Which wines should get malolactic fermentation?
Generally, only wines made from grapes get malolactic treatment. There are two reasons for this, the first being that the bacteria needs a small amount of grape pulp and solids to get a foothold in the wine. Second, it is only really the top quality wines that merit malolactic treatment, and these are most often sold in the form of grapes.
Wines made from concentrate are generally unsuitable for malolactic treatment. Not only are the acidity levels usually balanced toward the low side for early drinking, the levels of solids in concentrate are virtually nil. In addition, some concentrates may have small amounts of sorbate in them, causing geraniol problems.

The treatment criteria for wines are as follows:
The wine should be one where complexity is desired over fruitiness. ML tends to emphasize fermentation aromas and flavours and reduce the fresh fruity flavours of a wine. If this doesn’t suit your palate, you should reconsider treatment.
The wine must have an alcohol level below 14%. Malolactic bacteria are not especially alcohol tolerant, and a wine with a higher alcohol content will not support it.
The wine must have a pH of 3.3 or greater. If you don’t know what the pH is, it will be necessary to have it tested before attempting malolactic inoculation.
The wine must have some grape pulp or yeast sediment to promote the growth of the bacteria. If it is clear, MLF will be very difficult to start.

What form does the malolactic bacteria come in?
There are two main types of malolactic culture available, refrigerated liquid culture, and freeze dried powder. They are both perfectly good choices for inoculating your grapes. They both have to be kept refrigerated at all times.
They both come with instructions for use, which, while fine for inoculation in a laboratory setting, are somewhat confusing for the home user.

What are some of the dangers of malolactic fermentation?
In addition to transforming malic acid into lactic, leuconostoc oenos also transforms citric acid into acetic acid, which is the acid that gives vinegar it’s distinctive flavour. This usually isn’t a problem, unless the must has been treated with citric acid.
Also, because it reduces fruity flavours, there are few white wines that will benefit from ML, and some reds are best left fruity as well.

Because ML fermentation can cause the pH of the wine to rise, it may make it more susceptible to other forms of bacterial infection. You may need to adjust sulphite levels to compensate.

Partial ML, or ongoing malolactic fermentation in a wine that is to be bottled can cause the wine to carbonate (become fizzy), break the bottle with CO2 pressure, push out the cork, and spoil the flavour. You must be certain that ML is complete and/or arrested before bottling (see below).

How do I go about starting a malolactic fermentation?
Assuming you have purchased good quality grapes, you have tested the acid and pH, and are confident that going through ML will produce a better wine for you, the first step is to obtain a malolactic bacterial culture. These are sold by Wine Cave, and are labeled as ‘Leuconostoc Oenos Bacteria’.
If you are only inoculating 23 litres of wine, you don’t have to make a starter culture with either the freeze dried or liquid cultures. With the liquid culture package, when the grapes are almost finished fermentation (below) simply match the temperature of the package with the temperature of the grapes (it should be 20-25°Celsius) and add it. Within two to three weeks the ML will be well under way, and should be complete within two months.

With the freeze-dried culture it is necessary to make a sterile suspension and rehydrate the bacteria. For two grams of culture, prepare 25 ml of distilled water at 25-30° Celsius in a sanitised cup and sprinkle the culture on top. After 15 minutes, stir with a sanitised spoon and add to your fermenting must. Again it is important that the wort be below 5°Brix, so as not to slow the ML.

If you are inoculating more than 23 litres, you should purchase the culture about two weeks before your wine is nearly fermented dry, to allow time to make a starter culture. Judging the point when your wine will be two weeks away from dryness may seem difficult on first blush, but a good rule of thumb would be to purchase the culture the week before you receive your grapes.

A culture from liquid is prepared thus: obtain 2½ litres of fresh grape juice. Choose a grape juice with less than 15 PPM of SO2, and with less than 20° Brix of sugar content. If you can’t find an available juice with these characteristics, it is possible to change the pH and sugar content of a less suitable juice by either diluting with water or adding a pH adjuster. Ask your retailer for advice. Make sure you use only grape juice: apple juice or grape concentrate is not suitable.

Add about 1 gram of yeast energizer to the juice. This will help speed cell growth. Ensure the juice is between 20-25°C and inoculate with a package of malolactic friendly yeast (Epernay is ideal) and allow to sit for 2 days, and inoculate with liquid malolactic culture and maintain a temperature of 20-25°C.

