Sudz
Sudz
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2009
- Messages
- 130
- Reaction score
- 2
Many of you have been helping me diagnose why my reds are crashing after a few months in the bottle. Using the info I've gained from this forum I have a new theory I'd like to bounce off of you.
Background: Making wines for about 3 years, brewing 4. Never an infection with brew. Initial wines were fine, red and white. After a year or two noticed reds were crashing before they matured even though they started well. My term crash implies a funky pungent taste and aroma which I presume is some type of spoilage.
Looked at sanitation closely. Nothing found although I have been using iodophor for the sanitizer from my brewing experience. Now Switching to meta for wines.
Looked at my SO2 additions and discovered my meta stock was very weak. Developed process for accurately quantifying the level of SO2 involved. Results made it clear I had not been dosing my wines adequately. Measuring crashed wines indicated SO2 levels of zero to 10ppm in the bottle. Ouch!
SO2 now on target with recent wines. Still picking up hints of the problem although it's a bit early to call it crashed.
Had noticed a fine white powdery film on my last red after fermentation which initiated an investigation leading to a possible mycoderma infection.
Now here's my theory...
All was well in the beginning. Low SO2 eventually allowed me to acquire some type of bug, possibly mycoderma, which infected some aspect of my system hardware. My sanitation technique was adequate for normal stuff but failed to eliminate the mycoderma. I say this because apparently mycoderma is really difficult to eliminate once it gets started. So now, even though my SO2 regimen is good I continue to experience a mycoderma infection because of a failure to eliminate it from something in the loop, most likely something plastic.
This is where I need some feedback from those of you with experience in this area of wine making.
Does this theory hold water or is there something that says it doesn't?
Can one successfully eliminate mycoderma once it's entrenched?
Continue to search... but still making wine!
Background: Making wines for about 3 years, brewing 4. Never an infection with brew. Initial wines were fine, red and white. After a year or two noticed reds were crashing before they matured even though they started well. My term crash implies a funky pungent taste and aroma which I presume is some type of spoilage.
Looked at sanitation closely. Nothing found although I have been using iodophor for the sanitizer from my brewing experience. Now Switching to meta for wines.
Looked at my SO2 additions and discovered my meta stock was very weak. Developed process for accurately quantifying the level of SO2 involved. Results made it clear I had not been dosing my wines adequately. Measuring crashed wines indicated SO2 levels of zero to 10ppm in the bottle. Ouch!
SO2 now on target with recent wines. Still picking up hints of the problem although it's a bit early to call it crashed.
Had noticed a fine white powdery film on my last red after fermentation which initiated an investigation leading to a possible mycoderma infection.
Now here's my theory...
All was well in the beginning. Low SO2 eventually allowed me to acquire some type of bug, possibly mycoderma, which infected some aspect of my system hardware. My sanitation technique was adequate for normal stuff but failed to eliminate the mycoderma. I say this because apparently mycoderma is really difficult to eliminate once it gets started. So now, even though my SO2 regimen is good I continue to experience a mycoderma infection because of a failure to eliminate it from something in the loop, most likely something plastic.
This is where I need some feedback from those of you with experience in this area of wine making.
Does this theory hold water or is there something that says it doesn't?
Can one successfully eliminate mycoderma once it's entrenched?
Continue to search... but still making wine!
