Other Chardonnay going in wrong direction

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Casey

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Hi all,

If this is posted in the wrong place, please advise me.

I started 5-1/2 gal of wine using "Alexander Sun Country" Pinot Chardonnay concentrate. Since this is my first attempt with this product, I decided to follow "Alexander's Method" to the letter -- as printed on the label.

The 96 ounce can claims a 68 Brix. After mixing to the 'method' specs, I arrived at:
Nov. 28, 2009 - 12 noon
TA -- 0.7
SG -- 1.076
pH -- 3.32
Temp 74F
Innoculated with rehydrated EC-1118

By the following morning the airlock was bubbling at a reasonable rate.
Today, December 5, the fermentation had slowed considerably and I decided it was time to check the SG and perhaps rack.
TA -- 1.0
SG -- 1.001
pH -- 2.74
Temp 73F
Color is golden, taste is tart-maybe a hint of sweet fruit underlying.

The numbers look wrong! After racking, I plugged in a bung and air-lock and within minutes, got the first burp.

Now the one thing that was counter intuitive in the instructions, but I did it anyway, was to stir the must daily for 4-5 days during primary fermentation. Being a cautious sort, I used sanitized equipment anytime I went into the fermenter.

Comments are most welcome, please.
 
What did you use to get these #'s? If its a ph meter it probably needs to be recalibrated.
 
Hi Wade,

Thanks for relocating this thread. I wasn't sure it was a kit since I only started with the can of juice and no other components.

I'm careful to calibrate my pH meter with 7.0 and 4.0 solutions and distilled water rinsing before and between all steps. I trust the readings.
 
People are advised by kit companies like Winexpert to ignore certain readings on kits. Pretty sure TA, maybe ph as well. I do not know if that advice is applicable to Sun Country products. I also do not know how to get confirmation of that, especially as winepress is down.

Steve
 
Another question is. Was the sample properly de-gassed before testing? Co2 will throw off the readings too.
 
Another question is. Was the sample properly de-gassed before testing? Co2 will throw off the readings too.

bingo. CO2 creates carbonic acid in the wine, lowering pH and likely raising TA.

as little as 25ppm of CO2 in solution can drop pH by 0.4, and that's no where near the amount of actual CO2 in our wines as 25ppm won't give you any 'fizzy' wine or rocket out of solution when you add sorbate or sulfites.
 

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