65 deg F. We moved the wine to a location where we could control the actual wine temp to 72 def F, gave it a good stir (every two days or so) and within a few days started to see bubbles! This has now continued for a couple of weeks, so we are now confident that we are working through MLF (will test soon to confirm). The advise to make these adjustments prior to re-innoculating VP41 (which is what we planned to do) came to us from professional wine makers with extensive experience, saving us the cost of the VP41 second dose, and the risk of creating off flavors due to the added Malo nutrients.

You might try to bring the temp of your wine up a bit (min 72 deg f and reasonably consistent - not cooling way down at night) and stir it up very well to get the Malo bacteria re-mixed (if settled in the lees), and then give it a few days to see if you have any activity, before doing anything else.

 

[Jay A]

Good idea, I'll check wine temp & adjust accordingly.

Thanks

 

[Jay A]

Positively bizarre! Checked this morning & it looks like MLF is active. Checked temp as suggested by CT Winemaker, although thermostat is set to 70*, the wine is 64*. Gave it a good stir & might place an electric heater nearby to give it a kick.

 

[Ct Winemaker]

Awesome, great job!