pH of wines....

[MedPretzel]

Okay, I'm on a mission to get the "correct" acidity of wines. Since my results at the county Fair were mostly about acidity (or lack thereof) I pose the following question:





What acidity should be aimed for in:
white wines
red wines


Do you make considerations for country wines (fruit?) and grape wines?





Mix (everything) MUST: 3.87
Chamomile: 3.27
Blueberry: 3.57
Ancient Mead: 3.87
Chardonnay (Fontana Kit): 3.22
Hard Lemonade: 3.42





Those are the pH's of my wines today, about 15 minutes ago. Temp was 70, and SO2 was not measured.





Is there a general guidline for pH in wines? I imagine the "Everything Must" (highest pH, mix of all sorts of things, but basically a red) is a bit high, comparing only to the others.


My mead is 3.87... Do I need to change anything here?





I've got the pH meter, but now I'm sort of lost as to what the pH should be.





Experienced winemakers (George, Masta, and of course Hippie) please advise! I want these wines to be perfect!





Thanks a million in advance.

Martina

 

[masta]

The final pHof a wine does not necessarily determine the amount of acidity when it comes to taste because it does not measure the concentration of acid just the strength of the acid.


This a quick quote from Jack Keller's website that explains the difference and I would recommend reading the whole article as it includes plenty of info that might help you.


http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/acid.asp


"The two measure of acidity are titratable acidity (TA) and the potential of hydrogen (pH). Titratable acidity relates to the amount of acid in solution as a percentage of volume or as grams per liter; grams per liter (g/L) is obtained by multiplying percentage TA by 10, so that a TA of 0.80% becomes 8 g/L. In contrast, pH is related to an acid's strength in solution and is measured on a logarithmic scale; on the pH scale, 7 is neutral, numbers above 7 are alkaline and increase ascending, and numbers below 7 are acidic and increase descending. In other words, a pH of 9 is more alkaline than a pH of 8, while a pH of 4 is more acidic than a pH of 5. Because the measurements are logarithmic, a pH of 4 is 10 times more acidic that a pH of 5.


It is possible that these judges preferred their wines acidic and if you took the sames wines to a different venue the tasting notes would be different!

 

[MedPretzel]

Ugh, so from his site, I have to gather that I need to know the TA of things TOO?

Life was a lot easier without this pH/acid thing.....

 

[ARCHER]

Martina,


Hang in there, you're not the only one wrestling with the acid dilemma. I guess its just something we'll all have to master in order to achieve the balance we all strive for in our wines.


Archer

 

[peterCooper]

I presume that kit wines have been designed to have a correct TA and pH. Is
there a value in measuring these and adjusting, or would I throw out other
characteristics too much by doing so?

 

[masta]

There is no need nor should you adjust the TAand pH of a kit wine. The only adjust you can make is adding extra sulfite before bottling as per the instructions of the kit. Note: Winexpert Crushendo kitshave extra sulfite added because these kits are designed to age longer.

 

[Joseph1]

In his article “Make Your Kit Wine Shine” appearing in the Summer 2001 issue of WineMaker, Tim Vandergrift indicates that "acid testing cannot be done in a pre-fermentation wine kit, as the acids are bound to the sugars in the must by the pasteurizing process, making the readings artificially low. As with acid testing, pH tests on pre-fermentation kits will not be accurate, in this case due to the influence of the concentrating process."