Saturday, December 10, 2016
Friday, December 9, 2016
2016 Chardonnay, day 70: Malo?!
It's turned sharply colder here in new Amsterdam, the heat's been on in the house every morning and on and off through the day, the cellar (with furnace) is hanging around 69/70 F. Mornings are 5 degrees cooler upstairs.
Not much has been happening with the wine, but this evening I decided to get down on my knees to see if any potassium bitartrate crystals were forming as they have in the last few years. (See particularly the picture in the December 1 post from 2013.) Nope, no crystals, but... two of the 4 five gallon carboys have become active again! I'm hoping it's malolactic fermentation kicking in on its own and not a dead mouse or something worse. Not popping the bubblers, but steady streams of gas.
Will keep a careful watch to see if the others join them. If they don't, we'll try to keep them separate at the next racking.
Not much has been happening with the wine, but this evening I decided to get down on my knees to see if any potassium bitartrate crystals were forming as they have in the last few years. (See particularly the picture in the December 1 post from 2013.) Nope, no crystals, but... two of the 4 five gallon carboys have become active again! I'm hoping it's malolactic fermentation kicking in on its own and not a dead mouse or something worse. Not popping the bubblers, but steady streams of gas.
Will keep a careful watch to see if the others join them. If they don't, we'll try to keep them separate at the next racking.
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