Sour/Tart Taste

[blackfin1]

I am in the process of making some Rasberrry wine. I began the 3 gallon batch in january. of course I followed the recipe added meta, acid blend, nutrient pectic enzyme and waited 24 hours. Then added yeast. I started with an Sg of 1.080 and racked when it reached 1.040. Once the SG reached 1.000 for 3 days I stabalized with meta and sorbate. I racked once more off the lees and allowed to sit with airlock.

I tasted it a couple of days ago and it has a sour or tart taste. My question to the group is, when a wine is sour or tart does it require acid blend to balance it out. Or is there too much acid. I realize it is still too young and needs to mature, but how do I know if it oxidized and is no longer any good.

If a wine is sour, should I test for acid and add more. Or is there too much acid. That is my question.

THanks,
Sal

 

[winemaker_3352]

What is the TA reading on it?

I would say the TA is too high if you get a tart taste.

Give it some time - it could just be a young wine.

 

[blackfin1]

With out testing, would you say that a sour taste means more or less acid?

Thanks,
Sal

 

[winemaker_3352]

With out testing, would you say that a sour taste means more or less acid?

Thanks,
Sal

More acid will create a sour/tart taste.

 

[grapeman]

If it tastes tart or sour, it has too much acid already. Sometimes we think of a young wine as tart, but it is just young and will mellow out as it ages. You can add sweetener if you added the k-meta and sorbate to balance the sugars and acids to taste. I see a lot of winemakers routinely follow a recipe and blindly add acid to the juice with no idea if it really needed any or not. That would depend on the ripeness of the fruit used. The only way to tell if you need it or not is to test for acid at the beginning.

 

[blackfin1]

has anyone ever used calcium carbonate to lower the acidity in wines?If so, how much is an acceptable level to use per gallon with out messing up the wine. is cold stabalization a better alternative?
Thanks,
Sal

 

[winemaker_3352]

calcium carbonate is use prior to fermentation to lower acid.

Potassium Bicarbonate can be used with cold stabilization to lower the acid.

I have never used it - i just cold stabilize my wines - that usually gets me within my target range.

Sometimes i will add a bit of sugar to help balance out the taste.

 

[Turock]

When making fruit wines, it's real important to know where your PH is because the PH affects flavor so much. Red raspberry can be a high acid fruit. Our initial reading on it is usually under 3.0 Because we use no water, we have to acid adjust everything. We use calcium carbonate pre-ferment to get the PH to around 3.4 Potassium carbonate is used post ferment, but it can affect the aromatics of a wine. We've never used it because we always acid adjust up front.

When a wine has lots of acid, it's a tough thing to sweeten in order to balance the acid without it ending up too sweet. I encourage you to begin PH testing at the primary and your wines will end up with no flaws that you need to do acrobatics with at bottling time. But if I had that wine, I'd buy a PH meter and some potassium carbonate and get it adjusted.

 

[ALE]

How to sweeten wine after done fermenting? Is there a form of sweetner out there that is liquid?

 

[Scott]

How to sweeten wine after done fermenting? Is there a form of sweetner out there that is liquid?

Simple syrup- 1 cup boiling water, 2 cups sugar dissolve and added a bit at a time to taste. Works pretty good

 

[jswordy]

You can have some fun with this. If you have some blackberry juice concentrate and that simple sugar syrup Scott posted, then you can play with flavor.

If you do not have the blackberry juice concentrate, you can go to the store and get canned blackberries and use the juice out of the can or cans (put the berries on ice cream later). Many put the juice from the can on simmer on the stove and reduce it down by about half (an "f-pack"). I have done it straight or reduced. Hold off on your sugar syrup addition until after you have used all the canned juce, then come in with syrup to taste.

If you use concentrate or reduced juice with or without a sugar syrup to back-flavor, allow an extra day or two in the carboy for it to settle. The concentrates are sometimes not filtered real well, and you don't want it settling out in your bottles.

 

[Wiz]

Assuming that you have adjusted your TA after fermentation you in most likelyhood still have a sour or tart fruit wine. I have found that almost all fruit wines require sweetening. My wife likes sweet wines while I like dry, so she is easy. At the very least I have found that I have to sweeten to semi dry to be able to drink.

Mike