Pinot, tastes too acidic, should I adjust?

[RRRwine]

I started Pinot Noir grapes 10 days ago, grapes direct from California. destemmed, smashed, about 8 gallons of must. The SG was right around 1.100I was concerned with the acidity and tested it. It read 2 times right about .60. Using calculations I got from a class, I added 1tsp of acid blend for each gallon of must attempting to bring it up to around .8

pulled off the lees today, pressed grapes, still about 8 gallons of juice. The SG has dropped all the way down to .992 (faster than I thought). when taste testing it however it tastes pretty citrus like. Acid kit says it is at .8 (I did it 2 times).

Should I trust taste and adjust it down, or should I just let it go and see what time does to it?

 

[abefroman]

I'm not sure what scale that is.

Do you have pH strips for wine? What # on the pH scale is it at?

 

[Julie]

I started Pinot Noir grapes 10 days ago, grapes direct from California. destemmed, smashed, about 8 gallons of must. The SG was right around 1.100I was concerned with the acidity and tested it. It read 2 times right about .60. Using calculations I got from a class, I added 1tsp of acid blend for each gallon of must attempting to bring it up to around .8

pulled off the lees today, pressed grapes, still about 8 gallons of juice. The SG has dropped all the way down to .992 (faster than I thought). when taste testing it however it tastes pretty citrus like. Acid kit says it is at .8 (I did it 2 times).

Should I trust taste and adjust it down, or should I just let it go and see what time does to it?

Leave it sit for awhile. I would probably wait until I was a little closer to bottling. Why did you add acid blend if your acid level was at .60%?

 

[JohnT]

1) Like stated above, do an acid titration test. If the acid is in the range of .60 and .65, then you are ok. Adjust the acid up/down to fall within this range.

What you are tasting is new wine that is could have the correct acid level, but loaded up with malic acid (green apple tart). You could simply give the wine a little time or you could also inncoulate with malolactic bacteria to convert the malic acid into lactic acid. I would check the acid level first (and as soon as possible).

 

[RRRwine]

Sorry for the confusion. Yes I used an Acid Titration test kit to get the reading. .80%

I had read somewhere that for red wine must, the range should be .65 to about .80. as I was reading slightly low and dealing with the must I moved it up.

I was thinking of malolactic fermentation, but thought it could not have such a big impact...less than .10 in a batch.

Think I should thin this with water, or possibly Calcium Carbonate?