Malolactic fermentation

[Julie]

Going into the corner early today eh..........

I think he is on a roll, he started getting into trouble last night and apparenty he is still going strong.

 

[Julie]

Mike & Julie,
....
Julie, did you go to fat jimmies yet?

Daryl

No Daryl, haven't had the chance yet but did tell my husband we need to head up there.

 

[Flem]

Going to start my Carmenere juice bucket very soon. I am planning to put raisins in the primary and put it through malolactic fermentation (after primary). I know not to add sufites before the malolactic fermentation but I have a question about topping off. The bucket is six gallons. I know from experience that a six gallon bucket or kit will not fill a 6 gallon carboy even after settling out the lees. Not wanting to rack to a 5 gallon carboy and save the balance for future use unless I absolutely have to, will the little bit of sulfites in a commercial bottle of carmenere affect the malolactic fermentation process?? Thanks!

 

[Tom]

Mike,
do primary in a bucket (lay lid on top). Let it go dry and rack to 6 gal carboy. You should not have much over. Put that in a 750ml or 1.5ltr. Add MLF to carboy and let it sit W/O meta for 2-3 months. Then rack and add mets.

 

[ibglowin]

Not as long as the overall SO2 level is below what the MLB can withstand. It varies by culture.

May I ask why you would want to put raisins in with Carmenere? The flavor profile just does not go together IMHO. You would be better off with a CC Cab Sauv Grape Pack or just adding in some Tancor Grand Cru down the road if you need more mouthfeel, etc.

 

[Runningwolf]

Mike,
do primary in a bucket (lay lid on top). Let it go dry and rack to 6 gal carboy. You should not have much over. Put that in a 750ml or 1.5ltr. Add MLF to carboy and let it sit W/O meta for 2-3 months. Then rack and add mets.

Tom you got me confused. He has a 6 gallon bucket of juice he will ferment out of. The question is when he transfers to a carboy to do the mlf he'll fall short in the Italian carboy. Can he use a comercial wine to top up with at that point or will the possibility of it having sorbate in it effect it. This is also the same question I had.

 

[grapeman]

If the bottle of commercial wine has 60 ppm sulfite and you add it to a 30 bottle carboy, you are only raising the sulfite levels 2 ppm. This is not enough to inhibit mlb so the mlf will occur.

 

[Runningwolf]

Rich, what about the Sorbate in the commercial wine. Will that have any effect?

 

[Flem]

Not as long as the overall SO2 level is below what the MLB can withstand. It varies by culture.

May I ask why you would want to put raisins in with Carmenere? The flavor profile just does not go together IMHO. You would be better off with a CC Cab Sauv Grape Pack or just adding in some Tancor Grand Cru down the road if you need more mouthfeel, etc.

I believe one of the mods suggested using raisins. I wanted to use a Cab Sauv grape pack but George didn't have them and didn't know when they were coming in. I asked the forum for other sources but came up empty.

 

[grapeman]

Most commercial wines are made without the use of sorbate so that shouldn't be a problem. If it is a red, chances are very high that no sorbate was used, so no problem.

 

[Runningwolf]

Most commercial wines are made without the use of sorbate so that shouldn't be a problem. If it is a red, chances are very high that no sorbate was used, so no problem.

Ok so one more question Rich. I have two carboys going through mlf. If I need to top them up later, would I be able to use my own wine that I did add sorbate too?

 

[grapeman]

I would not risk it using any wine that was treated with sorbate. I am not sure at what level it could affect the wine adversely. Not worth the risk in my opinion.

 

[ibglowin]

That sounds like sound advice!

 

[Runningwolf]

Thanks thats what I needed to hear.

 

[Flem]

Does anyone else have any thoughts as to whether or not I should add rasins to the primary for the Carmenere juice bucket. I believe a couple of guys on the FVW forum thought it might be a good idea. I can't get Cab grape skins.

 

[Wade E]

I dont do juices, I have had not so good results with them myself. Just dont feel the quality is there.

 

[Runningwolf]

Mike I have not used them before but Tom does. I think folks are split on using them. If its just for mouth feel you can always get this by adding glycerine later on after fermentation if you think it needs it. Julie adds corn syrup sometimes for the same reason if she is going to sweeten it also.

 

[ibglowin]

IMHO any grape pack would be better than raisins on this juice. FVW has Cab Sauv and Syrah grape packs. Looks like they are out of Cab Sauv ATM (back in stock late next week). But a Syrah with its pepper spice (Carmenere has a nice spice itself) would be 10x better than raisins. Raisins should only be used for Italian varietals IMHO. You will end up with a hint of raisin trust me.

Does anyone else have any thoughts as to whether or not I should add rasins to the primary for the Carmenere juice bucket. I believe a couple of guys on the FVW forum thought it might be a good idea. I can't get Cab grape skins.