What happened to my pH?

[YoungsBlock19]

New poster here. Be gentle. My Syrah juice post-crush had a pH of 3.28. My wine after primary and secondary fermentation is now 3.8. Can MLF change pH that drastically? Could taking the completed MLF wine into cold garage affect pH like this? Can my Hanna pHep tester be that far off from the lab that originally tested my pre-fermented juice?

 

[winemaker81]

Unlike the "normal" internet, we act like adults and treat each other respectfully. Being a newcomer is not the issue it is in other forums.

MLF can raise pH, as can cold stabilization. The change you measured may be more than usual, but it is not out of bounds.

Taste the wine -- is it flabby?

 

[sour_grapes]

Welcome to WMT!

 

[ibglowin]

Do you have CO2 in the wine still? Is this a kit? Fresh grapes?

New poster here. Be gentle. My Syrah juice post-crush had a pH of 3.28. My wine after primary and secondary fermentation is now 3.8. Can MLF change pH that drastically? Could taking the completed MLF wine into cold garage affect pH like this? Can my Hanna pHep tester be that far off from the lab that originally tested my pre-fermented juice?

 

[YoungsBlock19]

Unlike the "normal" internet, we act like adults and treat each other respectfully. Being a newcomer is not the issue it is in other forums.

MLF can raise pH, as can cold stabilization. The change you measured may be more than usual, but it is not out of bounds.

Taste the wine -- is it flabby?

Feeling the love. Thanks. No, not flabby. A bit sharp (or tart?). Wonder if the wine will soften with age. I've made a few vintages ('19 and '20) but failed to record what I was tasting at the various stages of aging, so not sure if this is on a 'regular' trajectory given the stage I'm at.

 

[YoungsBlock19]

Welcome to WMT!

Thx Paul!

 

[Rice_Guy]

Welcome to Wine Making Talk

a 0.5 unit increase sounds excessive but possible. A 0.2 unit increase sure. A 0.2 decrease when CO2 is in the primary sounds normal. It would be interesting if you had a starting and a current Titratable acidity to see the numbers. Hg

 

[YoungsBlock19]

Do you have CO2 in the wine still? Is this a kit? Fresh grapes?

Yes, fresh grapes. No CO2. Still.
Was told by another to rack and put in the solid bung. Could make correction before bottling. That's where I'm at.
Regarding storage of aging wine, I've got it in my garage, which, today is 38-40 degrees. Too cold? Not sure I have an indoor space to make it in 55-65 degree. Need a bigger house.

 

[winemaker81]

I've got it in my garage, which, today is 38-40 degrees.

That's cold stabilization temperature. If there is any excess tartaric acid, it will drop. It would be best if you can move the wine to a location that is at least 50 F.

Was told by another to rack and put in the solid bung.

Do you have sediment? If not, there's no point in racking.

I don't like solid bungs except for barrels. Temperature swings and degassing can blow a solid bung. Better to use a vented bung.

 

[Mario Dinis]

Welcome to WMT.

 

[mikewatkins727]

Welcome aboard, @YoungsBlock19

 

[BarrelMonkey]

Another factor could be the method of preparing the post-crush juice for testing. You can get quite different values of brix, TA and pH depending on whether you directly sample juice from the crushed grapes, or blenderize a sample including intact grapes followed by filtration or centrifugation. Here is an old paper comparing various sample preparation methods.

 

[YoungsBlock19]

That's cold stabilization temperature. If there is any excess tartaric acid, it will drop. It would be best if you can move the wine to a location that is at least 50 F.


Do you have sediment? If not, there's no point in racking.

I don't like solid bungs except for barrels. Temperature swings and degassing can blow a solid bung. Better to use a vented bung.

I've got a few of those. Will replace the solid ones. Always worried that they'd allow oxygen in. Guess not, huh?
Thanks for the input.

 

[winemaker81]

I've got a few of those. Will replace the solid ones. Always worried that they'd allow oxygen in. Guess not, huh?
Thanks for the input.

Vented bungs are supposed to be one-way. I've used them for a while with no problems.

 

[Cap Puncher]

Could make correction before bottling.

Are you thinking of correcting solely based on the pH? If it tastes sharp already, I would NOT add acid. Blending could be and option. Do not be afraid of the higher pH in a Syrah. Pretty normal. I have a Syrah with pH 3.83 that I absolutely love. You just need to treat with sulfite differently.

I agree with BarrelMonkey,sample prep, blended is more accurate.

How long was the wine on the skins? Potassium is released from the skins, which raises pH. ML probably pushed you over pH 3.65 , the cold stabilization above pH 3.65 made it go higher.

 

[YoungsBlock19]

The juice was on skins for a week through primary fermentation. Fermentation temperatures were in mid-70s. MLF lasted 8 weeks to completion. That wine was stored in 65-70 degree environment. I moved the completed ML wine to garage to rack. This was the cold temperature I spoke of. Does pH change after MLF is completed? Did the pH change during the fermentations? Nonetheless, I racked, added medium toast staves (2), added a gram of SO2 (50ppm?) and bunged it up. Will test and taste before bottling.

Am I missing anything else?

Thanks Cap Puncher ;-)