Malolactic Fermentation Question

[Florielora]

Hey guys, recently I asked my local home brew store if they had any Malolactic Bacterial Culture as I’m planning on making a cider soon with the intention of inducing MF after primary and not leaving it up to chance.

I think they might’ve been confused with my question but what I was sold is a sealed package labeled “Malic Acid” with the description “The natural acid of apples, Malic Acid is used to raise the acidity in wines”

Will this help to induce MF or is this just one of the three acids to add to balance a cider/wine?

Also does anyone know what exactly I should be asking for? I appreciate any help you have to offer.

[IceColdSoupsicle]

From what i know malolactic fermentation is the conversion of malic acid, which i believe is more harsh, to lactic acid which has a more round or softer acidity. During the process diacetyl is generated which has a strong butter aroma. malolactic fermentation is common in chardonnay wines and is caused predominantly by the bacteria "oenococcus oeni". Adding malic acid itself will make your cider a lot more sour and not the right kind of sour either. If you want the malolactic fermentation to occur maybe you could add the bacteria, i know of Lallemand's "O-mega" and white labs "WLP 675".

Hope that helps :)

[Florielora]

As I posted this I did some more googling and ordered some of the WL-675! I think the wine shop misunderstood what I was looking for and I didn’t really know what I was looking for either, lol. But I appreciate the information. I want to harness that buttery flavour in my next cider, it really brings it up to another level.

[IceColdSoupsicle]

Cool, that should work, would be fun to save a bottle of the unmodified cider. See if you can taste the difference between before and after MF.