Juice buckets and PH?

[Country]

Just picked up my first juice buckets, a Chilean Petit Syrah and a Pinot Noir. They are resting as the temperature acclimates to our house. The SG looks good on both, 1.084 and 1.090 but the PH seems high. They are both reading 3.7 on my calibrated Hanna PH meter.
Should I make adjustments or begin the fermentation?

Thanks

 

[Johnd]

Just picked up my first juice buckets, a Chilean Petit Syrah and a Pinot Noir. They are resting as the temperature acclimates to our house. The SG looks good on both, 1.084 and 1.090 but the PH seems high. They are both reading 3.7 on my calibrated Hanna PH meter.
Should I make adjustments or begin the fermentation?

Thanks

Assuming you are planning to MLF as well, you can anticipate a rise in the pH through both AF and MLF, so a slight adjustment down would be in order, shooting for something the the 3.50 - 3.55 range is a pretty good goal. You can fine tune later if you need to, based upon taste. Just remember to take it easy with the tartaric acid, little doses at a time, mixing thoroughly and retesting so you don't overshoot you goal. Calculate what you need to add to achieve your goal, and don't add 1/4 - 1/2 of that as a first dose. GO SLOW!!!!

 

[user 36973]

The pH is OK but keep an eye on it if you plan to put it through MLF too. Can you measure the TA? Does the juice taste unbalanced for its sweetness/acid? The Chilean carmenere I got last year was similar with pH of 3.7 and also low in acid, with the TA being 4-5g/L. I used it for blending with high acid wine and did not adjust it but as a stand alone wine, it was flabby and needed more acid.

 

[Country]

Thank you. It will be a stand alone wine and I plan on trying a MLF (first time for that as well). I’ll make some careful PH adjustments. I have acid blend (citric, malic & tartaric) and plain tartaric acid. Which should I use to lower PH?

 

[Ajmassa]

Thank you. It will be a stand alone wine and I plan on trying a MLF (first time for that as well). I’ll make some careful PH adjustments. I have acid blend (citric, malic & tartaric) and plain tartaric acid. Which should I use to lower PH?

Use the tartaric. Check out what morewine says about the blend for adjusting.

 

[Country]

Thank you! I hate to ask noob questions but you all are such a wealth of knowledge!!

 

[Ajmassa]

I wouldn’t call asking about ph adjusting to the must to better prepare for MLF a noob question. The information involved in this is endless. And most isn’t really committed to memory until actually doing it a couple times.

 

[Country]

2.5 tsp of Tartaric acid and the buckets are at 3.5 PH. Thank you.

 

[Ajmassa]

Nice. I’ve still got 2yr old unopened jar of acid blend that was included in my 1st acid test kit. Just collecting dust.

 

[mamigoni]

Just picked up my first juice buckets, a Chilean Petit Syrah and a Pinot Noir. They are resting as the temperature acclimates to our house. The SG looks good on both, 1.084 and 1.090 but the PH seems high. They are both reading 3.7 on my calibrated Hanna PH meter.
Should I make adjustments or begin the fermentation?

Thanks

ph 3.7 is great no adjustments crank up the yeast

 

[johndghost]

2.5 tsp of Tartaric acid and the buckets are at 3.5 PH. Thank you.

Glad you made the adjustments successfully. Making them prior to fermentation is helpful integrating the acid into the wine. Hopefully, once AF and MLF are complete, you’ll be sitting in the 3.6’s and only your taste buds needed for final mods.