# Acid levels vs. pH levels how to adjust



## pwrose (Jul 8, 2010)

I am not real clear on how the acid levels and pH levels are related in wine. I understand the lower the pH the higher the acidic level should be. However in wine it seems a little confusing. Lets work with some numbers and hopefully the acid experts will stop in ( maybe Jimi will drop a post  ).

I currently have a blackberry that is in its secondary and it currently has an acid level of .8% according to the test kit. I am having a hard time getting a acurate pH reading due to the color of the wine and the discoloration it causes on the pH test strips. It seems to taste fine but it is also a very sweet wine with a SG reading of 1.024

If acid levels of fruit wines should be between .5% and .6% how do you get the acid levels to drop and not affect the pH. I have something similar with my strawberry wine, it is at 1.1% acid and has a pH of 3.5 or so. The pH seems to be ok or with in range but the acid level is way high. How do these relate in this aspect? If the pH can be correct or very close how does the acid level get so far off?

Using 1 liter or 1 gallon of wine with the following (listed below) can someone explain how these two are related and how to adjust one without affecting the other.

1 L or 1 gal with the following readings

correct pH and high acid level
correct pH and low acid level
correct acid level and high pH
correct acid level and low pH
high acid level and low pH
high acid level and high pH
low acid level and low pH
low acid level and high pH

I think that covers most possibilities.


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## winemaker_3352 (Jul 8, 2010)

I am by far no expert on this - i know that the acids in wine produce hydrogen ions in the wine and this will affect the PH level of the solution. TA produces a large % of this.

Here is a link that i used for reference:

http://www.bcawa.ca/winemaking/acidph.htm


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## winemaker_3352 (Jul 8, 2010)

Here is also a PPT about this: 

View attachment PH Acid and SO2 Power Point Proofed.pdf


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## pwrose (Jul 8, 2010)

Jon,
The pdf I have seen before and didn't care much for it but I found some useful info on it. However the link you posted is really really good info, and for now I think I follow what is posted. The only thing I don't like hearing/reading on that site is that if you do the home type test and still cant get it exactly right then it needs to be lab tested. Well I don't forsee me sending any of my wine off to a lab, they might drink it and send bogus results back LOL,,, that is just a joke.


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## Wade E (Jul 8, 2010)

When working with Blackberry wine and acid is too high you can do MLf on it. Its one of very few fruit wines that will benefit from MLF. PH and acids are usually a fight especially when making a fruit wine. The acids in fruit vary greatly which can make the balance very hard. It really depends mostly on how ripe a fruit is when its picked. Too early usually leads to high acids and not enough sugar and this is almost always the problem as we dont want to lose the fruit to the birds. This problem can be rectified by cold stabilization by itself or with the addition of additives. To low and we add acid. To high of a ph and you can adjust that somewhat by upping the acid.


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## LarryW (Jul 8, 2010)

Wade E said:


> When working with Blackberry wine and acid is too high you can do MLf on it.



Can you only do this by adding the bacteria or will it happen by itself?


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## Wade E (Jul 9, 2010)

Its possible it will start all by itself but thats risking waiting while the wine is not sulfited for a fermentation that might not happen.


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