Higher Ph wine

[maan]

Hi, this is my 2nd year of making wine from grapes.
My this year's grapes came with a little higher PH value ( e.g. Cab 3.6 compared to 3.4 last year ) .
I just finished fermentation of Merlot, which is sitting at Ph of 3.95 . I am not sure why I did not think of addressing this Ph problem before fermentation but I am
getting concerned now. I just moved my wine into carboys for the murkiness to settle down.

Is there anything I can ( or should) do now to address the high PH issue ? Is it safe to add Tartaric acid now ?
Thank you all in advance for your expert advice.

-maan

 

[maan]

I was able to dig up from info from the old threads here and other forums. Seems like it's doable.
The calculations will need to be different ( and could be tricky) since all the calculators available are for the pre-fermentation case.

 

[BernardSmith]

I am confused. What exactly is the problem the pH is causing? Is it that you may need to use a little more SO2 to inhibit oxidation? The strength of the acids when too strong (say , below 3.0) can create problems for the yeast, but you've already made the wine. The issue then is not pH, is it? The issue might be TA - the amount of acid in the wine. You can't "taste" pH. you can "taste" TA? If it is too low (the opposite of pH) then the wine might taste bland. If too high, the wine might taste to acidic. Have you tasted it? Have you measured the TA? You can have a lot of a weaker acid and you could have a little of a stronger acid... Do you know how many grams of acid you have per liter. That, I would think is the only real issue. No?

 

[maan]

Hi BernardSmith, It's too early for me to say if I am having a problem becuz of this high Ph. From all the reading I have done so far, I am concerned about the ageability of this wine. Although it's already late, I want to address it as soon as possible.
I do not have TA analyzer and have been relying on the Ph meter to guide me. The wine tasted okay to me.

 

[mainshipfred]

I'd be tickled with a 3.6 reading on the Cab. The Merlot is a little high and although I feel it's better to adjust pre fermentation there is nothing wrong with doing it post. The rule of thumb is 1 gram of tartaric to 1 liter of wine reduces the pH by .1. It is recommended to use half the amount.

 

[BernardSmith]

Hi BernardSmith, It's too early for me to say if I am having a problem becuz of this high Ph. From all the reading I have done so far, I am concerned about the ageability of this wine. Although it's already late, I want to address it as soon as possible.
I do not have TA analyzer and have been relying on the Ph meter to guide me. The wine tasted okay to me.

a higher pH means only that you may need to use more K-meta to improve shelf life and inhibit oxidation. There are calculators to determine the amount of K-meta you should add given the pH.

 

[winemaker81]

I agree with Fred -- be cautious of messing with pH or TA post-fermentation. If you add too much acid, you can get into a yo-yo situation of fix/re-fix the acid. It's easier to go light and add more as needed later on.

 

[maan]

Thank you Fred, Bernard, and Bryan.
I will do another round of tasting in a couple of weeks and decide at that point.

 

[Rotundifolia]

You can also add Bactiless which will help the spoilage issues.

https://shop.scottlab.com/bactiless-500g-015232
For next year, I conducted the following for acid additions to the must. It worked fairly well.