First Chromo

[Boatboy24]

Did my first chromatography test over the weekend. Looks like I'm on my way, but still much progress to be made. Its been two weeks, but Temps are in the upper 60's in the basement. Sadly, I have three full carbons, but only one brew belt. So it's working rotations 24x7.

 

[ibglowin]

Amazon has heating pads for ~$10. They are perfect for this.

 

[Turock]

Are you doing this in your winery? We isolate our MLF's away from the winery. You get a resident MLB and your risk spontainious MLF's on all your wines.

 

[jamesngalveston]

Morning Turok....do you mean to say that if you have a mlf going in one wine, that it can go airborne and get into another

 

[ibglowin]

Any bacteria can go airborne so you have to use good sanitization practices in the winery and keep your SO2 levels up in your wines that you don't want MLF.

 

[robie]

That's also why making vinegar in or near where you make wine is a big mistake. Bacteria (and your yeast) can permeate the room's surfaces and remain there permanently, infecting anything around.

 

[Boatboy24]

:< You guys are freakin' me out. :<

Do I need to build a vault?

 

[robie]

Vault? Nah!

Native yeast are always going to be present in the grape must. It comes from the field and is already on the grapes.

If you utilize the same strain of yeast often, that strain will become the "native yeast" of your wine room, meaning, if you don't add any yeast and you just leave your must exposed to the air, your native yeast, and any native yeast already present in the must will fight it out to get the chance to ferment your batch. Some yeast strains can co-ferment together; some will kill the other to have the prize of fermenting your must. Either way, your must WILL ferment.

(If your wine room is your kitchen and you make bread often, guess what the native yeast could be in your kitchen area - bread yeast. This is not a problem as long as you always pitch a good, health packetized yeast.)

Where yeast are concerned, those coming directly from packets are in a much greater quantity and concentration than your native yeast, so if you do add your packeted yeast, it is going to be the predominate yeast, and before any native yeast can take hold, they will already be plenteous enough to overwhelm and do the fermentation. That is assuming you don't leave the must exposed for several days before adding your packeted yeast. Doing so will give the native yeast time enough to become established in your must. This is one of the good reasons for adding sulfites before fermentation of fresh/frozen grapes, if any waiting period is done before starting fermentation.

The bacteria for making vinegar is another story. If they are present, yeast fermentation can go on as usual without a problem. However, those bacteria can get into the must right away and eventually start growing and do their dastardly deed at a much later time. This can be the cause when one opens a bottle of wine, which should still be good, and finds it has turned to vinegar.

Of course this is one reason why after fermentation, one needs to keep the free SO2 levels up where they belong, which should provide protection against such bacteria. In the end, one's best bet is to not tempt fate and never mix wine making and vinegar making in or near each other.

 

[Turock]

The tools you use in the MLF can be a big part of the problem in spreading the MLB around. We not only do our MLF's away from the winery, but give a strong meta bath to all the tools before they go back to the winery. You sure don't want your fruit wines going thru spontainious MLF's.

I was first schooled in the medical field--so you can see why I'm so parenoid of bacteria used in MLF's!!!!!!!! I know how easy it spreads.

 

[GEM]

Good sanitation practices is the key here and for any winemaking. Enough said.

 

[GreginND]

Most small wineries I know only have one bonded production room. They can't isolate their mlf wines from non mlf wines. The only thing they can do is use dedicated equipment for mlf wines. Proper control of so2 is what's done to control it.

 

[robie]

I agree with Greg. Keep your SO2 levels where they are supposed to be and MLF will not be an issue, period.

 

[shoebiedoo]

If I use a glass carboy for MLF and rinse it in Kmetta afterwards, I should be OK right??? Would sorbate in all wines you don't want to go through MLF prevent this as well???

 

[GreginND]

No, sorbate does not prevent mlf. And be very careful - mL bacteria will metabolize sorbate and create an awful geranium taste that will ruin the wine. Never add sorbate to a wine that has or will undergo mlf.

 

[shoebiedoo]

Glad I asked that question. I was under the impression sorbate would help prevent MLF. So I know the answer is SO2 alone.

Thanks

 

[ibglowin]

No, that is lysozyme.

 

[LittleBearGameFarm]

Vault? Nah!

Native yeast are always going to be present in the grape must. It comes from the field and is already on the grapes.

If you utilize the same strain of yeast often, that strain will become the "native yeast" of your wine room, meaning, if you don't add any yeast and you just leave your must exposed to the air, your native yeast, and any native yeast already present in the must will fight it out to get the chance to ferment your batch. Some yeast strains can co-ferment together; some will kill the other to have the prize of fermenting your must. Either way, your must WILL ferment.

(If your wine room is your kitchen and you make bread often, guess what the native yeast could be in your kitchen area - bread yeast. This is not a problem as long as you always pitch a good, health packetized yeast.)

Where yeast are concerned, those coming directly from packets are in a much greater quantity and concentration than your native yeast, so if you do add your packeted yeast, it is going to be the predominate yeast, and before any native yeast can take hold, they will already be plenteous enough to overwhelm and do the fermentation. That is assuming you don't leave the must exposed for several days before adding your packeted yeast. Doing so will give the native yeast time enough to become established in your must. This is one of the good reasons for adding sulfites before fermentation of fresh/frozen grapes, if any waiting period is done before starting fermentation.

The bacteria for making vinegar is another story. If they are present, yeast fermentation can go on as usual without a problem. However, those bacteria can get into the must right away and eventually start growing and do their dastardly deed at a much later time. This can be the cause when one opens a bottle of wine, which should still be good, and finds it has turned to vinegar.

Of course this is one reason why after fermentation, one needs to keep the free SO2 levels up where they belong, which should provide protection against such bacteria. In the end, one's best bet is to not tempt fate and never mix wine making and vinegar making in or near each other.

Would vinegar bacteria be able to travel, ie. attach to clothing, from a room in the garage to a wine making room in the house? I'd like to try to make vinegar from homemade wine but if I risk the chance of contaminating my property with vinegar bacteria forever, guess were not having vinegar.

Thanks!

 

[robie]

Would vinegar bacteria be able to travel, ie. attach to clothing, from a room in the garage to a wine making room in the house? I'd like to try to make vinegar from homemade wine but if I risk the chance of contaminating my property with vinegar bacteria forever, guess were not having vinegar.

Thanks!

To make that vinegar you need wine, the bacteria, and a good supply of oxygen. Keeping the oxygen level low for wine making is certainly a good step.

I guess to some extent they can travel on your clothing. You know, seriously, I don't really know how far to push this before it ends up being too far. Maybe someone who has actually done both wine and vinegar can chime in.

Just seems if one would wash one's hands well before leaving the vinegar area, then washing the hands well in some good sanitizing solution before touching any wine-related items would be enough.

Sorry I can't be of much more help.

 

[Boatboy24]

I think I'm about done:

 

[ibglowin]

Yep, looking good there.