Chardonnay

I usually leave the must for at least a day (iced down) before pressing. I also use pectic enzyme at crush and no SO2 until ML is finished.

Following pressing, the juice is kept cold and allowed to settle for a day before racking off the clearest juice. The remainder is kept chilled and allowed to settle further. With patience you can get a very high yield of very clean juice.

I inoculate pretty heavily with CY3079 or VL2 and add nutrient and vitamins. Once that gets started I add the ML culture, leuco-food and leuco-vit. Running the fermentation and ML concurrently seems to help jumpstart the ML - perhaps by taking advantage of the temperature spike of the primary. I like to get ML over with as soon as possible so I can get SO2 in there and breathe easier.

Tom S

Tom,

When you say "kept cool" what temp is that?

I plan on doing more chardonnay this year, but plan on fermenting in my temp controlled freezer.

I was planning on 55° F

After it is done with the primary do you let it warm up for the malo?

When you say "kept cool" what temp is that?

Probably 50°F or so. Maybe a little lower.

I plan on doing more chardonnay this year, but plan on fermenting in my temp controlled freezer.

I was planning on 55° F

After it is done with the primary do you let it warm up for the malo?

No need to. In barrel, the fermentation warms the juice/wine, and ML is already going. Toward the end of fermentation I crank the cellar temperature up closer to 68°F or so and let the ML finish.

I don't know how that'll translate to fermenting in a keg or carboy in a freezer. You might want to dial in ~60°F to begin with and bring it up after fermentation peaks. Just a guess...

Tom S