Blueberry MLF Sorbate Questions ???

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Bumbles247

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Greetings. This is my first ever post here but thanks to all who have helped me in the past without knowing it. I've got a batch of blueberry wine going and I really think it's going to be great. But I suddenly find myself unsure how to proceed. I'm going to give you my story thus far to hopefully get you to where my head is at, then hopefully my questions will make sense and any help will be appreciated. Here goes-

Started fresh/frozen blueberry batch on 1/1 (OG 1.096) with acid blend, pectic enzyme, tannin and yeast nutrient, after treating with K-meta for a full day. Pitched Lalvin 71B-1122 at what I thought was 74 degrees (more on that in a bit). By 1/4 I had no action whatsoever. I had a packet of Montrachet laying around so I made a starter and threw that in, by evening it was working well. Stirred twice daily.

By 1/10 SG was down to 1.07 and still working good. I took the pulp bag out and squeezed the juices into the bucket. Then on 1/12 there appeared to be no activity at all. I whipped some air into it and added some more nutrient and by 1/13 it was working again.

On 1/17 SG was still only 1.046. About this time I learned blueberries are slow fermenters. But I also realized there was an illusion on my fermometer that led me to believe my wine was 74 degrees all this time when it was really only 68. So I moved it to a warmer place. On 1/28 it was finally down to 1.008. I racked it into a carboy where it continued to ferment.

Now, after a couple weeks the bubbles were only 30-40 seconds apart. But I figured since it was still bubbling I would just let it be. The bubbles finally stopped and on 2/27 I got a reading of .992 and again on 2/28. At this point I expected to be degassing and stabilizing and maybe back sweetening. But when I looked at my wine as I was testing it with the hydrometer it was clear as glass. I put some in the test tube and shook it to make sure and sure enough, it was already degassed and quite clear.

There was a little sediment so I racked it off that, gave another dose of K-meta and put it back under airlock. It tasted good but young and harsh so I thought I would just let it sit and get happy for a while until I decided if I wanted to sweeten. It's now been 2 more weeks and I've decided I probably want to back sweeten a little bit.

Now, I've been under the impression the last of those 30 second bubbles was just my wine degassing naturally - which it certainly seems to have done. But lately, as I've been deciding to use sorbate after sweetening or leave it out if I leave it dry, I've read a few places where it says never use sorbate if the wine has undergone MLF. Now, I don't think my wine had a MLF, but I don't know for sure if that was possibly happening during the second month. And since I do want to back sweeten a little I guess I should use the sorbate before bottling. So now my head is spinning a little.

Is there a way to know for sure if MLF did or didn't occur? Am I over thinking and overreacting? Just how unsafe is it to not put sorbate in if my ABV is (according to my calculations) about 14%? Won't that kill any re-ferment? Do aliens really not wear hats and can somebody put my mind at ease?

Thank you in advance.

Matt
 
Well, I have some bad news. Aliens often do wear hats.

I also have some good news. There is not much malic acid in blueberries. It is mostly citric, evidently. I cannot tell you that it did not undergo MLF, but it seems unlikely to me. Am I right in thinking that you have not been making wines for a while, and you have not been introducing MLB cultures into your winemaking area? If I am correct, it seems even less likely that you will have had spontaneous MLF.
 
Well, I have some bad news. Aliens often do wear hats.

I also have some good news. There is not much malic acid in blueberries. It is mostly citric, evidently. I cannot tell you that it did not undergo MLF, but it seems unlikely to me. Am I right in thinking that you have not been making wines for a while, and you have not been introducing MLB cultures into your winemaking area? If I am correct, it seems even less likely that you will have had spontaneous MLF.

Well I never saw an alien wearing a hat . . . unless it was to hide the fact it was an alien, then how would I know?

Thank you for your input. Yes it's true I've only been making wine a little over a year but I enjoy making it from scratch as opposed to using a kit. So no I haven't been introducing any MLB cultures. I also didn't know blueberries were low in malic acid so thank you for that. I guess I probably didn't think MLF occurred either but once the doubt crept in my imagination got to me. So thank you, it's good to hear it from someone else.

But now I'm curious. Is it common for a wine that fermented so slowly to then apparently degas itself in only another month or less? I mean there is not a trace of any gas and clarity is fantastic. Is that another blueberry thing?

Anyway thanks for your input.
 
I've made a few batches of skeeter (lemon wine) and I have not been able to get it to clear really well on its own. A little Sparkolloid and it is very clear. Sounds like you have the makings of something pretty nice.
 

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