"LG1111" > wrote in message
...
> For the first season, I've been able to conduct really successful MLFs. I
> found that the "trick" was to use the powdered Chris Hansen ML bacteria,
use a
> healthy dose of ML nutrient, and do it at a 78-80 degree temperature.
Now,
> after about 6-8 weeks, a ML chromatogram shows no malic acid spots, but
there
> are still occasional tiny bubbles in the carboy. The wines haven't been
> sulfited yet.
>
> Should I expect the bubbles to COMPLETELY stop? I suspect that this won't
> happen, and I'm anxious to do a final racking and add some sulfite. So
that's
> my first question: Do I have to wait for the MLF to COMPLETELY stop? Or
will
> the sulfite do the job, or should I resort to lysozyme?
>
> Secondly, I have a couple other batches of wine in various stages of their
> primary fermentations or completely finished which were never innoculated
with
> ML and which were sulfited from the beginning. Just for the heck of it, I
ran
> a chromatogram on those as well and while they have very obvious malic
acid
> spots, they also have pretty prominent lactic acid spots. Does this mean
that
> I have incomplete ML fermentations on those, or does lactic acid occur
> naturally?
>
> Thanks, as always.
>
> Lee

Lee,
Wine contains little lactic acid before MLF. But, the yeast produces small
amounts of succinic acid during fermentation. On a chromatogram, the
succinic acid spots and the lactic acid spots are superimposed, so all wines
show a lactic/succinic acid spot before MLF.
Lum
Del Mar, California, USA