Blackberry acid level recommendation

[toddrod]

I am making my 1st Blackberry wine form my homegrown berries this year. What would be a good recommended TA acid level to adjust to considering that I will ferment to dry and then back sweeten to a SG 1.01. I am still kinda lost on where the acid levels should be. 1 thing for sure is that I do not like alot of acid bite. I have been roughly adjusting my acid levels to a TA .4-.5 (using the test tube color change kits) on my muscadine wines using acid blend. I will be getting a digital PH tester today and will be testing all the wines in my inventory (homemade) as well as testing the few commercial dessert wines I enjoy drinking.

So any recommendations would be appreciated.

 

[Turock]

We set our PH at 3.4 on blackberry. The wine is made with no water dilutions and the blackberry flavor is very intense, but even with a PH of 3.4, it still has harshness. We use calcium carbonate to bring the PH in line. Some people are concerned about using that much carbonate, but we've been doing it for many years and don't detect any chalkiness.

Blackberries have malic acid. And all that malic makes blackberry harsh on the tongue. The best way to handle it is in choosing your culture. 71B metabolizes 20-40% of the malic. Maurivin B metabolizes up to 56% but is sold in bricks of 500 grams for $25 and the shipping is $17. If you want to buy the Maurivin B, GW Kent or the vintner's vault has it. 500 grams is a lot of culture so if you know anyone close to you that is also making blackberry wine, the 2 of you could split up the culture and the cost. If you belong to a wine club, several of you could split it up. Good luck. Blackberry is one of my favorite wines.

 

[BobF]

Blackberry is tough one for acid. Getting acidity low requires less fruit or must treatment to reduce acidity.

One approach you could take is to adjust the must acidity as low as you can while maintaining a healthy pH - say 3.6 for pH and certainly no higher than 3.7, keeping in mind the increased amount of sulfite required at this pH level. Also keep in mind that acidity is easier to raise later than it is to lower.

Then backsweeten for balance rather than being specific about final sweetness. You might want to consider smaller batches while you're experimenting - blackberries are expensive in either effort or $$

 

[toddrod]

Well, to give more information to everyone. I am using 71B as the yeast for this batch and I am using 3lbs/gallon worth of fruit.

So by the above comments I would take it that I should not use Acid blend to readjust the acid levels due to it having malic acid in the blend. The recipe I am following called for lemon juice (citric acid). I also have some Tartaric acid available to use.

 

[Turock]

3 lbs/gal will give you a "light" blackberry. Don't use any acid additions unless your PH is high which unlikely on blackberry. Initial PH readings on this fruit is different depending on if they are wild or cultivated varieties, and the location they are grown in. The blackberries we use are wild, and our soil here is acidic so our starting PH is around 2.9 You can see that we wouldn't use additional acid. We have to use carbonate to get the PH up to the 3.4 PH Let your PH meter tell you what you should do. As BobF suggested, you could take the PH a little higher if you want to and adjust your sulfite level. A PH of 3.6 should have sulfites of about 60 PPM.

We use about 10lbs/gallon and add no water. The berries are frozen beforehand. If you can get more fruit and up your poundage per gallon, the flavor will get more intense. I know that many people don't have all the free blackberries that we can get, and buying them is expensive. Use as high a poundage per gallon as you can, reduce or eliminate the water, and your wine will be awesome.