After 12 days the culture will be ready. 2½ litres is sufficient for 120 litres of wine. If you have more than 120 litres, you can culture up the amount you need by simply adding your starter culture to larger amounts of suitable juice. You will need approximately ½ litre for every 23 litres of wine.

When is malolactic fermentation finished?
If the wine is kept at relatively warm temperatures (above 20°C) the fermentation will be complete within two months. The only way to monitor this is through the use of a malolactic chromatography test kit, if you wish to know that your malolactic fermentation is complete, an accurate test is the only way to find out.

Once you are satisfied that your ML is finished, you can stabilize your wine by adding sulphites to the level of approximately 50 PPM. This will prevent the re-growth of any leuconostoc bacteria, and will prevent oxidation. It is a good idea to test the pH and acidity of your wine at this point as well. Because ML can cause the pH to rise, you may need to adjust it. Space doesn’t permit a full discussion of pH and wine quality, but several winemaking books contain good sections on pH.

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You may be asking yourself, “why do I need all these ingredients?” That’s a good question, and here’s the answer. Each one of these ingredients plays a distinctly different and vital role in both the wine making process and the resulting flavor of the finished wine. Here is a brief description of what these ingredients do.

Yeast Nutrient: This is not yeast, but rather, energy for the yeast. It insures that your yeast will ferment and make alcohol sufficiently.

Yeast Energizer: Used in place of Yeast Nutrient when fermenting fruits that severely lack the nutrients yeast expects to do its job. It is a more extensive array of nutrients than Yeast Nutrient.

Pectic Enzyme: This is added to help break down the fruit so that you can extract more flavor and body from the fruit. It also helps to insure that your wine will clear up successfully.

Acid Blend: This is used to control the sharpness of the wine. Many wines will not have enough acid on their own once the required water is added. This can leave the wine tasting flat.

Wine Tannin: This is the zest of the fruit. It is added to increase the character of the wine and to help aid in its clarification. It also helps the wine to take better advantage of aging while in storage.

Wine Yeast: This is what actually does all the work. It turns all the sugars in the mix into precious alcohol. NOT BAKERS YEAST!

WHY NOT NOT BAKERS YEAST?
The thing with bakers yeast (which is closely related to vintners & brewers yeast) is that it will have a low attenuation (low alcohol producing ability) leaving your wine somewhat short of your goal. It will also leave the wine cloudy. Finally when it goes through autolysis (a horrible yeast death that burst the yeast open when it dies-LOL) it releases bitter vitamins (B) into the wine. The dead yeast must be filtered as it is now food for spoilage organisms.
In contrast a vintners (wine) yeast is much better suited to producing the alcohol and flavors that have become appreciated in wine.

Campden Tablets: These tablets are added before fermentation and again before bottling. They insure that your wine does not spoil and remains fresh tasting up to the point of consumption. Getting these ingredients in the right balance along with the fruit, sugar and water will allow you to produce wines of exceptional character and flavor.

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The Original Carboy Cleaner now available at homebrew4less.com

Dear Fellow Homebrewer,
Like you, I have struggled numerous times cleaning the leftover sediment out of my glass carboys. Getting all of the sediment out without wasting gallons of water was near impossible.
I decided to give the Carboy Cleaner a try. Not only does it save a ton of water and time, it leaves my carboy’s looking brand new after each use! If there is any sediment stuck on the bottom, or the neck of the carboy, it is instantly scrubbed clean by the Carboy Cleaner.
If you are a Home Brewer you know how important it is to make sure all of your equipment is clean and sanitized. the Carboy Cleaner will help make sure each batch of wort turns into a great tasting beer you can enjoy with family and friends.

Finally, a product that really cleans carboys!

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To combat this, I’ve assembled a brewing schedule of sorts to help me have mature beers ready for the right holiday or season.  To keep it simple, I’ve listed popular styles of beer for different seasons by quarter, and a corresponding list of which quarter you need to brew them in.  The assumption here is that 3 months lead time is enough for me to assemble the ingredients, brew the beer, and have it mature properly.  While I don’t brew all of these styles each year, it gives me a list to choose from.
Winter Beer Styles – Beers to Brew in Fall, Drink in Winter:

    * Holiday Ales
    * Christmas/Winter Beer
    * Stouts, Porters and other Dark Beers
    * Barley Wine (needs long aging – start a year or more in advance)
    * Winter Wheats
    * Smoked Rauchbier
    * Scotch Ale
    * Old Ale

