I just realized that a wine I, and moreso my girlfriend, are enjoying has a
pH of 3.92 !! I have to take samples to work to check as I do not own a pH
meter.Paper strips are not that accurate. I understand that if I don't lower
the pH to about 3.5, I could be inviting spoilage and weakening sulphite
effectiveness. I have other batches that I am adjusting that taste flat
also, using only tartaric acid. Anybody here leave pH levels over 3.5?

On Mar 28, 6:59*am, "Lou" > wrote:
>wine I, and moreso my girlfriend, are enjoying has a pH of 3.92 !!

If the TA is not too low, then adding more tartaric isn't the solution
- it'll just create a new (high TA) problem in place of your old (high
pH) one. I had to deal with something like that; my cherry wine had a
high TA and a high pH. I ended up sweetening to balance the TA, and
just leaving the pH alone:

http://www.washingtonwinemaker.com/b...ugar-and-acid/

I've never done this, but I understand that some people use phosphoric
acid to push the pH down. It has a much bigger impact - gram for gram
- than tartaric, so you move the pH without affecting the TA very
much. It can be dangerous to handle, though, so don't do this unless
you're qualified to work with hazardous chemicals.

Erroll
http://www.washingtonwinemaker.com/

On Mar 28, 9:59*am, "Lou" > wrote:
> I just realized that a wine I, and moreso my girlfriend, are enjoying has a
> pH of 3.92 !! I have to take samples to work to check as I do not own a pH
> meter.Paper strips are not that accurate. I understand that if I don't lower
> the pH to about 3.5, I could be inviting spoilage and weakening sulphite
> effectiveness. I have other batches that I am adjusting that taste flat
> also, using only tartaric acid. Anybody here leave pH levels over 3.5?

I often bottle dry reds with a pH of 3.8, if they taste good they
taste good. They aren't necessarily wines to keep for 10 years, but
there is no need to wait years to drink a soft red and high pH wines
are typically soft. 3.92 is kind of high, I might adjust a bit.

Joe

On Mar 28, 6:59*am, "Lou" > wrote:
> I just realized that a wine I, and moreso my girlfriend, are enjoying has a
> pH of 3.92 !!

That does seem a bit high, but not out of reason. Many commercial reds
are in the neighborhood of 3.8. Remember though that there are a bunch
of factors that play into the overall "impression" that a wine makes
and how well that wine is preserved. If you may find that your home
made wines, left with a higher than average pH, will be out of balance
or won't keep well in the cellar.

Greg G.

wrote:

> On Mar 28, 6:59Â*am, "Lou" > wrote:
>> I just realized that a wine I, and moreso my girlfriend, are enjoying has
>> a pH of 3.92 !!
>
> That does seem a bit high, but not out of reason. Many commercial reds
> are in the neighborhood of 3.8. Remember though that there are a bunch
> of factors that play into the overall "impression" that a wine makes
> and how well that wine is preserved. If you may find that your home
> made wines, left with a higher than average pH, will be out of balance
> or won't keep well in the cellar.
>
> Greg G.

It would be interesting to know if the commercial high pH wines (above 3.5)
are sterile filtered prior to bottling and to know the free SO2 levels at
bottling. My home made wines have not had much of a shelf life at high pH
values - less than a year. Of course, I did not sterile filter either.

Paul E. Lehmann wrote:
> wrote:
>
>> On Mar 28, 6:59 am, "Lou" > wrote:
>>> I just realized that a wine I, and moreso my girlfriend, are enjoying has
>>> a pH of 3.92 !!
>> That does seem a bit high, but not out of reason. Many commercial reds
>> are in the neighborhood of 3.8. Remember though that there are a bunch
>> of factors that play into the overall "impression" that a wine makes
>> and how well that wine is preserved. If you may find that your home
>> made wines, left with a higher than average pH, will be out of balance
>> or won't keep well in the cellar.
>>
>> Greg G.
>
> It would be interesting to know if the commercial high pH wines (above 3.5)
> are sterile filtered prior to bottling and to know the free SO2 levels at
> bottling. My home made wines have not had much of a shelf life at high pH
> values - less than a year. Of course, I did not sterile filter either.

Many commercial wineries sterile filter all their wines.

gene wrote:

> Paul E. Lehmann wrote:
>> wrote:
>>
>>> On Mar 28, 6:59 am, "Lou" > wrote:
>>>> I just realized that a wine I, and moreso my girlfriend, are enjoying
>>>> has a pH of 3.92 !!
>>> That does seem a bit high, but not out of reason. Many commercial reds
>>> are in the neighborhood of 3.8. Remember though that there are a bunch
>>> of factors that play into the overall "impression" that a wine makes
>>> and how well that wine is preserved. If you may find that your home
>>> made wines, left with a higher than average pH, will be out of balance
>>> or won't keep well in the cellar.
>>>
>>> Greg G.
>>
>> It would be interesting to know if the commercial high pH wines (above
>> 3.5) are sterile filtered prior to bottling and to know the free SO2
>> levels at
>> bottling. My home made wines have not had much of a shelf life at high
>> pH
>> values - less than a year. Of course, I did not sterile filter either.
>
> Many commercial wineries sterile filter all their wines.

I know they did their whites. I was not aware of them sterile filtering
their reds but I am not disputing what you say. This means that for a home
winemaker, unless one has sterile filtration equipment, then high pH wines
are very prone to infection with undesirable organisms.

On Mar 30, 6:04*am, "Paul E. Lehmann" >
wrote:
> ...
> It would be interesting to know if the commercial high pH wines (above 3.5)
> are sterile filtered prior to bottling and to know the free SO2 levels at
> bottling. *My home made wines have not had much of a shelf life at high pH
> values - less than a year. *Of course, I did not sterile filter either.

Many commercial reds are pushing 15% alcohol. Some go as high as 17%
(Rombauer Zin comes to mind). That much alcohol certainly improves
shelf life.

Greg G.