Malolactic fermentation going strong until I racked

[gbartolini]

Hello,

I am wondering why my malolactic fermentation started out strong, but I racked a week after I pressed to get it off the gross lees and then the malo became sluggish. Its been about 3 months and there is still very slow activity in my wine as I can see my airlock. I can also see very very tiny bubbles around the rim of the wine. I want to SO2 my wine and bulk age, but I don't want to do it until activity has fully stopped.

I dont have the pH and TA in front of me, but they were within the normal range for a red wine. Also, wine is stored at about 72 degrees ambient temp. What is taking so long??

Thanks

 

[Tnuscan]

I'm betting your aggressive fermentation was your primary fermentation finishing it's process then flowing into the MLF.??? If you started it early.

And you need to check it for completion..??

 

[gbartolini]

ahh, true, thats probably the case. But is it normal for MLF to take so long? This has happened to me in the past.

I thought everything was ideal for MLF to complete quickly. I'm nervous my wine is in danger because it doesn't have any SO2 in it.

 

[Tnuscan]

Many things can contribute to short and long mlf ferms., amount and state of lees, temperature, environmental conditions, bact. culture condition, etc.

This is my thinking. And it wouldn't hurt to check (test it) to make sure.

 

[gbartolini]

thanks. Yea I just don't understand why the intensity changed immediately after I racked.

 

[Tnuscan]

I understand. Most things whether bacteria, yeast and other living organisms, when moved from a stable environment, into a new environment will suffer shock, stress, death, etc. This can be temperature, contaminates, foreign matter in different strengths and forms. Even a combination of each, it's hard to diagnose some things without being around the process and knowing all the details. Even then some things slip under the radar. And mostly it's human error.

So most information will be a guess, going by a combination of the most likely scenarios of this happening, without the much needed data that comes from knowing the complete process, throughout the whole process.

In other words I can only guess.

By this amount of time of mlf, I would want to know where I was at, to keep worse things from entering the picture. There's always something waiting around the corner to ruin the process.

 

[gbartolini]

i often wonder if the residue from the SO2 I use to sanitize the carboy has an affect on the mlf...

 

[Johnd]

Hello,

I am wondering why my malolactic fermentation started out strong, but I racked a week after I pressed to get it off the gross lees and then the malo became sluggish. Its been about 3 months and there is still very slow activity in my wine as I can see my airlock. I can also see very very tiny bubbles around the rim of the wine. I want to SO2 my wine and bulk age, but I don't want to do it until activity has fully stopped.

I dont have the pH and TA in front of me, but they were within the normal range for a red wine. Also, wine is stored at about 72 degrees ambient temp. What is taking so long??

Thanks

It is possible that the bacteria had settled to the bottom, in the lees, and you left some behind when you racked off of the lees. I stir my wines under MLF a time or two a week to assist in keeping the bacteria suspended and working.

Of course, if you stir before you rack, racking does no good. Consider modifying your timing just a bit. After you press your grapes and move your wine into a different vessel to complete AF, let it sit for a couple of days or so for the lees to settle out a bit, then rack and add your nutrients and MLB. You've left the heavy lees behind, and will still have some AF going on, but should be just fine on those lees until MLF is completed.

 

[gbartolini]

oh ok..interesting. Thanks for the responses. I haven't been stirring the lees. I'll have to start doing that. Maybe that is the reason my mlf's take so long.

 

[Tnuscan]

i often wonder if the residue from the SO2 I use to sanitize the carboy has an affect on the mlf...

Affect ??...Yes.. When I sanitize I rinse the vessel out with distilled water. I leave no residue of sanitizer. I think sanitizer/sterilizer in a small/ large enough quantity will stun yeast and completely destroy/eliminate bacteria.

Of course I'm no expert but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

 

[gbartolini]

good to know. I'll have to try that out. In anything I've ever read or watched regarding sanitizing they say just to let it air dry.

 

[Johnd]

oh ok..interesting. Thanks for the responses. I haven't been stirring the lees. I'll have to start doing that. Maybe that is the reason my mlf's take so long.

Don't feel bad, I've got a Zin that's been in MLF for almost 3 months, sometimes it's just slow. I've got everything in the good ranges, fresh MLB (VP41), used Acti-ML to rehydrate, OptiML nutrients, but it's just creeping along. I've noticed slight changes in the chromo, as well as the taste, but it's just slow. I just started MLF on two batches of Chilean wines, and went ahead and split the concoction three ways (it was good for 60 gallons) and inoculated it again with some fresh nutrients, we'll see what happens..............

 

[TimK]

We started our Malbec's and petite Sirah's MF at the end of March and they have crept along as well and only looks a little more then half done. A lot of what we read said up to 12 weeks is possible but ours is at 16 weeks right now. Ph is good and it is tasting good, just slow. We actually are on the same page as johnd, just got done will ferm on our Chilean grapes and ready for Malo. We had extra bacteria so we reintroduced bacteria in the Malbec and PS.