Spring Beer Styles – Beers to Brew in Winter, Drink in Spring

    * Irish Ale and Irish Stout
    * Green Beer for St Patty’s Day
    * Bock/Doppelbock
    * India Pale Ale
    * Fruit Beer
    * Wheat Beer, Weizen and Weisse – particularly Hefeweizen
    * Saison
    * Blonde Ale
    * Belgian Wit/White Beer

Summer Beer Styles – Beers to Brew in Spring, Drink in Summer

    * Bavarian Weizen/Weisse
    * Pilsner
    * Cream Ale
    * Steam Beer – California Common
    * Kolsch Beer
    * Summer Ales
    * Saison
    * Fruit/Wheat Beers

Fall Beer Styles – Beers to Brew in Summer, Drink in the Fall

    * Marzen/Oktoberfest
    * Pumpkin Beer
    * English Pale Ale
    * Brown Ales
    * Dunkelweizen
    * Harvest Ale

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The OG will always be higher than the FG for two reasons. First, the
yeast will have processed much of the sugar that was present, thus,
reducing the gravity. And, second, the alcohol produced by
fermentation is less dense than water, further reducing the gravity.
The OG has a significant effect on the taste of the final product and
not just from an alcoholic standpoint. A high OG usually results in
beer with more body and sweetness than a lower OG. This is because
some of the sugars measured in the OG are not fermentable by the
yeast and will remain after fermentation.

Here are some rough guidelines:

Some Bitters, Milds, Wheat beers, and most “Lite” beers have an OG
ranging from 1020-1040. The majority of beers fall in the 1040-1050
range including most Lagers, Stout, Porter, Pale Ale, most Bitters,
and Wheat beers. From 1050-1060 you’ll find, Oktoberfest, India Pale
Ale, ESB (Extra Special Bitter). In the 1060-1075 range will be Bock,
strong ales, Belgian doubles. Above 1075 are the really strong beers
like Dopplebocks, Barleywines, Imperial Stouts, and Belgian trippels
and strong ales.

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    So you have devised the perfect Porter, hit all your temps and volumes, pitched a beautiful yeast starter and held a constant temp. All that’s left to do today is move this beauty over to a secondary fermenter (or bottling bucket as the case may be.) What could possibly go wrong? LOTS!
    Ok, that may be a little sensationalist, but let’s go over some things to make the transfer of your beautiful beer as danger-free and simple as possible.

Racking Tubes, Canes, and Siphons

    ”Racking” is just a fancy term for “siphoning” or moving your beer from one container to another while leaving behind any settled solids in the first container.
    If you’ve looked around, you will see that there are an array of devices available for achieving this. The most basic tool one could use is a plastic hose with no attachments. The more common version involves a hose and a plastic tube with about a 100 degree bend called the “racking cane.” Racking Canes generally have some piece of plastic on the end to allow the liquid to enter from above and cause less disturbance in the sediment. Racking canes come in plastic, stainless, steel, and even copper models.
    On up the food chain is the Fermtech AutoSiphon which consists of a racking cane and tube assembly where the cane is placed inside a plastic tube. A semi-loose grommet fits between the cane and tube, making somewhat of a piston out of the whole thing. By moving the racking cane up and down a few strokes inside the tube, the siphon starts with no other intervention. As you will see later, this is a good thing. If I were to to recommend one racking system over any other, this would be it.
    Now, as homebrewers, we are never satisfied with simplicity. What’s the fun in that? With a few extra parts, one could endeavour to make a racking system where the beer never touches open air (a good thing, more on that later.) Basically, you will need two carboy caps (those rubber deals with two spouts and caps that fit the mouth of a carboy), one plain racking cane/tube assembly, and, ideally, a sanitary micron filter. (example)
    By placing the apparatus into the upper container and placing your tube through the carboy cap in the lower carboy, you have created an closed system. When you blow air into the top carboy (through the sterile filter) you are creating higher pressure that makes the liquid want to equalize into an environment of lower pressure (the lower container.)
    Pretty neat stuff. Not ENTIRELY necessary, but you can never be too careful.

