Acid testing questions

[Zog]

I'm trying to get a better handle on testing for acid levels in my wine. I have an acid titration kit and pH strips. The titration gives an acid level expressed as a percentage such as 0.65%. But pH is expressed on a scale from 0 to 14. What is the relationship between the two? Is there a formula that will tell me what the pH is based on the results of titration? And I don't really understand what that 0.65% means... percentage of what? I've read that pH strips are not very reliable. I could just buy a pH meter I guess.

 

[Rodnboro]

In my limited experience, you are on the right track. It's my understanding that PH is the strength of the acid while t.a. is the quantity of the acid. Usually, if ph is low t.a. is high and vice versa. However, I've been experiencing variations of this with my muscadine this year. (low ph and low t.a.) I read some good advice on here that with fruit wines, go by ph and do not worry about t.a. I do think that a ph meter would be a good investment. I've never used the strips.

 

[Thig]

I have had a hard time grasping this also. It is sort of like this anology. The must is your gas tank, the TA tells you how much gas is in the tank, the Ph tells you the octane. This example is not 100% correct but if you add more acid with the same Ph you are adding to the TA but not the Ph. Just like adding more regular gas to the tank increases the volume of gas in the tank but if you started with regular the octane is not changed.