Stuck MLF in Chardonnay

[byrondahl]

Two different Chardonnays made from grapes. Fermentation went well in early October. ph's 3,3 & 3.4. Have not added any Meta, other than 50 ppm at crush. used MBR Alpha in one Chard and Bacchus in the other. Supplemented bacteria with Acti ML. Stirred twice weekly. Checked progress with chromotography kit. Temps kept at 65 degrees. MLF seemed stuck at about halfway through after 8 weeks. Added another dose of Acti-ML. Waited another three weeks, no change. Added MBR Beta with another dose of Acti- ML. Two weeks passed, no change. Have tasted the wine and they both taste as if they are done, but chromo tells a different story. All my reds went through ML just fine and finished after about six weeks. Here I am almost four months into ML and scratching my head. I've never had a wine take this long. Thinking of dosing with Meta and calling it done.

 

[ibglowin]

Can you warm it up a bit? Perhaps giving it a good stir and keeping it at ~70 for a couple weeks will help finish it out.

 

[Turock]

The basics of successfully accomplishing an MLF include keeping the temp recommended for the bacteria you're using, but the range is between 68-77 degrees. Alcohol level should be below 13%, PH above 3.4 and free SO2 below 10% and total SO2 below 25 PPM. You also need to use the complete nutrients that the MLB requires.

 

[robie]

I agree with Mike, warm it up. Try about 71F, then go a little higher if it doesn't start in a few days. Since it is not starting, keep the wine level high (topped off). if it starts, just watch the level closely, so you don't overflow. You already have been waiting awhile for it to start; you can't wait forever before you add some Kmeta to protect it.

Maybe there was not a lot of Malic acid in the Chardonnay to start. It only needs MLF if it has lots of malic acid. If the malic acid was relatively low to start, you don't want to continue with the MLF. Eventually, the bacteria will start munching on other things and potentially ruin your wine.

From where did the grapes come?

 

[inaltopistola]

I'm thinking that since you can taste the softness it might be done. Maybe the reagent or mobile phase in your equipment needs replaced?

 

[byrondahl]

Thanks for all the help. The reason I chose the bacteria strains I used was because they can tolerate lower temps (to 60 degrees), ph's to 3.2 and alcohol to 15%. My wine has been kept at least 65 degrees in a temperature controlled garage since October, been very expensive to heat the garage, too. The ph and alcohol levels fall well within the parameters for the bacteria strains I used. The grapes were harvested from the Russian River appellation of Sonoma County and from the Mondavi school at UC Davis. I have used these grapes in the past. The only problem I have had in the past has been a little cloudiness after bottling, even with post ferment hot and cold stabilization, fining and filtering. This year I did some pre-emptive fining pre ferment to help eliminate the problem on the back end. That may be my problem, not enough nutrient. That being said, I did use acti-ml when I initially pitched the MBR Alpha strain in October, a couple of months into ML when nothing was happening and when I pitched the last MBR Beta strain about three weeks ago. All my reds, harvested well after the Chardonnays, finished quickly and were checked with the same chromo developer I used for the Chards. Very frustrating!!