The Perils of Racking – Oxidation and Infection

    Without opening up another entire can of worms, the reason we rack our beer is to get it off of the trub in the bottom of the current fermenter. That or it’s done and we need to bottle or keg the stuff.
    Either way, we need to face the twin terrors of racking – oxidation and infection.
Oxidation happens in beer when we break the surface tension and allow atmospheric oxygen to absorb into our beer. Oxidation in beers shows up as a cardboard, papery, ‘old beer’ type flavor. In addition, oxidation can cause some darkening in your beer. Not good.
    Infection is caused by bacteria, mold, and wild yeasts brought into contact with your beer either through introduction aboard something you stick in the beer (the racking cane and tube or the vessel you’re racking to in this case) or just through the air.

No Worries

    Now that we know what can go wrong, how do we prevent it. Well, it’s easy really. Just observe a couple of simple rules no matter what technique you choose.

    RULE 1: Everything must be sanitized. ::: Not cleaned – sanitized. This means StarSan or Iodophor (or, if you insist, bleach – but I really recommend that you quit bleach ASAP as off flavors are imminent.) Before racking, fill a bucket of your favorite sanitizer and stick your racking cane, hose, carboy caps in there. Also, don’t forget to sterilize that target container thoroughly. Keep everything in the bucket up until the time when you have everything in place. When you remove your hose/cane assembly – don’t throw the thing on the counter. I hang mine across the shower curtain rod at the curve in the cane so it touches nothing.

    RULE 2: No Splashing ::: To minimize chances of oxidation, you will need to reduce any agitation of splashing of your beer. This means that you will need to place the outlet of the racking tube below the level of beer in the lower container. Whether that involves making sure the tube is long enough or raising the lower container, make sure you do it.

    RULE 3: Sucking Sucks ::: The first several times I attempted to rack beer, I had no idea how to get the siphon started and quickly fell victim to just sucking the end of the siphon to get it started. You’ve all heard that the human mouth is about the dirtiest part of our bodies (bacteria wise.) So, in hindsight, this was not the greatest of practices. Later on, I started worrying at took up the practice of swishing vodka in my mouth before starting the siphon. I suppose that’s better, but still not a great idea.
Later on, I somewhat got the idea of starting the siphon through filling the racking cane with water, plugging both ends, and quickly sticking it in place. The water falls the ‘right’ way with any luck and the siphon starts.
However the day I got the AutoSiphon (explained above) is the day all that nonsense ended. Seriously, get one.

Whatever method you choose, if you follow some simple rules, racking your beer will be simple, easy, and trouble-free.

homebrew4less.com

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If you are anything like me, you probably started out your home brewing ‘career’ by reading a few books and maybe buying a kit that contained a bucket or glass carboy to be used as a primary fermenter. You may have then purchased (another) glass carboy to conduct a secondary fermentation. Well, I’m here to tell you, there’s a better way!

I have recently discovered the Better-Bottle. This is a plastic-based product that is sold with or without a special racking spout at the bottom. The model I will be discussing includes an adjustable racking spout/arm that they call the Racking Adapter. Essentially, there is a spout inside the bottle that twists to keep what you are emptying from the bottle above the line of trub and can be twisted as low toward the trub as you please when you are nearing the bottom.

Why I like the Better Bottle system

Let me clear this up firstly – I am in no way affiliated nor do I receive advertising revenue from the Better-Bottle manufacturer. I just really like the product. Here are a few reasons:

It’s Unbreakable – I am always scared of breaking glass carboys and often read horror stories of folks breaking carboys and ruining their beer and even receiving serious injuries as a result. This is not for me. I like brewing but I am not going to endanger myself (more than necessary) during brewing, bottling, or cleaning.
It’s Light – The Better-Bottle is much lighter than a carboy. This saves my back and greatly decreases the chance of dropping my batch of hard-earned beer sometime from brewing to bottling.
Oxygen Permeability – These bottles are designed to be much less oxygen permeable than your standard water bottle and also less permeable than the fermentation buckets you may have used. Read their site if you want the gory details about exactly how much less permeable.
It’s Clear – If you like using plastic buckets but hate not seeing the fermentation in action, this one is for you.
The Racking Adapter – I have found that I am able to get a batch from yeast pitch to finished beer to bottle without ever exposing it to the outside air. Sanitation is paramount to brewing success, and this is a major plus to me. A regular bottle filler attaches easily to the Racking Adapter and allows me to finish my fermentation, let everything settle out, and bottle from the same container with little disturbance of the yeast/trub.

