High ph chardonnay

[nicklausjames]

Have 12 gallons of chardonnay juice from buckets. For some reason the ph is very high. It started at 4.2 and I added tartaric to get it down to 3.91. Shoukd I continue to try to lower it or will it effect the taste too much.

 

[salcoco]

you can add more a little at a time until ph is 3.6 then cold stablize. the acid will fall out and ph will remain the same.

 

[ibglowin]

You need to watch your TA as well. Doesn't do you any good to have a pH of 3.6 but the Chardonnay is so tart your mouth puckers. Taste, taste, taste!

 

[JohnT]

Absolutely agree with the above! If you get to a point where the wine is tasting tart, STOP!

You can always "up" the amount of k-meta to help protect the wine going forward.

 

[nicklausjames]

So I measured the ph again today and it is up to 4.07, the ta is .52. What ph should I shoot for here?

 

[GreginND]

I think the suggestion was to try to get to 3.6 if you can.

 

[ibglowin]

You might pull a liter and add acid to 3.6 and then check TA and see where its at, then more importantly taste it and see if it puckers your mouth. If you like it you can scale it up for the rest, if you don't dump it back in stir it well and start all over. Go slow and add 1/2 what you think you will need for any large additions. You don't want to go over.

 

[nicklausjames]

So I pulled 50 ml and brought it to ph 3.6. I took the ta and it was .74. Taste is ok.