Newbie here needs help

louie_1 · Dec 18, 2022

Hi I'm Louie, a winemaker in Japan.
Few days ago I added potassium carbonate to deacidify my chardonnay but later realized it was supposed to go into sauvignon blanc instead.
That chardonnay's TA and pH was already adjusted so I want to bring it back by adding tartaric acid but not sure if it causes any damage to chemical composition of the wine.
Somebody has any advice on this? Is it theoretically harmless to acidify already deacidified wine?

winemaker81 · Dec 19, 2022

Welcome to WMT!

A LOT of folks have done the acid yo-yo (add, subtract, add, subtract, ...). I suggest that you figure out how much acid you think you need to add to fix the Chardonnay. Add 20% of that amount, stir, wait a week, and taste it. Repeat if necessary until it tastes good.

If you blindly add the calculated amount, it may be too much, and you'll be reducing the acid again. Thus the yo-yo effect.

The enemy of Good is not Bad, it's Better, as in "this is good but I can make it better."

Rice_Guy · Dec 19, 2022

Welcome to Wine Making Talk

Yes one can increase the pH and then undo this. I pay attention to pH in the must since pH is the driver for many chemical reactions including reducing which micro families can grow. ,,,, how bad are the numbers? At or below pH 3.5 is OK.
TA for me tends to be high (country wines mainly). TA is balanced at bottling usually by adding sugar (and sorbate if young).