Extremely low TA in Chardonnay

[Snafflebit]

Go by taste if you cannot trust any of your test instruments. If your pH meter is not accurate to 2 decimal places it can be hard to use it to accurately titrate for TA.
And also check your NaOH molarity. I bought some one year that was 0.2 N

 

[pditt13]

Continuing from above, after fermentation completed and I racked my wine I can't get anyone from presque isle to email me back.

So, I cleaned my ph meter (again) and calibrated. I tested it in another wine I had and it seemed to read correctly. I then tested it in the calibration solution (4.01 and 7.01) and 7.01 was right on, 4.01 read 4.02. After testing the chardonnay, my pH was 2.94 consistently, and the TA is .5625 (7.5*.1*75/10). Should I make any adjustments or leave as is?

 

[winemaker81]

Continuing from above, after fermentation completed and I racked my wine I can't get anyone from presque isle to email me back.

So, I cleaned my ph meter (again) and calibrated. I tested it in another wine I had and it seemed to read correctly. I then tested it in the calibration solution (4.01 and 7.01) and 7.01 was right on, 4.01 read 4.02. After testing the chardonnay, my pH was 2.94 consistently, and the TA is .5625 (7.5*.1*75/10). Should I make any adjustments or leave as is?

what does it taste like?

 

[ibglowin]

White wines can get away with lower pH's for sure. Just makes for a more pronounced "zing" on the tongue. Like Bryan said, how does it taste? If you can cold stabilize it for a couple of weeks and get it to drop some tartrate your pH should improve. The thing is you have plenty of time to try some things.

 

[pditt13]

I typically like medium to heavy body reds, and it is light body but I do like the taste. I get too concerned with the numbers instead of listening to what i read on this forum about going with taste. Gonna leave as is. Thanks!

 

[Rice_Guy]

@pditt13 i get to test juice buckets which are sold by Prairie Vinters. This year the California juice buckets were low TA and high pH and low gravity (1.080). I wondered if this was everyones observation. ??? wet crop year ??? high moisture ???
My recommendations were add acid for pH / preservative effect and ignore TA till bottle time.

@pditt13 Should I make any adjustments or leave as is?

I would trust your pH meter. My experience is that with dirt/ age the probe reads slower but gives the correct reading when drift stops. Also the 0.01 digit doesn’t really matter. The precipitation chemistry and micro stability and taste aren’t that sensitive.