Calcium Carbonate question

[TommBomb]

Hello guys, I had some questions regarding the addition of Calcium Carbonate to the must. So i will give you a few details before i ask.

Strawberry wine recipe - Ended up with 4 gallons of pure strawberry juice steam extracted.

Starting SG of 1.086
Starting Ph of 3.74

Added all the ingredients as directed except for the yeast and acid blend, as i didnt have time to test right away. Let pectic enzyme and kmeta sit for 12 hours, and tested the must. It showed on the the vinmetrica sc300 a ph of 3.74. I added 4.5 tsps of acid blend, testing the ph as i added and ended up with a ph of 3.53. It seemed odd to me at the time that it took what seemed like alot to drop the ph but this is my first go around with the SC300 and i thought this might be typical. Judging by the kellar recipes they add 2 tsps per gallon so i wasnt overly concerned. Pitched the yeast that night.

2 days later i checked the SG and it was really good, SG of 1.045. checked the Ph and it was 3.19. Side note, i calibrate the sc300 both times and had good cals... not sure why the big difference. Anyways, to balance it out i added tsps of calcium carbonate and ended up with a Ph of 3.37, which im fairly ok with.

My question are... does my methodology seem sound? Is there taste implications with adding the calcium carbonate? Are you more experienced wine makers noticing any glaring mistakes?

Thanks guys, love the way this site helps out the beginners. Keep it up!

 

[saramc]

It is quite common that in the case of non-grape wines in which tartaric is not a dominant acid, a significant increase in TA and a corresponding decrease in pH may be expected during fermentation.

After use of calcium carbonate, the wine should be bulk aged at least 6 months to allow calcium malate, a byproduct of calcium carbonate use, to precipitate from the wine, plus some cold stabilization thrown in there for good measure.

Thing is, your pH will likely still change because your must is still fermenting.

 

[TommBomb]

cold stabilize after the 6 month bulk aging? Otherwise saramc, was there anything you would have done differently?

 

[TommBomb]

i should correct my first paragraph, i added 2 teaspoons of calcium carbonate.

 

[saramc]

Actually I would have let it ferment at the original pH, or not have added the chalk.

Bulk age for 4, then switch to CS for the next 2. But in all reality, you will want to bulk age for 9-12 months total.

 

[TommBomb]

from what i've read everyone seems to agree that you adjust the ph pre-fermentation..

 

[saramc]

from what i've read everyone seems to agree that you adjust the ph pre-fermentation..

Yes, but you also need to look at what you are fermenting and what typically happens due to fermentation. Hence, my initial response, "... quite common that in the case of non-grape wines in which tartaric is not a dominant acid, a significant increase in TA and a corresponding decrease in pH may be expected during fermentation."

 

[TommBomb]

Ok, so in the case of wines which are dominant in tartaric acid fermentation causes a decrease in ph. So does the ph then have to be adjusted after fermentation as a rule of thumb for these types of wines?

 

[TommBomb]

sorry, tartaric is not dominant.

 

[saramc]

Ok, so in the case of wines which are dominant in tartaric acid fermentation causes a decrease in ph. So does the ph then have to be adjusted after fermentation as a rule of thumb for these types of wines?

Any time I have tartaric as the dominant I check TA & pH. I typically target my TA in that situation, but usually following fermentation of tartaric-dominant grape wines, an increase in pH of 0.1 unit may be expected. But we need to always remember each must is different. The reason I would have let the strawberry ferment with the original pH is because I know that the pH would be expected to drop.

Of course, it is easier to adjust the must preferment rather than attempting to adjust post-ferment, and preferment adjustments tend to not strip the must or cause extraction issues, etc.

I would recommend some reading on pH/TA via Jack Keller's site, do some searches on WinemakerMag, http://www.bcawa.ca/winemaking/acidph.htm, http://www.brsquared.org/wine/Articles/pH.htm, very good overview of chalk here: http://www.101winemaking.com/calcium_carbonate.htm

 

[Turock]

Another thing--this is why you add the pectic enzyme on the first day. You want to get the fruit partially broken down so that your PH reading will be more accurate. You were probably just sampling the initial juice, but without the fruit incorporated into it somewhat, the reading will not be very accurate. PH always rises as the ferment proceeds, so you want to be sure you get closer to the ballpark.

 

[saramc]

... PH always rises as the ferment proceeds, so you want to be sure you get closer to the ballpark.

Did you mean to say the ferment ultimately gets more acidic, or that you see a shift toward more alkaline & then it goes on the acidic downswing at it approaches completion? (I never check pH intra-ferment, just pre/post)