Add KMeta on Third Racking?

[GreginND]

It's probably too late for mlf but for your information, mlf converts malic acid to lactic acid. This lowers the acid level some and makes for a softer more rounded wine. Most red wines are put through malolactic fermentation. The ml bacteria don't tolerate low pH and sulfite well. I wouldn't worry about it for this batch.

Cold stabilization is chilling the wine down to about 25 degrees for a few weeks. This will allow potassium bitartrate crystals to precipitate out of the wine if there is excess tartaric acid. The wine is then racked off the tartrates while cold. This helps reduce the acid a little. If you are not able to chill it that low I wouldn't worry about it.

I guess I would add a small dose of kmeta at this racking just to be sure. 1/8 tsp should be fine.

 

[vinividivici]

Thanks, Greg. I guess MLF is another step up in the winemaking process for me. I buy six gallon juice buckets locally. It seems the prevailing instructions for making wine from these is to simply ferment, rack a couple of times, and bottle.

As I'll need to top off the juice on this next racking, I wonder if this might be helpful and solve both issues (topping and low pH):

"[FONT=Arial, Arial, Helvetica]Blending: Blending high acid wines with low acid wines is a method of balancing acid that many winemakers prefer. It is safe, uses no chemicals and yields immediate results."

Opinion on this?

Bob
[/FONT]

 

[GreginND]

Blending is a great way to balance wines. But I don't know that the little bit of wine you will be topping up with will make a big difference. Depends on how much you need to add. That being said if your wine is on the tart side topping up with another wine with lower acid won't hurt one bit.

Just curious - have you checked the acid on your carmenere? I wonder if that would be good for blending?

By the way, I think your wine is going to turn out pretty good as it is. I know it's hard to resist over thinking everything. But it is just wine. Folks have been making the stuff for thousands of years. I think it is still best to trust your taste buds and not over analyze it.

IMHO - chemical acid adjustments are best done prior to fermentation.

At risk of giving you one more thing to worry about, have you thought about throwing some oak cubes into your carboy? That might be just the thing to take your wine up one more notch.

 

[shoelesst]

Shoe, not sure what you're saying about the "very low pH"? My reading of 3.9 is HIGHER than the normal range of 3.2-3.6, meaning it's toward the base side, not the acidic side of the range.

Re the .5ppm SO2 target, I''ve taken that right from the web site (link) Altovino provided.

Hopefully he can clarify all this.

You wrote 3.09 originally, not 3.9.
I would confirm the target SO2 with other sources. I doesn't seem right. 50 ppm seems like it should be right and would make sense all around.

 

[vinividivici]

You wrote 3.09 originally, not 3.9.
I would confirm the target SO2 with other sources. I doesn't seem right. 50 ppm seems like it should be right and would make sense all around.

Yes, I corrected that in a following post.

Thanks,
Bob