Cedar Rapids Brewing Society

As per the label on Viniflora Dry Malolactic Wine Bacteria: Malolactic cultures are bacteria that convert harsher malic acid to lactic acid.

I plan to use this across at least two batches of brew....1) A cider kit; and 2) Some Red Currant wine that I plan to ferment with RC-212. I will be brewing in plastic fermentation buckets.

My question is....After having used these buckets exposed to Malolactic Wine Bacteria....will I need to isolate those buckets from brewing ales and lagers?

And along the same lines....if I use those buckets for Cider and Wine....and then use them to ferment beer with bugs....can I reuse the buckets for wine and cider after fermenting sour beers?

If I use camden tablets to sterilize the must from wild bacteria....will it also kill the Viniflora Dry Malolactic Wine Bacteria.....OR....if the bacteria is added a few days after yeast fermenation has begun, will the sulfur has out gassed with the CO2 to levels that will not harm the Malolactic Wine Bacteria?

FYI - One packet of Viniflora Dry Malolactic Wine Bacteria will treat 66 gallons and the contents of the packet weighs practically nothing...so it is hard to split between 11 six-gallon batches....but I might give it a try!!! Perhaps over 5 or 6 batches.

Sulfite will kill malolactic bacteria. Sulfite will also kill all the brett and bacteria in sour ale cultures.

So Camden tablets (sodium metabisulfite) will do that. I always have lots of potassium metabisulfite on hand. Never used the Camden tablets.

I generally use different plastic primaries for beer (malt) and non-beer (mead, wine, cider) because the malt aromas seem to carry over in plastic.

Also, malolactic fermentation is usually done after primary fermentation (so in glass carboys for me). You can do malolactic and primary fermentation together, but I don't think that is very common.

So my normal process is: 1) primary fermentation in plastic -- rack before it goes totally dry; 2) pitch malo cultures in the secondary and let it work for 1 to 2 months; 3) add sulfite to kill off malo culture.

daryl wrote: If I use camden tablets to sterilize the must from wild bacteria....will it also kill the Viniflora Dry Malolactic Wine Bacteria.....OR....if the bacteria is added a few days after yeast fermenation has begun, will the sulfur has out gassed with the CO2 to levels that will not harm the Malolactic Wine Bacteria?

Use as little sulfite to sterilize the must as you can get away with. Wait until primary fermentation is nearly done. You will be safe to add malo culture then. I know lots of wine makers that do this with fresh red grapes.

daryl wrote:FYI - One packet of Viniflora Dry Malolactic Wine Bacteria will treat 66 gallons and the contents of the packet weighs practically nothing...so it is hard to split between 11 six-gallon batches....but I might give it a try!!! Perhaps over 5 or 6 batches.

That's what I used with the cider yeast trials. I split the package into 8 portions. Pour it out on to a sheet of paper and divide it up with a knife. Cut in half; then cut in half; then cut in half. Each eighth is good for 8 gallons.

wyzzyrdd wrote:

daryl wrote:FYI - One packet of Viniflora Dry Malolactic Wine Bacteria will treat 66 gallons and the contents of the packet weighs practically nothing...so it is hard to split between 11 six-gallon batches....but I might give it a try!!! Perhaps over 5 or 6 batches.

That's what I used with the cider yeast trials. I split the package into 8 portions. Pour it out on to a sheet of paper and divide it up with a knife. Cut in half; then cut in half; then cut in half. Each eighth is good for 8 gallons.

Sounds like someone with experience cutting up "8 balls."

Plastic fermenters are cheap for a reason, just use separate ones for wild/ Brett strains. Buy a few new ones for ales/lagers and use the older ones for Brett, likewise with siphons and plastic tubing.
Don't have to second guess the sulfates and/ or the cleaning sterilization of those vessels that way if they are dedicated vessels. Paint marker everything that is a sour component. I even have an extra bungs and airlocks marked for sours

Schwerkraftbrauer wrote:Plastic fermenters are cheap for a reason, just use separate ones for wild/ Brett strains. Buy a few new ones for ales/lagers and use the older ones for Brett, likewise with siphons and plastic tubing.
Don't have to second guess the sulfates and/ or the cleaning sterilization of those vessels that way if they are dedicated vessels. Paint marker everything that is a sour component. I even have an extra bungs and airlocks marked for sours

I should point out, that while I think sulfite should do the job, I probably have more than a dozen plastic primaries, and I keep them separate. I have 4 or 5 marked for sour ales. I have separate racking canes for sours and everything else.

Plastic stuff is cheap enough to just buy an extra for working with sour cultures.

tony b wrote:
Sounds like someone with experience cutting up "8 balls."

I'm so boring, I don't even know what that means.

wyzzyrdd wrote:

tony b wrote:
Sounds like someone with experience cutting up "8 balls."

I'm so boring, I don't even know what that means.

"An 8 ball is one eighth of an ounce of a drug (usually cocaine)."