Thanks for the advice Bill. I'm always prone to at least one mistake
during the whole procedure. First though I think your estimation of
the amount of juice in the must might be low. These are CV grapes, a
primary blend of Zin,Cab. Sauv., and Sangiovese....4 lugs worth in all.
A lug generally gives me 10 750ml bottles of finished wine, with a
loss of 10-15% during the process. This would be about 8.75 US gallons.
However, the acid level seems off to me. I think I will get new
solutions and retest before I add anything at all. One disadvantage is
my lack of a PH meter but thats another story. And if additions are to
be made they will surely be made in steps and slowly.


William Frazier wrote:
> andyjone - My first question would be what kind of grapes are these and do
> you really want the starting TA to be 0.70%.
> If you're sure you want to raise acid this much here's what I think will be
> required.
>
> You have 11 gallons of crushed grapes. I believe this will contain about
> 7.4 gallons of juice which is the same as 28009 ml. At 0.3%TA the juice
> contains 84grams acid. At 0.7%TA the juice will contain 196grams acid. So,
> you will have to add 112grams acid. But, if these were my grapes I would
> add portions of the acid, each dissolved in water, and stir the must like
> crazy. I would have my pH meter in the must as I did this and would be very
> careful not to let pH drop too low. Do these additions slow taking time
> between additions so you can be sure to don't let pH drop too low.
>
> Finally, I would have done the acid additions before adding anything to the
> grapes, especially the yeast.
>
> Bill Frazier
> Olathe, Kansas USA