high acid

[gordonm]

just crushed my grapes and took a ph and ta reading and to my surprise, they were both high. I have white grapes. ph was 3.0 and ta was 1.30% (I had to add 13 drops of sodium hydroxide before the color stabilized). Is there any quick fix to get the acid down, like adding water? I was trying to get 3.2 acid.
Any suggestions, I'm way out in Maine with no suppliers close by.
thanks, gordon

 

[drainsurgeon]

Your post is a little confusing. You say you're at 3.0 but that it is high. That's actually a little low (or acidic). If you want to raise that # to 3.2, add calcium carbonate. To lower that # add and acid blend or most here recommend tartaric acid. I believe 3.4-3.6 is the preferred range.

Not sure about a home remedy if you cant get to a supplier. Someone else might chime in here.

 

[TXWineDuo]

I was told to run the juice through a coffee filter and then test TA again, I think too much particles.

 

[cintipam]

I recall someone saying they used baking soda to adjust a wine that was too acid. If nobody else knows for sure, you might try a small sample, test PH, add baking soda, test again, then taste the sample to see if it messed with the taste too much to be useful. Course don't taste any sample that you added chems to if you have to do that to test your PH.

Pam in cinti

 

[gordonm]

Poor wording, I know high acid, lower numbers. Anyway, thanks everyone for the information, I'll give it a try and see what happens. Gordon

 

[v8rx7guy]

just crushed my grapes and took a ph and ta reading and to my surprise, they were both high. I have white grapes. ph was 3.0 and ta was 1.30% (I had to add 13 drops of sodium hydroxide before the color stabilized). Is there any quick fix to get the acid down, like adding water? I was trying to get 3.2 acid.
Any suggestions, I'm way out in Maine with no suppliers close by.
thanks, gordon

13 drops, or 13cc? If you're using a standard titration kit, I believe the instructions say each cc of hydroxide is equal to 0.1% T.A. or 1.0 g/L.

 

[GreginND]

Do not use baking soda. You don't want to add sodium to your wine. I would proceed and see how it comes out. If it's tart at the end, you can balance that with back sweetening to make a delightful fruity wine.

 

[gordonm]

that was 13cc so I guess it would be 1.3%

 

[grapeman]

That is a slightly acidic white wine but can be expected in Maine. Greg is correct. Those nubers aren't horrible for a white ( a bit lower would have been nice though). Let it finish up and then cold stabilize it. That will drop out some of the acid and then if needed, sweeten it slightly.

 

[Rodnboro]

You might know this but the strength of your sodium hydroxide also matters. If you are using a .1N strength solution, you would take half of your volume amount. The kits come with a .2N and a lot of replacement solutions are .1N.

 

[HillPeople]

Those readings are somewhat typical for northern cold hardy grapes, i.e. low pH (2.9-3.0) and high TA (9-12). Also, you didn't mention the Bx, but northern grapes typically will be a little low, say 18-21. So I would say the first order of business is to get the Bx up to 22-23 with the addition of a simple syrup. The water will slightly lower the acidity and TA. Take another reading after that. Remember to use a thoroughly filtered sample.
If it's still not where you want it to be, consider a calcium carbonate treatment. If I get to a pH of 3.2-3.3 and TA of 8, I'll quit there, as cold stabilization and a MLF will improve the numbers as well later on. Here's a helpful link:
http://www.bcawa.ca/winemaking/acidph.htm