Jah, can you believe it? Lori and I pressed today, at 0.3 Brix! Three weeks of primary fermentation - something we'd never seen anything like before.
20 gallons - 15 of it free run (5+5+5) and the last 5 mixed about 2 free and three pressed.
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| Lori feeding the press |
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| The Merlot carboys |
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| Happy family! |
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| Cake. Or, as the Russian couple who took over Aiello's and about whom the old guys at Rainbow used to say "They're restaurant people! They have no business in retail!", "Kek!" |
Do we add MLF bugs tonight? I think we need to do that, and try to keep the cb's warmer than the cellar, or throw in the malolactic towel and add meta.
Re Enoferm Beta, from its own fact sheet:
• Acclimatised to tolerate high levels of SO2: maximum 50 – 60 ppm total SO2
I take that t mean we can at least get a moderate t low dose of SO2 in there, for both the Merlot and the Cab Franc, and still go forward with MLF. And the temperature range seems fore forgiving than a lot of what I read:
• Good tolerance to low temperatures: minimum 14°C (57°F)
Though more general pieces indicate:
Red wines: have an optimum temperature for a favourable MLF of around 70º F (20º C), which is cool enough to limit alcohol toxicity and yet warm enough to maintain full activity.
...
Note that if the temperature of the wine will be falling colder than the recommended range before the MLF has finished (for example: it is not temperature controlled and the cellar temperature drops during the winter), it is important that the ML bacteria has a chance to at least establish itself as the dominant strain in the wine at the recommended temperatures before the wine gets cold. In other words, having one or two weeks at 70º F and then having the temperature slowly drop is better than trying to get the MLF under way at 57º–60ºF right from the start.
Let's see what sort of warmer cave we can build for the reds under MLF.
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