What is malo-lactic fermentation and how do you get it?
Interesting. This might have been the culprit behind my exploding glass bottles.
Question, how do I control MLF in cider? Do I have to add bacteria or would letting the cider sit in secondary be fine?
Thanks in advance
If you didn't sulfite it, it might undergo MLF in the bottles. If that happens, the bottles will blow.
Yooper, the amount of co2 produced is fairly small compared to what you get from priming sugar. If you already had a high level of carbonation it might push it over the edge, but its unlikely.
When cider or wine is in 5 or 10 gal containers the amount of co2 produced is quite noticeable, and useful for blanketing and keeping out oxygen, because the liquid is usually already saturated with co2 when the MLF starts. CO2 produced by MLF in a bottle is enough to give it that sour carbonic acid taste and spoil your wine, but otherwise not very significant.
CO2 produced by MLF in a bottle is enough to give it that sour carbonic acid taste and spoil your wine, but otherwise not very significant.
this suggests that carbonation always imparts a sour carbonic acid taste,
perhaps a better example is carbonated vs. flat mineral water- there i really taste the sourness when it's fizzy. to me beer tastes so different flat (or 'english' as we call it) vs carbonated, in so many ways, that i just can't believe it can be all down to the carbonic acid. i am guessing the fizzyness must get flavor molecules into places they don't get when it is flat, and the bubbles on the tongue certainly alter flavor perception. ??
but anyways i digress, i am still wondering about this cider i have bottled and potentially undergoing MLF. it has been bottled since the beginning of december, no bombs. if the worst that is likely to happen is that i get a bit of extra CO2 which gives a bit of fizzyness and a little carbonic acid sourness then i'm happy. but... can you pick up any off flavors from MLF in a confined space? now it sounds like a communicable disease
i will open one for the first time just to check the progress. it was so tart at bottling that i should know straight away if it 'malo-ed'
and i do like english cask ales (when they are fresh), i just also like to make fun of the way english people like english cask ales...
So I just pit on a batch from pasteurized apple juice. How should I go about encouraging malo-lactic fermentation then?
CidahMastah said:For pastuerized juice - you would need to buy a culture (LHBS) or online. Past. kills the naturally occuring malo yeast.
There is a lot of misinformation on this thread. Here are a few key points from personal experience and factual printings:
1. It will not naturally occur in a pasterized cider (only fresh pressed).
2. It can be supressed by sulphites, but can beat them out too (have had several ciders start malo with a 90PPM installment of kmeta).
3. Malolactic acid doesn't increase the acidic flavor in a cider, it reduces it. It gives a buttery flavor similar to a chardonnay or pinot gris (im my opinion improves the cider).
4. Allowing it to occur makes for a more stable, less acidic tasting more full bodied cider.
5. It can occur simaltaneously with your regular fermentation, depending on your yeast strain.
6. If you bottle your cider and it starts on its own (storage of the bottles above 50F is risky), expect funky tasting cider and/or broken bottles. The off flavors are less about carbonic acid, ,pre about more about funky gases produced by the fermentation. As with regular fermntations, under airlock, these fgasses dissipate. Locked in your corked bottle, they stay in solution = funky wine.
7. All of the wild malolactic fermentations I have had occur (usually 80% of my cider yield) is a good thing. Never had a bad malo ferment to date (never bought a culture - they were all naturally occuring).
8. Malo ferments can occur from 50F+, but prefer an ideal ferment temp of 63-66F (they occur at higher temps as well, but produce more esters, which I tend to not prefer - the former range is my preferance based on my results).
9. Malo ferments are predictable, and don't start and stop with teh seasons. The reason they start is proper temp, if the temp dips low, they slow or stop. In my cider cellar, I have constant temps, and the malo ferments start like clock work after the initial ferments. This is why I never bottle anything until 3-6 months. It sits in bulk aging vessels under airlock until the coast is clear.
10. Malo ferments tend to be slow burners. That is, they usually take a month or two to wrap up.
To mitigate it, you can always cold store your cider at 45F or less.
You may or may not like the taste - but I don't know what you like, I would expect that you would enjoy it if you like white wines like those described.
1- MLF can occur in any cider - as soon as cider is exposed to air there is a chance of contamination. Pasteurisation is only good until you open the container.
2- Wild MLF is extremely unlikely with a well sulfited cider, but I am talking about free not total so2. If the so2 has been bound by fermentation or oxidation, then MLF can occur in the presence of sulfite.
3- I was referring to the acidity from dissolved co2 which forms carbonic acid, a well documented phenomenon which I shouldn't have to explain.
4- "expect funky tasting cider and/or broken bottles. The off flavors are less about carbonic acid, ,pre about more about funky gases produced by the fermentation"
As I said, not enough co2 to cause broken bottles, you must have had residual sugar. As for "funky gases", this is a pretty weird concept, not one I have ever heard of.
7- " Never had a bad malo ferment to date (never bought a culture - they were all naturally occuring)."
This may be your experience and wild MLF is usually ok but it is definitely possible to get a bad wild MLF, and this is why wineries spend a lot of money on cultured MLF, though you seem to know more about MLF than any winemaker I have met.
8- You will not get MLF at 50F, the recommended temp is 20C - 68F.
I suggest to anyone not sure who to believe about this, do some research of your own. MLF is important to cider and you need a good understanding of the process.
hi i just tried my first bottle from this batch, it tastes like it has definitely MLFed, the face puckering sourness has subsided and it is now smooth at the finish. which suggests it had mlf in the bottle since it went into the bottles sharp as anything. but they are only a tiny bit carbed (as planned) and there is nothing i would consider an off flavor. nothing garbagey, farty, nothing sour in the smell. in fact it is delicious. still tart at the onset, light and refreshing in the middle, and then really smooth and almost a hint of caramel at the finish, and it stays appley on the palate after each sip.
het gaat pissen als een twee piemelig hond op een platte steen!!
You can't reliably tell if MLF is happening just from some bubbles. It might be MLF or, a bit of residual sugar, or just some dissolved co2 coming out of solution. Do you do any pH testing? What is your average rise in pH or drop in TA from the start of fermentation to bottling?
Well I would pitch it right away
Actually you can. If your gravity reads at .098, there is no sugar left. So reliably I know by continuation of the bubbles, and from the taste, with no residual sugars.... I PH test at bottling, to ensure I am in a good range for long shelf life. I like to be at 3.3-3.5 for bottling.
give it a rest, you are continuing this round robin making yourself look more foolish.
It says it takes 1-3 months to finish, but didn't tell Me how I could tell it was done.
Thanks, I did manage to find a store That had 1 pouch by wyeast. Little more then I had hoped to spend on it but thats ok it will really add to the flavor of my apple pie cider Based on the instructions on the pack i should just be able to pitch it in. It says it takes 1-3 months to finish, but didn't tell Me how I could tell it was done. Thanks for responding to me though, I post here to gain knowledge from others experience and try to share mine.
Gotcha, well my temp in my cold room sits there about 66F or so. I had planed to let this age for a long time because I want to carb it and pasteurize it after for a sweet finish. Do you rack it to a secondary then? Or should I leave it in primary till the MLF is done?
Enter your email address to join: