WineXpert pH and TA looking odd

[Monty Knapp]

I was just about to bottle a Wine Expert Stags Leap Merlot - when I found that the ph was 3.55 and the TA was 0.80%. All my previous red wine kits ended up with a pH around 3.4. A pH of 3.55 isn't bad (correct me if I'm wrong), but seems a little "off".
And the TA is a bit higher than I've seen before (never seen anything higher than 0.75%) .
Are these numbers bad? Or am I just over reacting?
I mixed the must exactly per instructions.
Fermented in a bucket until fermentation was almost complete. SG at 0.997. (Yes, should have transferred to secondary sooner.)
Transferred to secondary on day 10. Fermentation all but complete. Airlock under slight pressure. Should have had a CO2 blanket from dissolved CO2 escaping during transfer/agitation.
Racked, degassed, stabilized, cleared on day 16. Wine very dark. No light through carboy with flashlight.
Kept the oak cubes provided with the kit in the wine until day 213 when filtered.
Added 20 gram French oak medium toast chips on day 58 after racking. Stayed in wine until filtered on day 213.
Today is day 229. Seven months since fermentation complete.

So - are the pH and TA OK?
Should I just bottle it?
Any constructive criticism? I'm open to learning.

 

[cmason1957]

Numbers don't tell much of the story at this point in the process. How does it taste to you?

And to be perfectly honest, I have no idea what the pH and ta are of any of the probably 50 kits I have made. I did check one, thought it was messed up, changed it and ruined the wine.

 

[Monty Knapp]

Tasting very sour for a 7 month old wine.

 

[ZebraB]

I never made this kit and fairly new to winemaking but according to the following article, the PH and TA are in range for that variety of grape

https://www.smartwinemaking.com/post/optimal-sugar-and-acid-levels-for-popular-wine-grape-varieties

 

[Monty Knapp]

I never made this kit and fairly new to winemaking but according to the following article, the PH and TA are in range for that variety of grape

https://www.smartwinemaking.com/post/optimal-sugar-and-acid-levels-for-popular-wine-grape-varieties

Looks like they are in range. I've rarely had a final pH that high - and never had a TA greater than .75. Given that the wine tastes so sour, I thought something was wrong.
I'll just bottle it and let it age.

 

[Rice_Guy]

I doubt most consumers can taste the difference between pH 3.4 and 3.55.

TA of 0.8% is acceptable, TA seems to dominate consumer perception of taste differences, living in Midwest hybrid grape country I add sugar to balance flavor with high TA grape.

 

[Joe_Sallo]

If it tastes tart to you and you like tart reds then bottle it but its too high for me for a red. You can try cold stabilizing or MLF to reduce the acid Or potassium bicarbonate. Cold stabilizing is where i would start. You are sure your NAOH is ok, right? It deteriorates over time. If the acid is high and you feel its tart the NAOH is probably fine.

 

[Johnd]

You can try cold stabilizing or MLF to reduce the acid

@Monty Knapp , it’s not advisable to conduct MLF with a kit wine in general. If you added Kmeta and KSorbate in the step you referred to in the o.p. as “stabilized”, MLF would ruin the wine and isn’t an option. Kit wines are balanced with malic acid, which is man made, and mlb will purportedly have no affect upon it. Also, the wine is 229 days old, no doubt sulfited several times, no mlb would work in that environment. There are other, viable options, don’t waste your money on MLF attempts.

 

[Joe_Sallo]

Good point on mlb, missed the stabilization comment and it would ruin it if sorbate was already added. Is 8g/l normal on a kit red? Seems high.

 

[Johnd]

Good point on mlb, missed the stabilization comment and it would ruin it if sorbate was already added. Is 8g/l normal on a kit red? Seems high.

BTW, see you just made your first post, welcome to WMT!!

Though I did 50+ kits early in my winemaking journey, and checked the occasional pH, don't recall ever running TA's on any of them. In red wine from grapes, 8g/L would be a bit on the high side for me, but it's not badly out of range, and not really sure what the kit makers have in mind in terms of TA when they create them. Having done the SLM quite a few times, can't recall it being overly acidic, though all of my wines were barrel aged for months, stored in carboys, and not bottled until a year or older. Didn't start drinking them for many months after that. Time in a barrel, carboy, and bottle will mellow a wine, so my remembrance may be distorted when comparing it to a 7 month old wine..........

 

[Joe_Sallo]

Thanks. My reds are usually from grapes, some juice. Seems odd to add much malic to balance a kit wine, I followed your comment on the man made malic too, I remember one isomer can be converted but the other cant but cant recal which, L or M. I used to touch my grape wines up with 2/3 tartaric, the rest malic, usually just use tartaric now. I thought I had a winemaking talk account years ago, but apparently no. Been making wine for a while.