Question about acidity

[foursons]

Hello all,

So I noticed that most of the wine that has finished fermenting has a sour taste to it. And I like it, but some times it overwhelms the flavour.

These are my questions, are sour taste and high acidity the same thing? Does acidity balance out as it ages (like tannin)? Is there something I can do to reduce the sour taste?

Thanks guys~!

 

[Scott]

Could be that the yeast has used up all the sugar leaving a sour taste too, then just need to sweeten to how you like. I think there is a difference between being sour and being tart from high acid. Have you tested the ph and acid levels?

 

[Julie]

Hi foursons,

Welcome to winemakingtalk. You really need to test your acid. Getting a titration kit would be a great starter. High acid will give you a bite to your wine and high tannins will give you a pucker. Not sure what you mean by sour, also, if you are making fruit wines, they normally would need at least a little sweetening to bring out the flavor. Hope this helps.

 

[foursons]

So I guess the main thing to take away is to test the ph.

Thanks, I will get it asap

 

[foursons]

btw where can i get a titration kit for a good price?

 

[Boatboy24]

Young wine can have an astringent taste to it. Are these kits? If so, the acids are likely balanced and what you are tasting is just young wine.

 

[Julie]

Brewandwinesupply.com would have one, that are one of our sponsors and will give a 5% discount to WMT members plus their shipping is dirt cheap.

 

[JohnT]

You do not mention what type of wine this is.

The sour taste is most likely due to high acid, but you need to also consider the types of acids present in the wine.

In most cases, malic acid can take an acceptable ph level and make the wine taste sour. Most winemakers inoculate our wine with malo-lactic bacteria to convert the malic acid (like grapefruit) into lactic acid (like milk). This will soften the wine and make it taste less sour.

 

[Turock]

It is a wise thing to take PH measurements and adjust it as needed pre-ferment. Your resulting wines will be more balanced and you won't need a ton of sugar to try to balance out the remaining acid. We test everything---and there's very little that we ferment that does NOT need adjustment.

 

[foursons]

JohnT: I get my wines from RJ Spagnol, how do you inoculate the wine? Is there a place I can buy the malo-bacteria? do i simply put it in my wine?

Turock: So adding sugar will balance out the acid huh, okay thanks ill look into it in detail

Julie: I visited the site but when I searched for titration kit, nothing showed up, btw how much is a good price to pay for one of them.

Thanks guys, gotta love this forum

 

[loumik]

JohnT: I get my wines from RJ Spagnol, how do you inoculate the wine? Is there a place I can buy the malo-bacteria? do i simply put it in my wine?

Turock: So adding sugar will balance out the acid huh, okay thanks ill look into it in detail

Julie: I visited the site but when I searched for titration kit, nothing showed up, btw how much is a good price to pay for one of them.

Thanks guys, gotta love this forum

foursons: You should not do a MLF on kit wines. Some of the people on the forum rarely if ever do kits and forget that not everyone makes wine from grapes alone. That's why you should provide as much info as possible about the type of wine you are making. Good Luck.
LOUMIK