Use 1 – Clearing the Trub

I own two Better-Bottles currently – a smaller 5 gal. version and a larger 6.5 gal version – both with the racking adapters in place. After chilling my wort with an immersion chiller, I make a whirlpool and let it settle out for about 20 minutes. This clears the wort some but really never settles it completely. To remedy this and ease my worry about my fresh wort sitting in relatively ‘open air,’ I have started racking my wort from my boiling kettle into the 5 gallon better bottle for further settling. I seal the container then rack it again a bit later leaving some more trub behind. An additional benefit is that the dual racking allows time for easy aeration through splashing, etc.

Use 2 – Fermenting Completely

With most ales, once I get the wort into the primary fermenter it never leaves or is opened to the air until bottling time. Despite common practice/myth, you do not need to rack your beer into another fermenter if you are bottling within about 4 weeks. I suspect this practice got started with the use of oxygen-permeable buckets and the need to prevent oxidation by transferring to a carboy. However, with relatively impermeable fermenters like the Better-Bottle (or a glass carboy) I really feel no need rack my beer and possibly introduce not only oxygen but who-knows-what from the air. I have had no ill effects doing this and autolysis has not been a factor in any of my beers.
So, with the Better-Bottle, I just let the beer go at its own pace, undisturbed, until it’s done.

Use 3 – Bottling

Bottling is no fun, but using the racking arm of the Better-Bottle makes this process almost as painless as it can be. My technique is simply to transfer my Better-Bottle to a countertop the morning I am going to bottle and let any sediment I rustled up settle back down. Then, I sanitize the racking adapter with a spray bottle of StarSan solution, and attach a standard bottle filler (I use a Phil’s Filler) to the spout. Open her up and she’s ready to go.
Once the level of the liquid gets down, the process does start slowing down a bit. However, if you get a carboy cap, a sanitary filter, and a tube you can blow air into it to increase the pressure and the flow rate of the liquid. Even better, if you have a CO2 system, this can be used.

Use 4 – Lagering/Aging

If you have a beer that requires extended aging such as a lager or even an ale like a higer gravity Belgian or barley wine that will take longer than 4 weeks, you will want to transfer to a different container. I transfer from the 6.5 gallon Better-Bottle to the 5 Gallon one for this job. The transfer can be achieved in an air-free environment by attaching the racking adapter of one bottle to the racking adapter of the the second bottle with some tubing then attaching carboy caps or the caps that Better Bottle sells (the Dry Trap airlock) with a hose to make a closed loop. An illustration can be seen on Better Bottle’s website under the How-To Section / Racking / Carboy > Carboy.
Trub can be contained very well this way and your beer will be safe from airborne muck.

Challenges

Using the Better-Bottle system does have a couple of challenges that you need to be aware of. In the scope of things, these are no big deal – just gotchas’.
First thing is, you can’t use a brush to clean or the Better-Bottle will scratch. I usually overcome this by filling a used Better Bottle up with hot water from the bathtub and soaking in PBW for a couple of days. This sometimes cleans it completely, and sometimes it takes a second soaking. The Better-Bottle website also recommends the following method : “For faster results, put a few cups hot wash solution into a carboy, add a face cloth, and vigorously slosh the solution and cloth. Better-Bottle carboys are light, so sloshing the carboy in your hands will not be difficult; however, rocking the carboy back and forth on its side or rocking it on a tennis ball placed under its punt requires even less effort.”
Second thing is, if you use a liquid-filled airlock, be sure to remove it before moving the Better-Bottle even the slightest. It seems that, given any chance, the Better-Bottle will suck air in through the lock and bring some of the liquid with it due to the fact that it’s flexible. This can be overcome as well by a liquid-less airlock that the Better Bottle folks sell. I have never used one, but it seems a good alternative.
Another air lock solution is to make a blowoff system using a carboy cap (the orange ones seem to work for me) with a 1/2″ hose attached that runs into a growler filled with water.

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Also, after every batch I discard the stone that has contacted wort. A dollar or two seems rather cheap insurance against a contaminated batch.

An activated carbon filter removes odors but is not an efficient filter of particulate matter. A second stone in a jar half filled with 3% hydrogen peroxide (the common drug store variety) offers a solution. Hydrogen peroxide is an oxidizing agent that will remove odors and a mild antiseptic that will destroy airborne microflora. In addition, any particulate matter is washed out in the peroxide solution. Any peroxide washed into the wort is quickly broken down into water and oxygen, which at this point in the process is desirable. Here’s what the setup looks like.

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