Recent content by HoCo Al

I looked into the Bactiless shelf life. The mfr. -- Lallemand -- says the following: STORAGE & SHELF LIFE Store in a dry and cool place. Shelf life: 4 years in original sealed packaging. It will have an expiration date on the label. According to Scott Labs it must be kept at a temperature...

Interesting that you mention Bactiless. In the same thread on the other winemaking forum I alluded to above, my California winemaking friend said the following: "We started using Bactiless on everything- white, rose and red. The benefits are worth every penny. We've seen lower VA (acetic)...

Thanks, Raptor. Having already read most of the Lallemand book excerpts made it easier for me to read and at least partially understand the article you linked to. For me some of the most important information in the Lallemand book related to the contribution that LAB can make, or not make, to...

Not really my own insight, so I won't take credit for it. Reading the Lallemand book excerpts lit up a light bulb for me on things that I need to pay attention to and consider -- and that I had no idea were important or even relevant -- to maximize my chances of making a good wine. I'll...

I've been studying up on MLF recently since I'm still pretty new at winemaking. A commercial vineyard owner whom I know posted a link on another wine forum to an excerpt from a Lallemand book on MLF that was a real eye-opener. (Link below.) It seems that there has been a lot of activity in the...

No leaking here, but I did just replace the entire fill nozzle assembly on mine with a new one. Got it from Morewinemaking.com for $79.99 (free shipping). I had bought mine used about 5 years ago, and as I started bottling a few weeks ago I noticed that there was a crack in the plastic tip of...

OK, thanks for correcting me on the accepted terminology. As I said I'm still learning.

Perhaps I used the wrong terminology, but by "lactic acid bacteria" or LAB as I abbreviated it, I meant the bacteria normally used to convert malic to lactic, whether intentionally inoculated, or inadvertently inoculated, as seems to have happened with my full one gallon jug of Traminette. In...

That's an interesting idea. I'd have to go out and get a case of 375ml bottles to do that since I don't have any right now. However since I also have pretty good quantities of two other varieties ready to bottle - Petit Manseng and Chardonel - even if I use up a couple of bottles of the...

Thanks for all the good advice, Bryan. Actually it is two 5 gallon carboys, not 2.5 gallon. Should have used the word "two" instead of the number in the original post to avoid confusion. So here's what I've decided, at least for the Traminette. I already have put 350 ppm lysozyme in the two 5...

A little more background: These wines have a relatively high alcohol content for white wines - 13% - 14% abv (based on calculators, not lab tests). I let the grapes hang and got 23 - 25 brix grapes at harvest. I also cold soak them for 12 - 24 hours at about 35 °F, which I find gives them more...

OK, a little background. I have three varieties of whites that are ready for bottling, all made from grapes grown in my own vineyard. I age my whites longer than most folks, so these have been bulk aging for two to three years. None were inoculated for MLF. I also have been a little lax in...

I'm planning to add Lysozyme to several of my white wines before bottling, since I plan to back-sweeten them and use potassium sorbate, as an insurance policy to prevent MLF from starting. Other than a final fining, racking and back-sweetening, the wines are ready to bottle. I've just adjusted...

My altitude is 500 ft. The temperature of the wine and ambient in the winery was about 60 F. My concern was not with the actual wine transfer per se, but with the de-gassing process. So several times during a transfer I close the valve to stop the transfer and let the vacuum build up in the...

Some of the earlier posts say that the vacuum should be less than 20 in. when using a vacuum pump for de-gassing, or presumably you will begin to evaporate alcohol from the wine. I haven't actually researched it myself yet, so I'm just repeating what I believe I read in some earlier posts. In...