Re: INFO: Attn. Brewers and Vintners

[Henry Best <jstrauss@gmu.edu>]

Poster: Henry Best <jstrauss@gmu.edu>

> Tadgh wrote:
> >
> >Corun, tell your friend not to worry too much. All my recipes for 
> >koumiss add lactose to cow's milk to get the desired results. Lactose is 
> >an unfermentable sugar which stays in the brew. He should do fine.
> 
Hmmm. Now I think about it, there is a thing in vinting called a 
malolactic fermentation. This is a spiff thing that can be done in
deep high-tannin red wines. A special bacteria is introduced into
the must about 10 days into the yeast sugar/alchohol fermentation.

That bacteria makes malic acid (the acid that tastes like apples) into
lactic acid. Makes for a smoother, more complex red wine.

I've never done it; because the dead culture is hard to get rid of. You
have to mechanically filter it out with tiny-micron gap filters and a pump.
Too much trouble and I have no evidence that this is a period technique.

Tho it IS a thing that can happen by accident. And, if you reuse the 
same barrel next year, the accident can repeat itself....


I'm not sure if "lactic acid" and "lactose" are the same thing. My
books are all in storage.

 -------------------------------------------------------------------
| Ld Henry Best		| "People don't quit playing because they   |
| John Strauss		| grow old. They grow old because they quit |
| jstrauss@gmu.edu	| playing." 	    -Oliver Wendell Holmes  |
 -------------------------------------------------------------------

=======================================================================
List Archives, FAQ, FTP:  http://sca.wayfarer.org/merryrose/
            Submissions:  atlantia@atlantia.sca.org
        Admin. requests:  majordomo@atlantia.sca.org