This is inhe lines of the welches concord acid ...

[smikes]

Am I going in the wrong direction?


Here is my receipe:
16 Cans Welches 100% concord
Water to 6 gallons(4.5 gal)


Calibrated Ph(4.01) prior to test
Juice and water was 3.02.


Wanted to raise it to 3.40
Added 4.5 tsp acid blend and stirred for a while and test said 2.90?!?!


Am I confused and not to add acid blend?
I added about 1/2 gal of water more Sg1.090
Then Tannin and pectic enzyme


Using Montrachet starter


Lots of foam on day 2
Day 3 foam gone and sizzling nicely.

 

[gaudet]

Smikes

When you add acid you lower pH. The lower the pH the stronger the acid. I think you were looking to raise your pH (make the acid less)

 

[smikes]

You know, this is what really happened...


I was trying to adjust TA from .6 to .7


Doing what the test kit said, I came up with 4.5 tsp.
If I just followed the receipe I was using ,I was to add 10 tsp.


Should I do something to adjust the Ph? If so ,how?


Thank you for any ideas!

 

[gaudet]

If its fermenting well, you can let it finish out. Then check the pH again. By that time someone with more insight than I can answer how to adjust up your pH if it really needs to be adjusted.

 

[grapeman]

I would just finish the wine up as is. Too many adjustments just confuses you and makes it harder to duplicate if it turns out really well. Like gaudet says, you add acid to lower the pH. If you lower the TA you will slightly raise the pH.

 

[gaudet]

Smikes

When dealing with pH remember that 7 is neutral, or your zero point (not acid/not base) the lower the number pH the stronger the acid. when you added the acid blend you lowered the pH. I had some muscadine must that I adjusted the TA was .4%, I don't remember the exact pH but I use the test strips and know it was somewhere between 3.6-3.8 approximately. I needed to add more acid to lower the pH and raise the TA. I don't think I would have added any acid blend to your must cause you TA was pretty close to good already. But I think you will be able to correct this after you finish fermenting.

 

[smikes]

Yeah, I didn't need to change the TA, but I was" practicing". Thank you for your responces!

 

[smikes]

I would just finish the wine up as is. Too many adjustments just confuses you and makes it harder to duplicate if it turns out really well. Like gaudet says, you add acid to lower the pH. If you lower the TA you will slightly raise the pH.

That being said, and pretending that this was a real wine, should I have worried about the pH more than the TA at the start? I take it you can't actually adjust both to an exact number, the must kind of dictates how close you can get?

 

[grapeman]

That depends on the beginning numbers. There are desireable ranges for both depending on the stype, type and finish of the wine.