2019 Fermentation

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Published: Saturday, 16 January 2021 11:33

Written by David DeCiero

Once the yeast had been added, I settled into the standard process of twice daily punchdowns and daily measurements.  Once I had reached the 1/3 sugar depletion (around 1.060), I added 12 g of Fermaid K, which had been rehydrated in distilled water.  The process was fairly slow and after 12 days, it had finally reached .998.  After those 12 days, I used my press to press out all of the wine from the seeds and skins.  I ended up with 17 gallons of wine.  Of course, there was quite a bit of sediment in this.  I always leave this while I run MLF, since I find I get better compaction and can rack off later.  The final gravity was .998 and the pH was 3.32.  

I added Opti-Malo to the wine and then rehydrated my favorite ML bacteria, VP-41).  Once I had added those to the wine, I stirred it all together and let it sit.  I stir daily after this for 3 weeks, before I run a MLF chromotography test.  This test came back indicating that it was complete as shown below.  I added 50 ppm to each carboy.