"Dan Emerson" wrote:

I just bought 250 pounds of Peter Brehm cabernet grapes from northern
California. They were harvested September 21 with a Brix of 26.5, pH
of 3.41 and TA of 7.95 grams/litre.

The brix seems a little high as does the acid. Any suggestions on how
you would adjust this must? Just ferment out and ML and cold
stabalize to reduce acid? Should I add acidulated water to bring the
brix down? Or just plain water?

First, retest the sugar, pH and acid, before any adjustments. Mistakes can
be made.

The Brix is a bit high (about 15.5% p.a.). If you use an alcohol-tolerant
yeast, you can reduce the alcohol level by stirring the must somewhat
vigorously during fermentation. Depends how low you want to get it.

The pH is ideal (IMO) for a cabernet, and I would be hesitant to adjust it
at all. If you reduce it very much, it will be more difficult to initiate
malolactic fermentation.

The acid is about .15 higher than I would like to have for a cabernet, but
it should come down during fermentation, cold stabilization, and malolactic
fermentation. How much is anyone's guess, but it's not unreasonable to
expect a .15 reduction.

If you do decide to reduce the Brix via dilution, I think plain (or
distilled) water would be better than acidulated, since that will reduce the
TA a bit. Acidulated would increase it.