How to Deacidiry

[s0615353]

I have a Chardonnay that is killing off MLB because silly me, I did not test the PH (which was 3.0 ). Currently it is stuck at 110 mg/l of malic acid. How much potassium bicarbonate do I need to add to increase the PH from 3.0 to 3.2? I have never used deacidifier, so any tips/tricks would be appreciated.

 

[GreginND]

There is no way to calculate how much addition will be needed to adjust the pH to a desired number. The pH is complicated by other things in the wine buffering your acidity. You will need to add the bicarbonate a little at a time until the pH changes. You can calculate specifically how much the TA will change. Do you know your TA? I presume it is high if your pH is low, but that is not always the case. You want to make sure your TA does not go too low also.

 

[LoveTheWine]

I don't think there is a way of calculating how much your PH will rise with a potassium bicarbonate addition. You just have to go slow and keep testing

There is info out there on lowering TA based on calculations though.

Ha Greg you answered right before me!

There is no way to calculate how much addition will be needed to adjust the pH to a desired number. The pH is complicated by other things in the wine buffering your acidity. You will need to add the bicarbonate a little at a time until the pH changes. You can calculate specifically how much the TA will change. Do you know your TA? I presume it is high if your pH is low, but that is not always the case. You want to make sure your TA does not go too low also.

 

[s0615353]

The TA is 8.5 g/l so there is definitely some wiggle room to lower the TA and ph. It says on the container that 3.4 g per gallon will reduce the acidity by approximately .1%. Should I start low with 6 grams (for 6 gallons) and see what happens? Also, are there any special steps for the deacidifier, or do you just add it and rack like usual?

 

[LoveTheWine]

The TA is 8.5 g/l so there is definitely some wiggle room to lower the TA and ph. It says on the container that 3.4 g per gallon will reduce the acidity by approximately .1%. Should I start low with 6 grams (for 6 gallons) and see what happens? Also, are there any special steps for the deacidifier, or do you just add it and rack like usual?

I would start with small amount for sure, you don't want to over shoot and CS (cold stabilization) will drop out about 30% more acid reduction in the form of wine diamonds after the addition further lowering acid levels.

The powder makes the wine erupt in a foam volcano so leave head room when adding. Also you will want to cold stabilize before racking or you will have tons wine diamonds in the bottles later.

 

[GreginND]

Agree! Go slow. You can always add more. If you over do it, that's not good.

 

[Turock]

It's also possible that if you get the PH up to 3.1 or 3.2, there are MLB cultures that will handle that PH.

 

[LoveTheWine]

It's also possible that if you get the PH up to 3.1 or 3.2, there are MLB cultures that will handle that PH.

Yeah I managed to start all mine this year from 3.2

 

[s0615353]

Will it restart on its own, or do I need to reinoculate it?

 

[Turock]

I think it's possible that the MLB may take off. If you see no progress of the MLF, you can re-inoculate. Bacchus will work as low as 3.1 and is a good culture that always finishes.

 

[s0615353]

Pretty cool surprise this morning. Yesterday I added 24g of potassium bicarbonate to drop down the ph to 3.2. This morning I woke up and saw those wonderful bugs workng their magic. It was cool to see that the ph was definitely the problem since the bugs went right back to work after I adjusted it.