Strawberry MLF???

[yakhunter]

It is still bubbling away like crazy. Now I am getting nervous. I realized that I have not added any KMeta since the original crush. I did not want to as it started bubbling as I was afraid to kill the MLB. Now I am wondering if there is a bad bug in there that I should try to Meta-bomb or at least rack off the little tiny biit of lees.

Thoughts?

 

[seth8530]

What is the gravity? Has the gravity been moving? It could just be off gassing from a temperature change.

 

[yakhunter]

Update

Hi all.

I am now convinced it is MLF. This has been going on for over two months now and show no sign of slowing down. I tasted some early this week, and it had softened from the original astringency a great deal. It is still very dry, but I believe it is far less acidic.

I am pretty psyched about it. If I make another Strawberry wine next year, I am seriously considering adding MLB to it near the end of fermentation. Has anyone ever tried this?

Forgot to add that the SG has not changed at all.

 

[seth8530]

I have not done ML to a strawberry before, but I have a batch of strawberry that I could do it to. In fact, I might consider it.

 

[GreginND]

How does your wine taste?

I would NOT recommend inducing MLF in a strawberry wine on purpose. In addition to the very small amount of malic acid present, the main acid is citric acid. Once the malic acid is gone, the ML bacterial will start metabolizing the citric acid and produce quantities of diacetyl. So, if you WANT your strawberry wine to taste like butter, add mlb. But I don't think it would be a desirable outcome.

FYI - Here's a PDF article on citric acid metabolism by ML bacteria:

http://vinestovintages.ca/LaffortHelpfulHints/Citric%20Acid%20Metabolism.pdf

 

[yakhunter]

Thanks, lads.

@ Seth: maybe do a 1 or 3 gal test and control?
@ Greg: Thanks for the link. I hope to read tonight. Darn thing printed in green and at about 6 point font. This headache was brought to you by:LAFFORT!

 

[seth8530]

Perhaps doing a small scale test with a side by side might be the way to do it. I am not quite sure diacetyl is quite what I would want in my strawberry.

 

[LeChat]

So, how did the wine turn out?

I have a peach that may have the same problem/opportunity...