MLF - wine kits

It is probably a step beyond what a beginner needs to do and it can not be rushed. One of the attractions to kits is that wine can be made quickly and safely. MLF would greatly slow the whole thing down.

You can try it but remember that one of the things MLF does is soften a wine by reducing certain acids. If the kit used acid to balance the wine that MLF removes, you may have to rebalance it again when the process finishes.

Ray

The main reason I heard from the kit manifacturer is that they change the acid ratio in favour of malic acid so that the kits don't have to be cold stabilized but still won't produce any bitartrate. The wine ends up with a much larger proportion of malic acid than ripe juice, and the acidity is supposed to be balanced, so MLF on kits would produce a really flabby wine.

Pp

Thanks Pp. That supports what I suspected but I did not have the data to support it.

Ray

Guys, I don't do much in the way of MLF but I'm pretty sure there are issues with trying MLF on wines adjusted with malic acid. I'm not a chemist but I seem to recall the D isomer being the one that MLF affects unpredictably; if a kit were adjusted with it it may not respond predictably.

My understanding was the issue is that the artificial malic acid we can get contains 2 isomers and only one of these can be consumed by the ML bacteria, so the MLF will only be partial and the results can't be determined by chromatography. This would also apply to acid blends that contain malic acid.

Pp

Crhoff,

I recalled seeing an answer to your question from one of the kit manufacturers, but I was unable to find it in the archives or on their web sites. So I posed the question to the good people at Winexpert:

I would like to inquire about MLF and your wine kits, either red or whites of an appropriate style for MLF. I checked through your FAQ but saw no mention of MLF. Do the kits contain MLB? If they do not, would the addition of MLB at the appropriate time improve the kits of varietals for which MLF is commonly performed? I appreciate your time and reply.

Regards, Ken Taborek

And the reply was:

"Hello Ken,

Thank you for your contact and for using our products. The addition of a malolactic bacteria to wine kits should not be attempted. This is due to the fact that most juices are tartrate-stabilized prior to concentrating or blending, and thus contain a very high proportion of malic acid. Malolactic fermentation would convert this malic acid to lactic, leaving a kit with very little acid, and a pH above 3.8, leaving it flabby, soft, and very susceptible to bacterial infections. Also, there are some situations where a very small amount of sorbate may be present in juices or concentrates. Malolactic fermentation in the presence of sorbate yields hexadienol, otherwise known as geraniol, which produces the strong and disagreeable odor of rotting geraniums. As malolactic fermentation is generally induced to achieve either a buttery character, or to increase the softness of the wine, we replicate these effects in the kit by blending less harsh concentrates, and using special types and amounts of oak to give a butter/diacetyl character.

Cheers,

Linda Kazakoff Customer Service Winexpert Inc.

With thanks to Linda from Winexpert, I hope this helps!

Cheers, Ken Taborek