Oops!

[Travisty]

So last night I started a banana wine. 1 gallon batch. Here's the recipe I used:


4 lbs bananas (sliced and put in straining bag)
2 1/4lbs sugar
7 pints water
2.5 tsps acid blend
~1/8 tsp liquid pectic enzyme
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1 crushed campden tablet
1/8 tsp tannin
Lalvin EC-1118 yeast


I boiled the sugar and bananas in the water for about 45 minutes and then let it cool. Then I added everything but the yeast and checked acid and SG. Then I pitched the yeast.


My problem? After I added the acid blend I realized that I had added 2 TABLEspoons and 1/2 tsp in stead of the 2.5 tsps the recipe called for! Wasn't paying enough attention and used my tablespoon measruing spoon instead of the tsp one. I checked the acid and sure enough it's way high at like 1.35! The must tastes okay, kinda tart, but pretty good to my tastes. However, I'm sure the sweetness of the sugar is masking the true tartness of the acid.


So, I'm thinking I can just let it ferment as per usual and then adjust the acid down with calcium carbonate later. I'm wondering if the pH is too low to ferment though. I'm going to bring home some pH strips from work tonight to get an idea of just how low the pH is and then go from there. Does that sound like a good plan? If the pH is too low for fermentation, should I adjust with CaCO3?


Starting SG is 1.104

 

[Bert]

Travisty; I don't have my books in front of me , but if I remember right acid reduction needs to be done before fermentation starts....The high PH [low number] will inhibit the yeast from doing a good fermentation..

 

[Travisty]

Well, I nabbed some pH strips from work today, and it looks like I'm hovering right around 3ish. If I understand things right, 3.0 to 3.5 is the good pH range to be in right? I think I will see how the fermentation goes for a day or two before I decide if I should try to raise the pH at all. It looks like it's already started so hopefully, I can get away with it until fermentation is complete.




I'll have to do another batch of this soon doing this the right way to see what the taste difference is!

 

[Guest]

Why not add a little water to the must?
That'll reduce your acid level to without changing your ph too much.