Apfelwein TA Help

[Airplanedoc]

This is my first 6 gal batch.

Everything has seemed to be going fine until I racked my Apfelwein from the secondary to a fresh Carboy for ageing. When I took my measurements I came up with a PH of 4.5. I then added 3ml NaOh to achieve a reading of 8.2 which by my math should give me a .225 Ta

I am using a digital Hannah PH tester and have freshly calibrated it. I also double checked my measurement and came out on the nose both times.

I understand that a Ta of .225 is too low, so how do I adjust it ups to where it needs to be?

Man I wish I paid more attention back in High School Chemistry.

 

[JasonH]

Did you adjust acid before fermentation or is this the first time you checked it?

 

[Airplanedoc]

No I followed the recipe at the top of the recipe page.

Apple Juice
Dextrose
Yeast

I did take the liberty of adding a cup of Brown Sugar I had sitting around.

 

[JasonH]

You might want to do another acid titration to be sure your numbers are correct. If it is still .2, I would adjust the acid up to ~0.7 depending on taste. I also recomend testing and adjusting acid before fermentation no matter what a recipe says. It is a good winemaking practice that helps the whole process.

 

[Airplanedoc]

Tested again today, came out the same.

So winecalc is telling me that to raise 6 gal from a TA of .225 to .60 I need to add 2.8 oz or 80.4 grams of acid blend.

This looks like a lot, does it sound right to you guys?

To get to .7 it would take 3.6Oz or 101.9 gr


FYI My Tap water is a has a PH of 8.9

 

[JasonH]

I would not add all that up front. Add a portion of it and keep testing. I made wine from apple cider earlier this year and had to add a lot of acid too, so your results do not surprise me.

 

[JasonH]

Tested again today, came out the same.

So winecalc is telling me that to raise 6 gal from a TA of .225 to .60 I need to add 2.8 oz or 80.4 grams of acid blend.

This looks like a lot, does it sound right to you guys?

To get to .7 it would take 3.6Oz or 101.9 gr


FYI My Tap water is a has a PH of 8.9

I see you mentioned water. If you made this from juice, it was probably already a little watered down. If you furthur diluted this, the acidity from the fruit would drop substantially explaining the big adjustment.

 

[Airplanedoc]

I did make it from all juice. I checked again today with the same results. That is when I checked the tap water. I was making a pear wine and forgot the apple was all juice.

But looking at the amount of acid blend on the scale it sure looked like a whole lot. It is still in the bowl covered at the moment