Sorbate and Malolactic Fermentation

[kirbyclk]

Any help on this topic would be greatly appreciated. Here is the scenario....

On October 17, 2010 I started a 5 gallon batch of Concord Grape using Welch's 100% Frozen Concentrate. I had all of the ingredients I needed EXCEPT for potassium metabisulfite. I also did not have any Campden tablets, therefore the must was NOT sulfited before fermentation in the primary. I did make sure that everything was sanitized very well.

The fermentation went as expected. I transferred to the secondary on October 25 where it sat until November 10. From November 5 - 10 the SG read .992 so I assumed the fermentation was completed. There were however a few bubbles still rising to the top of the carboy. I assumed this was residual CO2 escaping. I then racked the wine, degassed, and added 5 crushed campden tablets and 2.5 tsp of sorbate to stabilze. Now it is sitting with the bung and airlock so that it can age and clear.

After doing a lot of research on MLF, I am now worried that I added sorbate to a wine that was undergoing MLF.

1. Do you think the bubbles I saw before racking were residual CO2 or actually from MLF?

2. Would Welch's 100% frozen grape contain malolactic bacteria to even start a MLF?

3. Am I just being paranoid!?

I am hoping the wine turns out with a nice grape flavor instead of geraniums!

For a more detailed process on this batch of wine, you can see my blog at
ckirby.com/wine

Thank you!

 

[djrockinsteve]

Kirby I would guess that you were witnessing CO2 escaping from the wine. Did you degass? I'm sure your wine will turn out fine.

 

[kirbyclk]

thanks for the fast reply! I am new to this forum and I wish I would have joined YEARS ago. It is such a great community.

To answer your question, yes, I did degass before I added the campden tablets and the sorbate.

 

[mmadmikes1]

Kirky, I have never sulfited a batch of welches concord grape and every one has been fine. Degass the wine and it will clear faster

 

[kirbyclk]

did you not sulfite the welch's because it already contained sulfites? if so, do you think I over sulfited it by adding 5 campden tabs at the end? did you not add any at all throughout the entire process?

 

[mmadmikes1]

ok I gooffed I don't sulfite at beginning, I alway use K-Meta at end. Bad me

 

[Wade E]

As Mike was saying, processed juices do not need sulfites added in the beginning as any wild yeast was killed off during this processing. If it was going through MLF which I highly doubt but anything is possible I still dont think you have much to worry about as its was only doing so for about 5 days or so before you sulfited and killed the bacteria. That little time is very negligible.

 

[kirbyclk]

thanks again guys for responding so fast. as i said before, this forum is awesome and I wish I would have stumbled upon it much sooner! maybe some of my earlier batches would have turned out better with the help of you all.