Strawberry wine pH - too low?

[Bliorg]

Hi all -

I have a batch of strawberry wine in primary right now, though it's getting racked this weekend. Just tasted it, and it's sour to the point of undrinkable. I titrated acid and adjusted to 0.6% before fermentation per the kit instructions using acid blend. pH right now is at 3.1.

What are my options? I think there's going to be some room to top off when racked to secondary, so there's that. Do I make an adjustment now, or do I let it finish fermentation and let it clear. I'm not sure the flavor will come around that much between now and then. I"m disappointed - have read a lot of good things about strawberry, and this is definitely not what I was expecting/hoping for.

Thanks,
Scott

 

[Boatboy24]

I think you're fine where you are. There's a lot going on in that young wine and you're not only tasting a 'green' wine, but one that has a lot of CO2 in it. Wait until all is finished. As this is a fruit wine, I assume you'll be sweetening. That will balance things out.

 

[salcoco]

Carbolic acid developed during fermentation by the co2 will skew any measurements taken now. as suggested wait until wine is clear in about two months and then check taste and measurements.

 

[user 36973]

Agree with @Boatboy24 that the flavors and perceived tartness will settle as the wine clears and after you back sweeten it.

I've made a lot of strawberry wine over the last number of years. I use 100% strawberries and no water. The pH typically runs about 3.6 with the TA being upwards of 10-11 g/L. Definitely needs back sweetening for balance but is loaded with flavor.

Not sure how you could get to your pH and TA numbers. Lots of diluting water and citric acid in the kit juice? Those numbers are not bad for wine, just unusual for strawberries. Hopefully the strawberry flavor is still strong enough.

 

[Bliorg]

Thanks all. I'd forgotten about the CO2 adding acid to the must. I'd hoped to not back sweeten this, but depending on how the acid ends up, may need to to balance.

jgmillr1, this is a six gallon batch with 24 pounds of fruit. I split it into two 5 gallon buckets (thinking it wouldn't all fit into one 7.9 gallon bucket) and just covered the fruit with water. After mashing a bit and mixing, I used a kit to titrate the acid and made an addition of blend to the 0.6% I'd read about. I have a pH meter to measure pH. Of the initial 24 pounds of fruit, there may be a couple pounds of pulp left in the straining bags.

Scott

 

[user 36973]

Thanks for the details. I use about twice as much strawberries per gallon as your recipe, which explains why your TA is close to half what i usually see. The pH seems low but that might a calibration offset.

Regardless, the wine should be fine and need minimal back sweetening at that TA. Cheers