Hi,
I started a MM Ren Pinot Noir kit 6 months ago (June 3rd to be exact). It fermented completely to a SG of .990 in a bit over two-weeks. At that point I took a taste and felt that the wine would be too tart and acidic for my liking and decided to experiment with MLF. So I left the wine on the gross lees, added MLF nutrient and inoculated with Wyeast liquid malolactic culture. The MLF seemed to take hold nicely, but after another two-weeks I started getting some rotten eggs smells. I immediately racked off the lees twice, both times running the wine through a copper scrubbing pad and splashing to introduce oxygen. While this took care of the volatile sulfur compounds, I was concerned about that the aggressive racking/splashing leading to oxidation and decided to trade the MLF for the safety of SO2 and added 5g of K-Meta. At that point I basically assumed MLF was over, never to happen again.
The wine's been bulk aging, more or less untouched since then (I did add some oak cubes, tannin, and sur-lie, but no further k-meta or racking) and I haven't really been watching it too carefully.
Well, last night I ran a free SO2 test on another batch that was ready to bottle (a WinExpert French Cab) and decided to test the SO2 in that Pinot Noir as well. Turns out the free SO2 in the Pinot is down to 8ppm. Interestingly, I got lazy, left the carboy in my dinning room and, to my surprise, I noticed a bubble pop through the airlock while eating breakfast. I've had my eye on the carboy all day and it has continued to bubble slowly all day (maybe one bubble every 5-10 minutes). The wine seems fully de-gassed and I don't think this is due to temp increase since my dinning room is the coldest room in my apartment.
So, now I'm wondering if the free-SO2 has declined enough over the past 5 months for the MLF to have restarted?! Any thoughts? (and, no, I don't have a chromatography kit )
Thanks!
I started a MM Ren Pinot Noir kit 6 months ago (June 3rd to be exact). It fermented completely to a SG of .990 in a bit over two-weeks. At that point I took a taste and felt that the wine would be too tart and acidic for my liking and decided to experiment with MLF. So I left the wine on the gross lees, added MLF nutrient and inoculated with Wyeast liquid malolactic culture. The MLF seemed to take hold nicely, but after another two-weeks I started getting some rotten eggs smells. I immediately racked off the lees twice, both times running the wine through a copper scrubbing pad and splashing to introduce oxygen. While this took care of the volatile sulfur compounds, I was concerned about that the aggressive racking/splashing leading to oxidation and decided to trade the MLF for the safety of SO2 and added 5g of K-Meta. At that point I basically assumed MLF was over, never to happen again.
The wine's been bulk aging, more or less untouched since then (I did add some oak cubes, tannin, and sur-lie, but no further k-meta or racking) and I haven't really been watching it too carefully.
Well, last night I ran a free SO2 test on another batch that was ready to bottle (a WinExpert French Cab) and decided to test the SO2 in that Pinot Noir as well. Turns out the free SO2 in the Pinot is down to 8ppm. Interestingly, I got lazy, left the carboy in my dinning room and, to my surprise, I noticed a bubble pop through the airlock while eating breakfast. I've had my eye on the carboy all day and it has continued to bubble slowly all day (maybe one bubble every 5-10 minutes). The wine seems fully de-gassed and I don't think this is due to temp increase since my dinning room is the coldest room in my apartment.
So, now I'm wondering if the free-SO2 has declined enough over the past 5 months for the MLF to have restarted?! Any thoughts? (and, no, I don't have a chromatography kit )
Thanks!
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