(Negodki) wrote in message m...
"Louise Gagnon" wrote:

Are you guys saying that if I bring my PH to 3.4 by adding Tartaric acid, I
will have the right acidity?

3.4 is the target pH for a red wine. I believe that 3.2 is the target
for white wines. The precise amount may vary depending on individual
tastes, opinions, type of grape, etc. But those are the normal
targets. A variation of +/- .2 will still keep you within the outside
limits of the "acceptable" range.

This may or may not bring your TA to it's "target", but the consensus
seems to be that the pH is a much more important figure. Conversely,
bringing the TA to the correct range will probably (but not
necessarily) bring the pH into the correct range. But if pH is the
more important value, it makes sense to adjust it directly.

Assuming the preceding discussion to be correct, if you take a
measured sample of must, and measure the pH, you can add Tartaric acid
to LOWER the pH, and Calcium or Potassium Carbonate to INCREASE the
pH, until your target pH is met. Then, if you kept track of how many
grams of acid or carbonate were added, you can add the proportional
weight/volume amount to the main must.

This procedure seems to be much simpler and less error prone than
titrating to determine the TA, computing the adjustment to be made,
and then testing again to see how accurate your calculations were.



Hmm, I tend to respectfully disagree with this too general statement.
It might be allright if you stick to grapes only but when making
fruitwines, or worse flower wines, the lack of buffer will greatly
affect pH.

Just one example: Pear wine, following Lum's recipe. TA is adjusted to
0.65% . It's dry and the pH of this wine after a year still is (don't
jump) 2.7 . Taste is fabulous! And yes, the meter was properly
calibrated. In addition I can say that I have put batches aside with
lower acidity (TA 0.45%), pH also below 3 but clearly without bite.

So oversimplicity like saying pH is perceived acidity, therefore EQUAL
to your tastebuds is plainly wrong!
As a winemaker with only 5 years experience I think TA readings and
adjustments are an important reference tool to follow up recipes and
train your tastebuds for the right amount of acid, considering the
differences in base material. In that respect I think it's more
important than pH.

Rene.