What is the risk of low PH?

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REDBOATNY

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I have 3 gallons of cranberry ready to bottle sweetened to 4 brix. The ta is
.525 ph of 2.85. I was doing a bench test last night and this wine seemed to benefit from a little acid blend. maybe raising it .03. This will probably drop the ph even lower. Should I be concerned, or go by taste? Thanks in advance for any comments.
Dave
 
At the worst, you risk oxidation!

High PH (a.k.a. low acidity) menas that your wine has been stripped of its protective armor and is now vunerable to bacterial/microbial problems, flavor instability, and oxidation.

I would recomend (if you plan on keeping the wine for any length of time) that you adjust the acid level to that which is recomended (.65gpl for reds or .70gpl for white/fruit wines).

I would also recomend that you throw away your acid blend and use tartaric acid instead. tartaric acid is naturally occuring in grapes and will taste (IMO) softer than if you use the blend (which usually contains both citric and malic acids).
 
Like John said bugs like higher pH wines which is why we are always looking to find the sweet spot between pH and TA. At 2.85 you certainly have no worries for bacterial growth! So really the only risk of a low pH like that is that is will be too tart on the tongue. I have never made a cranberry wine but I seem to recall it was a problematic child acid and pH wise. Your taste buds should always be a good guide but beware you are already below a pH of 3.0 which is seriously crazy low. The acid blends are great for fruit wines. For grape based wines, like John mentioned you want to only use tartaric.

Do a bench test on a small amount and see if you like it better with a little more acid. That way you won't be experimenting with the whole 3 gallons in case you don't like the results.
 
A PH of 2.85 is hardly a high PH wine.

A fruit wine this low of a PH will be overly tart. I've never made cranberry, but if this wine is supposed to have a nice hit of acidity, I would be inclined to set the PH around 3.2

It will take a lot of backsweetening to balance out such high acidity.
 
Thanks all. The PH is low and so is the acid (ta) I have backsweetened to around 4 brix and the taste is good. I added a small amount of acid blend to a glass and the flavor improved. I plan to increase the ta slightly when bottling.
 
Thanks all. The PH is low and so is the acid (ta) I have backsweetened to around 4 brix and the taste is good. I added a small amount of acid blend to a glass and the flavor improved. I plan to increase the ta slightly when bottling.

That's the way to do it. I frequently use a several glasses, each with something different. It is surprising how just a touch of something can make a difference.
 

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