Should I lower my pH

[skipdonohue]

37 gallons of Petite Syrah.. Right after crush pH was 3.39, bumped it up but overshot my goal of 3.6, and landed on 3.66.. I do not check for TA.. I always MLF my wines, and for some reason i wasn't thinking at crush time and I raised my pH pre fermentation, forgetting that MLF would have raised it naturally to my target range.. Fermentaion is complete, I have pressed, and will be rackin off gross lees tomorrow..Should I lower it now to 3.5 and start MLF or wait to see where it lands after MLF and lower it then if need be.. also how many tsp/gal of tartaric to lower pH by .1? thanks

 

[Julie]

PH of 3.66 is just slightly on the high end, so I would wait and adjust later if needed. I believe 1 g/l per gallon will lower ph by .1

 

[lawrstin]

I think you should check your TA. Lowering your Ph is good but my goal would be to balance the wine. It sounds like you have a really nice Ph meter that checks to two decimal places thus checking TA would be fairly simple.

 

[berrycrush]

Your PH will become lower after fermentation and press. So test again before you do anything.

 

[ShawnDTurner]

I would lower it, that way you are only making small adjustments at each step

 

[GreginND]

Personally, I would NOT adjust it more. You fiddle with the acids too much going back and forth and you can end up with a really unbalanced wine in the end. Your pH is just fine for a petite sirah. After MLF it may be a little higher, but still should be fine. If you find it still flat then you could always bump it with must a little tartaric.