MLF with VP41- dosage

[Vinoors]

Hi-

I’ll be attempting MLF for the first time. I have VP41, acti malo, and malo plus. All the ingredients I have are suited for 66 gallons of wine, but I have about 28.5 gallons currently. Should I just use half the ingredients or would I have higher chance of success if I used all of the ingredients? I had the sulfite in my airlock sucked into my demijohn because of not enough headspace. Literally caught it as it was happening.

 

[Johnd]

Hi-

I’ll be attempting MLF for the first time. I have VP41, acti malo, and malo plus. All the ingredients I have are suited for 66 gallons of wine, but I have about 28.5 gallons currently. Should I just use half the ingredients or would I have higher chance of success if I used all of the ingredients? I had the sulfite in my airlock sucked into my demijohn because of not enough headspace. Literally caught it as it was happening.

Probably not enough sulfite to cause an issue, plus it will dissipate with a little time.

As far as the dosage, the package says to use it all once opened, though I know some folks here have successfully re-sealed and re-used their MLB during the same season. I don't know how it would fare for a year.

Starting off with the whole package / ingredients means that you'll start off with a larger colony, which just means it'll finish off quicker. Similar to our wine yeast, the MLB will continue to multiply as it does its work, you'll start off ahead of the curve, you can't really use too much, I've used a pack of VP41 on smaller quantities with no issues. Were it me, and I didn't have any other wine to do this year, I'd use the whole batch of MLB and Acti-ML, and apply nutrients in accordance with the volume of wine.