Malo Lactic Fermentation (MLF)

[DavidB]

I've seen this in a couple of post and have both read about it on google and the threads on here. But I got to admit, I'm as confused as I can be. Can someone explain this a little better for me please. Should I be doing this with my wine?

 

[jet]

Generally speaking, MLF is used for reds and big, oaky chardonnays.

 

[Wade E]

MLF is a bacteria that we introduce into fermented reds and some other wine such as Chardonnay or even Blackberry wine as these wines can conatin excess malic acid (think very tart apple) and introducing this bacteria eats up thos malic acid and turns it into lactic acid (think milk) which is much smoother. This fermentation should be started right after or even right before your initial fermentation is over. The reason for this is that your wine will be low on sulfites and adding any before adding this bacteria will make this MLf very hard or impossible to start.

 

[grapeman]

I have to chime in here and say that it is only used with grapes or juice buckets and not kits. Kit wines are balanced to not use mlb. With real grapes and juice, it will help smooth out the wine, provide other flavors, such as vanilla. Unless you have a need to use it- hold off for now until you learn a bit more of the process and what wines will benefit from it. Realize you can ruin your wine if you handle this stuff wrong. For example if you have a nice wine, but want to sweeten it. You accidentally don't add enough potassium metabisulfite and put some sorbate in so you can sweeten it. It was a bit high in acid while fermenting so you added mlb and let it go to completion. No problem, right? Wrong. Because you didn't add quite enough sulfite, the mlb can begin do grow again a bit. They use the sorbate for food and form geraniol - end of your wine. It smells of rotten geraniums and make your wine so nobody will touch it!

Know what you are getting into before starting to use malolactic bacteria.

 

[DavidB]

Thanks Wade. Very good information. How would one start this fermentation? Do you buy the bacteria like you do yeast and can you suggest additional resources that I can use to learn this?

 

[Wade E]

Sorry, Im not a big book reader so Ill leave that up to someone else. Ive learned what Ive learned from sites like these and many years of it and by trial and error. You really should have the means to test your wine to know if it truly needs to be done before attempting this like grapeman said above.

 

[DavidB]

I think you two have effectively scared me away from it. Thanks guys!

 

[mmadmikes1]

second lesson learned, dont do a MLF search on google, It is more porn than I could imagine coming up when doing a wine searcc

 

[Tom]

I think you two have effectively scared me away from it. Thanks guys!

L@@k at it this way,
All of my reds from "juice (CA, Italy, Chile) all go thru MLF.
Real easy if you plan on "aging" your wines from Juice or grapes.

 

[Wade E]

Dont be afraid of it, just dont go in blindly.

 

[grapeman]

First information you need is what kind of wine this is you are thinking of doing it on. I still say, if a kit forget it. If juice or grapes and you want dry wine- great. Learn about it and make a decision.

 

[JohnT]

David..

Do not be scared!!!

With MLF only to things can really happen. Either the MLB will take root to convert malic (tart apple) acid to lactic acid (found in milk) or the MLB will simply not take hold an do absolutly nothing.

In other words, the MLB can only benefit your wine by softening it!

Please do not be scared and give it a try.

There is a product (that I use) called OENOS by a company called Vinaflora. This is a MLB culture that comes (cold packed) freeze dried.

The product is meant for "direct innoculation". In other words, you simply open the packed and pour the culture (looks like a with powder) directly into the wine. Just keep it in your freezer until you are ready to use it.

The only real thing to be careful of is that you do not have too much K-Meta in your wine.

I can HIGHLY recommend that you give it a try. Again, I see no harm in trying it, but do see a massive benefit.

johnT.

 

[Sirs]

ok I've stumbled on this by accident I gotta ask if you don't start MLF can it start on it's own?? specially with elderberry and wild plum as both of these have been fermenting since back in july at first the big bubble fermentation then the small bubble type tons of bubbles steady but extremely tiny. The elderberry has went from being really astringent to getting really smooth, same with wild plum but neither seem to be slowing down any

 

[Sirs]

in fact the plum stopped 1st fermentation for almost 2 weeks then started up with a ton of the small bubbles

 

[Racer]

Sure sounds like mlf has taken off on you in those batches.

 

[Sirs]

thats what I've been thinking but wasn't really sure

 

[Wade E]

Thats what can happen when you dont use sulfites, its either MLF or an infection of some other sort.

 

[JohnT]

Sirs,

In short, It sure can.

The way the story goes, for centuries, non-franco winemakes always wondered just why the French made such good wine. The answer was determined by a group of "exchange students" from UC Davis. They are credited with isolating the strains of bacteria (living in their oak) responsible for MLF. Turns out that this bacteria was not only strong, but also very common.

MLB is a whole lot more hearty than people give it credit for.