I dunno, the spec sheet for 71B states that this yeast metabolizes between 20 and 40% of malic acid transforming it into lactic. I don't have the chemistry background to agree or disagree only to quote and cite. and I do know that over time apple cider and apple wine tastes incredibly smoother...
Have you fermented it yet? Fermentation will raise the PH a couple points. Wine freshly fermented will have a lot of carbonation that will throw your PH meter off.
I always cold crash the wine after MLF. Right after it is complete I rack, add sulfite, then cold crash for a month. My Foch always drops crystals and if acid is dropping out then the wine gets smoother.
Not saying it can't happen... but
I personally have never seen the PH go down on my wines and I cold stabilize every one. Even so, if this did happen, as long as TA goes down so does the tartness of the wine so its really not a bad thing. Usually mine start around 3.2PH and finish around 3.3...
FermCalc is a great program for calculations:
http://web2.airmail.net/sgross/fermcalc/
Whatever you do, be careful with any additions, take it safe and measure accurately with PH meter after each one!
My two cents:
Concentrate on PH...
The low PH is a big concern as MLF will not start this...
I don't know anything about pruning on the east coast but The second year I planted we had the deer come along and eat all the first shoots from our Foch. The next year we fenced our area in and got a dog. This eliminated the deer from our property.
Also you need to protect from birds... they...
Being an amateur Brewer (as well as winemaker) I have a dedicated temperature controlled fridge. When I am brewing a lager or Belgian or making a white wine, just set the temp and walk away. Cost nothing for the fridge and 30$ for the temp controller.
I like Medium + Oak beans/cubes. Staves and spirals are great too but hard to source good ones where I live.
Save powder and chips for primary fermentation
The Hungarian (European) cubes from Stavin are a middling price and have a great flavour.
http://ecom.bosagrape.com/product.php?productid=17690&cat=444&page=1
Hows your Foch doing??
Harvested my Foch grapes Yesterday. Really was an off year for them due to spring arriving really late and lots of rain in April. Verison was 3 weeks late (mid Aug) and once mid Sept hits the sun is low and the rain starts. 1/2 the clusters had a lot of shot and...