acidity

[kirbyclk]

starting in Oct 2010, I made several gallons of wine from frozen concentrate. following the recipes from jack keller and other online sites, I used 2tsp of Acid Blend per gallon.

the wines are now finished and mostly bottled. they seem very tart and acidic. I was wondering if aging in the bottles will smooth this out or if I am just going to be stuck with an acidic wine.

I do not have have an acid testing kit. I realize that I probably shouldn't have bottled them yet and should have cold stabilized to drop the acid crystals. but will these wines mellow out with time?

thanks!

 

[BobF]

Without actually testing it's hard to say if you're tasting acidity or if you're tasting the harshness of young wine.

Jack's recipes are pretty well balanced, so I wouldnt worry too much. Give then time and they should smooth out considerably.

Acid test kits aren't expensive. Without testing it's a stretch to say wine needs something done to reduce acid.

If they are acidic, another approach approach would be to sweeten a bit to balance the acidity. If you do sweeten, make sure you stabalize properly and give them more time before you (re)bottle.

 

[winemaker_3352]

That sounds like a lot of acid to add - how much did you make?

How are you storing these now? If they are bottled one way to find out the acid is too high is to put a bottle in the fridge for 3-4 weeks - see if you have any wine diamonds.

 

[kirbyclk]

I made 5 gallons of concord, 3 gallons of white grape peach, and about 5 1-gallon batches of different juices.

I used this recipe for most of them:

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/request181.asp

that is where it says to use 2tsp.

I think from now on, I will just use .5 tsp / gallon or just invest in an acid test kit.

 

[kirbyclk]

as far as storing, everything is now bottled and sitting on my new 100 bottle wine rack my gf got me for christmas!

 

[kirbyclk]

my recipe for the concord:

10 cans Old Orchard 100% Grape
10 tsp Acid Blend
5 tsp Pectic Enzyme
5 tsp Yeast Nutrient
6.25 lbs Granulated Sugar
1 pack Yeast Lalvin 1116

Starting S.G. 1.10

 

[winemaker_3352]

I like xmas gifts like that - i got a one as well.

I would get an acid test kit. I would not recommend adding that blindly.