Deacidification

[Wiz]

Today I tried to deacidify (is this a word) A 5 gallon batch of blackberry in secondary. Original TA readings were high at 1.0 to 1.1. From the chart found at http://vinoenology.com/calculators/acid-addition/ is called for 10.1 grams of potassium bicarbonate to reduce the acid to .6. It took 20 grams to reduce it to .9 and I left it there from worry of overdoing it. Any comments?

 

[Wade E]

Dont go any more or it will leave your wine salty tasting. You have already gone further then they recommend as I believe they say dont go any further then 4 points. You probably could have done MLF on this which would have lowered it down some and also taken some of the astringency out of it and then done this. Blackberry is one of the only fruits other then grapes that benefit from MLF. If you want to drop it down more you need to cold stabilize or have you already done that to precipitate the potassium out of it/

 

[Wiz]

Wade, actually, it was for a total (5+1) 6 gallon batch. Looking at other acid reducing web sites it says that I can add 3.4 g/l's of Potassium bicarbonate per gallon which puts me right on with a total of 20.2 grams total. I originally questioned what seemed like a lot of Potassium bicarbonate before I used it but received no reply on this forum. Per your recommendation, I went with the Accuvin TA test kit. My initial ph reading was off the charts but now is 3.6. My acid reading actually only dropped from 10.1 to .9. In your opinion is this still too much potassium? The high acidic taste is now greatly subdued. I don't taste a salty wine. Is this something that will develop later? .

 

[Wade E]

No it would be immediate so you are good there about being salty. I have never had to use this stuff but have read about it so many times to asnwer questions. Sounds like your right in range then. Did you do any cold stabilization at all yet?

 

[Wiz]

Also, from what I have read the cold stabilization process only applies to grapes and is does nothing to fruit wines.

 

[Wiz]

Does anyone else have any experience with high acidic fruit? What did you do?

 

[winemaker_3352]

By the time i add the water into the must - i usually have a Acid is around .60 - .65. If you get the fruit before they are ready - acid will be high.

 

[Wiz]

Ah Winemaker, there lies the problem. Here in Latin America, the culture lends itself to eating unripe fruit - nothing goes to waste. I've seen my granddaughter giving the grandkids white blackberries or half white strawberries and they munching them down with relish.

When I go to the local street markets I order 1 week ahead to get 13 or 14 kilos "no blanco, toda negro - no roja". I get what I get and pick out a lesser amount of white berries than I would have received if I didn't go through the "pre-order" routine.

I go through the same procedure for strawberries but with more success.

 

[Wade E]

Cold stabilizing is not only good for grapes so Im afraid where ever you read that it was BS!!!!! You can use it for any wine that is high in acid. It may work better for grapes as grapes contain more tartaric then others but you can still drop a decent amount in many other fruit wines. It will also prevent or lessen the effect of a common problem called chill haze by cold stabilizing.

 

[Wiz]

It was driving me crazy where I read this but I just stumbled across it again. Guess you don't believe everything you read.



Look Out Ernest & Julio


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Posted 03 September 2010 - 08:22 AM
1. I see no reason why potassium carbonate would not be good for this application.
2. Cold stabilization is only effective on grape wines as they contain tartaric acid. It is useless on non-grape wines.
Howie Hart
0

 

[Wade E]

Thats from winepress.us! They do not know everything as do I or anyone else! Most fruits are primarily Malic or citric with Tartaric or the other or both as secondary higher acids but by no means doesnt mean that tartaric acid is not present. Even grapes contain more Malic acid then Tartaric acid which is why MLf is a good thing. Raspberry, Strawberry, Mango, Apricot, Apple are just a few to name that conatin Tartaric acid which may not be extremely high but if you are looking to rid your wine of higher acids it can help. Lots of these fruit wines are very very high in Malic acid whick makes them very good wines to do MLF on. When I say high I mean 94% of the acid is Malic!

 

[Wiz]

Thanks Wade. It was just bugging me that I knew I had read it some place recently.