Next step: MLF?
 

I am still playing around with a batch of blackberry I made a few
months ago. I checked, and it has a post-ferment TA of about 1.4%.
Pretty nasty stuff!

I did try an experiment. I removed about 750ml of wine and put into a
bottle. I added some cream of tartar, capped it, and put the
resulting brew in the fridge. A few weeks later, there is do
discernable precipitate in the bottle.

If I can't cold stabilize in a freezer, is my next step to try MLF on
the wine? According to Jack Kellar's web site, blackberries are
mostly malic acid. If I do MLF on 2/3 of my current supply and then
mix back in the 1/3 when MLF is done, then I should have a TA of about
..46, well within what country wines should be.

Can I start a natural MLF, or do I need to get a culture from a wine
shop? Are there any national brands that have a live culture in them
that I could use (like making homemade yogurt)?

On another note, I should have adjusted my TA pre-ferment. With a TA
of 1.4, what would have been the best way to do this? Adding a
bicarbonate is only recommended to adjust by about .3% What about
stepping up a notch and adding a strong solution of potassium
hydroxide to neutralize the acid?

If I could get some really concentrated KOH, then I could do this on
my wine right now. Right now all I can get is 10%, so I would need to
add about the same volume of base to my wine, so the volume would
almost double.

Thanks!

Alex.

Next step: MLF?
 

"Alex Brewer" > wrote in message
om...
> I am still playing around with a batch of blackberry I made a few
> months ago. I checked, and it has a post-ferment TA of about 1.4%.
> Pretty nasty stuff!

ML won't get you far enough in the direction you need to go. You need to
hit this wine with potassium carbonate, then chill it to drop out the excess
potassium. I'd hit it pretty hard. Drop the TA by about 0.5 or so, at
least. Then cold stabilize and repeat as necessary. Try it on a small
sample first, then if you like the result scale it up for the whole batch.

Tom S

Next step: MLF?
 

Watch out with strong acid and bases, their effects are extremely strong!

Do what Tom suggests, and if it still seems acid try a MLF, but go by taste
as well as an analytical target

Rob L
"Tom S" > wrote in message
. ..
>
> "Alex Brewer" > wrote in message
> om...
> > I am still playing around with a batch of blackberry I made a few
> > months ago. I checked, and it has a post-ferment TA of about 1.4%.
> > Pretty nasty stuff!
>
> ML won't get you far enough in the direction you need to go. You need to
> hit this wine with potassium carbonate, then chill it to drop out the
excess
> potassium. I'd hit it pretty hard. Drop the TA by about 0.5 or so, at
> least. Then cold stabilize and repeat as necessary. Try it on a small
> sample first, then if you like the result scale it up for the whole batch.
>
> Tom S
>
>