Banana wine with high pH and TA

[Noontime]

I made my first banana wine recently and the TA is .8% and the pH is 3.9. Is this normal for a banana wine? I've also just recently started testing for pH and TA so I'm as unfamiliar with that as I am with banana wine!

It's still a baby wine, so I'm not comfortable changing the acid for taste, but I want to get the pH down to protect it a bit. Any advice?

 

[Julie]

PH for your fruit wines should be between 3.5 and 3.6, a TA of .8% and a ph of 3.9 seems kind of strange, cuz you really shouldn't need to increase acid by adding acid blend but to get your ph down you would need to increase your acid. Did you calibrate your ph meter before using it?

 

[Noontime]

Thanks Julie. Yes I calibrated and then confirmed (4pH and 7pH solutions accurate), and I did the TA test twice since its so subjective.

I've heard of wines having both high TA and pH, but I don't know how much I should do to mitigate it. I've never made banana wine before so I don't know whats normal (since its high in malic acid and potasium which apparently can raise pH ). Or maybe do nothing. I'm just not comfortable with that high a pH, but I don't want to ruin the taste of the wine trying to protect it from spoilage either.

I'm not too stressed about it...I'm just hoping to find some experienced banana wine makers (or anyone else) who might be able to put things in perspective for me.

Thanks!

 

[Stressbaby]

It has been said by Turock and perhaps others that one need really only look at pH for nongrape wines...don't worry about the TA.

FWIW, some time back (while I was still learning about pH adjustments), I made a batch of banana with 1t citric acid, 1 lemon/gallon, and with no acid blend. The pH was 3.86, so your number seems typical for banana (depending on the recipe obvsly). If I were starting all over I might have used some acid blend to get down a bit to 3.6-3.7 range.

 

[wineon4]

I make gallons of banana wine, have a 20 gallon batch in my cellar now. I add 1/2 ts per gallon of acid blend and have a PH of 3.5 and yes you can have a high TA and a PH of 3.8 or up. Banana is a finicky wine to get right, just a bit off on acid and it can be bitter.

 

[Stressbaby]

I make gallons of banana wine, have a 20 gallon batch in my cellar now. I add 1/2 ts per gallon of acid blend and have a PH of 3.5 and yes you can have a high TA and a PH of 3.8 or up. Banana is a finicky wine to get right, just a bit off on acid and it can be bitter.

By "off on acid" what do you mean exactly? Low?

 

[wineon4]

If your acid gets low 3.0 it can be bitter depending on the SG. If it is in the range of 3.5 to 3.7 and back sweetened to 1.005 or higher the Banana flavor comes forward in this wine. I find that when talking acid you need to also be aware of the sugar content. I use tons of Bananas in my Banana wine. This batch has 10lb per gallon. I Peel them then liquefied in a blender with white grape juice then placed directly into the primary, tons of pulp to rack during the first rack but great flavor