Hi,
I've been reading here and other sites/books, but I don't see the answer for my particular question. This is our first harvest year, of very small batches, and we pressed this morning, after acheiving 0 Brix, and stable hydrometry reading at 1 for the past 2 days (pH 3.2-3.4).
We have glass carboys ready for the different grape types, but.... Airlock on the plug or no? I think yes, but I thought I'd run it by the more experienced.
Cheers!
Saxon
Air lock can't hurt.
Excellent, thanks. We put the airlock on, and will leave it.
S
I would airlock it too, MLF isn't looking for oxygen but that wine sure is. If your pH is at 3.2 you are on the edge of too sharp an acid but should be OK. Just don't sulfite now and top most of the way up to keep the oxygen exposure lower, wait until your MLF completes.
Joe
Thanks, Joe.
We have a small vineyard, and after many trials and tribulations and much learning about the growing process, we actually had a harvest this year- not much, but something!
So, while we've done kits before, when it's your own grapes, the pressure's on to reap something from the efforts. I've done some research about diacetly levels in semi-aerobic and anerobic conditions, and I figure that lots of O2 was introduced in the decanting to the carboy, plenty for a semiaerobic state. We will start monitoring the pH next week, keeping it tightly closed for the first 3 weeks, as we know the MLF will take a bit to get going.
Thanks everyone for your posts, I'm learning a LOT.
Saxon
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