No Malic Acid

[Jonathan Silberlicht]

I should be happy about it, but 2 days after inoculating my Cab Sauv with VP41 I do not see any more malic acid in the chromatography test. Is it really possible that the acids are converted so fast? The yellow dots are quite clearly in the lactic and tartaric acid camp and nothing visible for malic.

While punching down the grapes I was using the same punch down tool between multiple fermenters, 2 of which were already undergoing MLF. Is it possible I inadvertently inoculated the Cab Sauv early in AF due to pulling some ML bacteria from one fermenter to another? All wine was from fresh grapes btw.

Thanks,

 

[stickman]

It wouldn't be normal to complete ML in 2 days, as you suspect, it is very possible to transfer bacteria from the punch tool from one vat to another, other factors may include things like low initial malic acid, or problems with the chromatogram; you may want to run a retest, including a malic standard if you didn't the first time.

 

[mainshipfred]

Some yeasts help reduce the malic during AF although I never had one finish during that time. The punch down theory is possible but again MLF is a timely process. I usually don't take my first reading until 3-4 weeks. Please don't take this the wrong way, the malic is in the middle and lactic on the top right?

 

[Jonathan Silberlicht]

Yes, malic is in the middle. I only tested it as I was validating my other wine had completed. It was a great surprise to see that this one had somehow completed as well. I am going to rerun the test tonight just to make sure it wasn't user error in the testing.

 

[Ajmassa]

How long ago was the initial ML inoculation to the other wines in comparison to the ML added to this wine 2 days ago?

 

[Jonathan Silberlicht]

The other wine I was referring to was a merlot that was started 2 weeks prior and it was co-inoculated. When I started this cab the Merlot was just finishing AF.