A question on Acid Control

[DeniseHogemann]

I think my apple cider wine has too much acid in it. It is at an SG on 0.994 today so I racked it from the primary to the secondary. I did an acid test on it. If I did it right it is sitting at 9.0%. So my questions are:

1: is this too much acid

2: if it is should I be concerned now or later

3: while shopping for groceries yesterday I had Tums on my list. I noticed that it has calcuim carbonate as the primary ingredient. Can I just crush a tablet or two and add that to the wine to help deacidify my wine if I need to? The non-medicinal ingredients is corn starch, mineral oil, natural oil, natural flavour, sodium hexametphospate,sucrose, talc.low sodium.

 

[Julie]

I am thinking you mean .90% and calcium carbonate is good before fermentation. Potassium Bicarbonate and cold stabilze your wine is what you need to do after fermentation

 

[winemaker_3352]

I agree with julie. .90 is high - fruit wines you like to be around .60.

Try CS with Potassium Bicarbonate - that should bring down with in range.

What yeast do you use? For apple i like to use Lalvin 71B-1122 - it metabolizes 20 - 40% of the harsh malic acid.

 

[DeniseHogemann]

I am thinking you mean .90% and calcium carbonate is good before fermentation. Potassium Bicarbonate and cold stabilze your wine is what you need to do after fermentation

OK so then I will leave it finish fermenting first. Do I degass, stabilize and K-meta it first? Oh, and by the way, this is the wine that I posted before that I had trouble fermenting because I used too many campden tablets http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f5/apple-cider-wine-wont-begin-fermenting-18246/. Would that
have anything to do with this? When exactly do I use the potassium bicarbonate and then cold stabilze?

 

[DeniseHogemann]

I agree with julie. .90 is high - fruit wines you like to be around .60.

Try CS with Potassium Bicarbonate - that should bring down with in range.

What yeast do you use? For apple i like to use Lalvin 71B-1122 - it metabolizes 20 - 40% of the harsh malic acid.

I used EC-1118. It is what I had.

 

[Luc]

Bringing acidity down from .9 to .6 with Potassium Bicarbonate might leave an after taste. Wouldn't do that myself.

I suggest making a low acidity wine (like banana wine) and blending.

Luc

 

[Wade E]

Yeah like Lucky said you probably wont be able to get it down to. 60 but lots of fruit wines and white wines will above that .60 anyway. You should be able to get it into a more acceptable ta with the pot calculated and cold stabilization. Don't go above the recommended dosage though. Yes you will want to sulfurs as fermentation most likely burned most of the sulfured out. After adding it cold stabilize for a few weeks to precipitate it all out. Keep Lalcon 71B on hand to use on higher malicious acid wines.

 

[Brew and Wine Supply]

if you do use Potassium Bicarbonate be carefull and add just a little at a time, it will foam up like putting baking soda in vinegar.

 

[BobF]

I would let it finish, degas and clear for a while before I made any adjustments. The co2 and suspended solids will skew measurements.

Once it's degassed and cleared up measure again and let taste be your primary guide - especially if you plan to backsweeten.