I've been conversing with a gentleman from New Zealand, Dr. Johan Van
Schalkwyk
(a PhD chemist) for over a year now, and as a result he has developed a
program for
predicting wine acidity changes.

The program asks you for the existing TA, pH and SG values, as well as an
estimation of
the existing acid composition (malic, lactic, succinic, citric, acetic,
tartaric), it asks you
for the desired pH, and then predicts how much tartaric or malic acid to
add to achieve
that goal, and what the TA will be depending on what proportions of
tartaric to malic you add.
If you need to raise the pH, it will predict how much potassium
bicarbonate to add, and
what the TA will be after the addition. If you expect a malo-lactic
fermentation, it will
predict the ending TA after the MLF.

There have been several books written which include analysis of wine acid
compositions,
which can be used as guides if one lacks the laboratory facilities for an
exact analysis.
(As a home winemaker, I do not have access to these facilities.)

We think his new program is ready for some critical review.
Please check it out at:

http://www.anaesthetist.com/mnm/wine/index.htm

Dr. Schalkwyk has been very helpful, and would be willing to work on
improving
this program (when he has the spare time!).

For some interesting background into what makes Dr. Schalkwyk qualified to
write
such a program (he is not a wine maker), check out this link:

http://www.anaesthetist.com/icu/elec/ionz/Stewart.htm

Please let us know what you think of his program!

Regards,

John Wiedenheft

John

Even before I go to look at this, I have some questions:

1. As a simple home hobbyist I will need a simple, _practical_ method
of determining "...estimation of the existing acid composition (malic,
lactic, succinic, citric, acetic, tartaric),...". Where can I find
one ??

2. Will this work for "country" (non-tartaric) wines where tartaric acid
is neither present nor added ??

3. What is the effect on pH in a non-tartaric wine if citric acid is added
rather than malic acid ??

I guess what I am asking is, can this be made useful for anything
_other_ than grape wines ?? TIA

Frederick



wrote in message
lkaboutdrinks.com...
> I've been conversing with a gentleman from New Zealand, Dr. Johan Van
> Schalkwyk
> (a PhD chemist) for over a year now, and as a result he has developed a
> program for
> predicting wine acidity changes.
>
> The program asks you for the existing TA, pH and SG values, as well as an
> estimation of
> the existing acid composition (malic, lactic, succinic, citric, acetic,
> tartaric), it asks you
> for the desired pH, and then predicts how much tartaric or malic acid to
> add to achieve
> that goal, and what the TA will be depending on what proportions of
> tartaric to malic you add.
> If you need to raise the pH, it will predict how much potassium
> bicarbonate to add, and
> what the TA will be after the addition. If you expect a malo-lactic
> fermentation, it will
> predict the ending TA after the MLF.
>
> There have been several books written which include analysis of wine acid
> compositions,
> which can be used as guides if one lacks the laboratory facilities for an
> exact analysis.
> (As a home winemaker, I do not have access to these facilities.)
>
> We think his new program is ready for some critical review.
> Please check it out at:
>
> http://www.anaesthetist.com/mnm/wine/index.htm
>
> Dr. Schalkwyk has been very helpful, and would be willing to work on
> improving
> this program (when he has the spare time!).
>
> For some interesting background into what makes Dr. Schalkwyk qualified to
> write
> such a program (he is not a wine maker), check out this link:
>
> http://www.anaesthetist.com/icu/elec/ionz/Stewart.htm
>
> Please let us know what you think of his program!
>
> Regards,
>
> John Wiedenheft
>

John

Even before I go to look at this, I have some questions:

1. As a simple home hobbyist I will need a simple, _practical_ method
of determining "...estimation of the existing acid composition (malic,
lactic, succinic, citric, acetic, tartaric),...". Where can I find
one ??

2. Will this work for "country" (non-tartaric) wines where tartaric acid
is neither present nor added ??

3. What is the effect on pH in a non-tartaric wine if citric acid is added
rather than malic acid ??

I guess what I am asking is, can this be made useful for anything
_other_ than grape wines ?? TIA

Frederick



wrote in message
lkaboutdrinks.com...
> I've been conversing with a gentleman from New Zealand, Dr. Johan Van
> Schalkwyk
> (a PhD chemist) for over a year now, and as a result he has developed a
> program for
> predicting wine acidity changes.
>
> The program asks you for the existing TA, pH and SG values, as well as an
> estimation of
> the existing acid composition (malic, lactic, succinic, citric, acetic,
> tartaric), it asks you
> for the desired pH, and then predicts how much tartaric or malic acid to
> add to achieve
> that goal, and what the TA will be depending on what proportions of
> tartaric to malic you add.
> If you need to raise the pH, it will predict how much potassium
> bicarbonate to add, and
> what the TA will be after the addition. If you expect a malo-lactic
> fermentation, it will
> predict the ending TA after the MLF.
>
> There have been several books written which include analysis of wine acid
> compositions,
> which can be used as guides if one lacks the laboratory facilities for an
> exact analysis.
> (As a home winemaker, I do not have access to these facilities.)
>
> We think his new program is ready for some critical review.
> Please check it out at:
>
> http://www.anaesthetist.com/mnm/wine/index.htm
>
> Dr. Schalkwyk has been very helpful, and would be willing to work on
> improving
> this program (when he has the spare time!).
>
> For some interesting background into what makes Dr. Schalkwyk qualified to
> write
> such a program (he is not a wine maker), check out this link:
>
> http://www.anaesthetist.com/icu/elec/ionz/Stewart.htm
>
> Please let us know what you think of his program!
>
> Regards,
>
> John Wiedenheft
>