GETTING A HANDLE ON ACIDITY

Starting your juice out with the proper level of acidity is essential.

Acidity is a major component to producing a stable wine with an

agreeable balance and overall character. Without controlling

acidity the result can be a wine that either tastes too sharp at one

extreme, or flat and lifeless at the other.

But there are more reasons for getting a handle on your juice's

acidity than just flavor. Having the correct level of acidity will also

significantly aid the fermentation process and help to inhibit the

growth of unwanted micro-organisms during and after the

fermentation.

Having the proper acidity level in the finished wine will also help to

keep the negative effects of oxidation to a minimum. Finished wines

that are too low in acid can eventually take on a slight raisin or

carmel flavor, and in more extreme cases the wine can turn slightly

brown or orange in color as well.


- Controlling Acidity With Packaged Juices

It is important to note here that when making wine with packaged

juices, acidity is not such an issue. Most all of the juices that have

been packaged specifically for the purpose of making wine have

had their acidity pre-adjusted for you.

This is one of the major benefits of making wine with such

products--variables such as acidity do not need to be addressed

by the winemaker. They need only to follow the directions that came

with the product.


- Controlling Acidity With Fresh Fruit

Acidity varies drastically from fruit to fruit. You’ll never pucker eating

a banana, but it has fruit acids just as gooseberries or limes do--just

less of it. Not only does acidity vary from one fruit to the next, the

same fruits can vary in acidity from season to season and from

variety to variety.

Also, the amount of fruit you use per each gallon of wine depends

on the type of wine being made as well. For example, when making

wine from most domesticated grapes, you will use about 15 pounds

for every gallon of wine, but when making wine from elderberries

only 2 to 4 pounds are necessary for each gallon of wine.

This is because elderberries are packed with much more flavor per

pound than grapes. If 15 pounds of elderberries were used to

produce 1 gallon of wine, the results would be undrinkable.

So, when you couple the fact that fruits vary in acidity and the

amount of fruit called for from one wine to the next varies too, then

it starts to become clear that getting a handle on your juice's acidity

is a necessity to making wine.


- Working With A Recipe

If you have a solid, proven recipe to work from then it is possible to

get by without monitoring your juice's acidity. Just add the

ingredients to your juice as called for in the recipe.

These recipes, if from a reliable source, will usually put your acidity

in the correct range for a sound fermentation. A final tweaking for

acidity can be done at bottling time either by taste or by testing.


- Testing Your Juice's Acidity

There are two basic ways to check your juice's acidity level. The

cheapest and quickest way is to use pH testing strips (litmus

papers). They are, for the most part, accurate enough for most

home winemaking situations.

However, pH strips are not the most accurate way to check acidity

levels. pH strips test for all acids in the juice regardless of how

sharp they are to taste. So you can get deceptive readings in rare

situations when comparing pH to actual imparted acidic flavor.

When using pH strips, you are looking for a reading of about 3.8 to

3.4. The pH scale works backwards. So it is important to remember

that the lower the pH number the higher your acidity will be.

The pH strips we offer are listed on our web site at the following link:

pH Testing Strips

The second and most accurate way to test a juice’s acidity is by

doing a titration. With just a couple of minutes of practice, you can

easily master this procedure.

A titration kit measures acidity in relation to how sharp the wine

actually tastes on the tongue. The readings are usually given in

"Percent Tartaric." Which means that, for example, with a reading

of .70% tartaric, the acid makes up 7 tenths of 1 percent of the

wine's total volume.

Here is a listing of acidity ranges based on the type of wine being

made:

.55% to .65% - Fruit Wines
.60% to .70% - Red Wines
.65% to .75% - White Wines

The acid titration kit we offer comes with very complete directions. It

is listed on our web site at the following link:

Acid Test Kit

- Raising Your Juice's Acidity

Raising the level of acidity in your juice if very simple. You add

more acid.

There are three fruit acids commonly used for increasing a juice’s

acidity. They are: tartaric, citric and malic. You can buy them

individually or buy them blended together as an "Acid Blend."

Acid Blend is most commonly used by most winemakers and is what

is called for in most wine making recipes. All of these fruit acids

come in a granulated form that will dissolve very easily in the juice.

If using a titration reading, making an adjustment is very simple. For

every teaspoon of fruit acid you add to a gallon of juice, you will

increase the titration reading by .15% tartaric.

This means, for example, that if you have a juice with a reading of

.55% tartaric, and you want the juice to read .70% tartaric, all you

need to do is add one level teaspoon to each gallon of that wine.

If using pH readings, then it is not so straight forward. pH is not an

even scale. That is to say the amount of acid needed to get from

3.9 to 3.8 (remember, backward scale) is different than the amount

of acid needed to get from 3.8 to 3.7 for a given volume.

So, there is really no way to tell someone how much acid is needed

to get from point A to point B on a pH scale. Trial and error becomes

necessary in this case. It is safe to say that 1/4 teaspoon per gallon

would be a good starting amount when adjusting by pH.

If the batch is of considerable size you could use a "bench test"

method. This is done by taking off a measured portion of juice, say

1 gallon, and add measured portions of Acid Blend to it to establish

a dose that can be used for the entire batch.

This is a very safe method, because if you accidentally added too

much acid to the sample all you do is add it back to the rest of the

batch and start all over.


- Lowering Your Juice's Acidity

In most all situations you will be adjusting the acidity up not down,

but there are rare occasions where the acidity may need to be

lowered.

One situation that comes to mind is when making wine with grapes

that come from growing regions with shorter seasons than that of

say California. The juice from these grapes can be too tart and

quite often needs to be lowered.

Or, there may be a time when too much acid is mistakenly added to

the juice. In either case your choices are the same:

- Before the fermentation, you can dilute the juice with a mixture of

sugar and water--4 cups sugar to each gallon of water.

- Or after the fermentation, dilute the finished wine with water or

another wine with similar character.

- In more drastic situations you can use acid neutralizers such as

our Acid Reducing Crystals.

- Or in a very extreme case you can use a combination of any of

the above.


- Related Articles:

"Controlling Oxidation In Your Wines"

"Blending To Improve Home Made Wines"


- For more information about the various fruit acids we offer, go to

the following link on our web site:

Fruit Acids

For more information about the Acid Reducing Crystals we offer go

to the following link on our web site:

Acid Reducing Crystals
 

To receive our free winemaking newsletter! Click Here

E. C. Kraus

Home Wine & Beer Making Supplies

Address: 733 S. Northern Blvd. - P. O. Box 7850 - Independence, MO  64053

Phone:(816) 254-7448  Fax:(816) 254-7051  Toll Free: (800) 353-1906

Email: customerservice@eckraus.com

Copyright (c) 2003-2005, Kraus Sales, L. L. C. All rights reserved. This article may be passed

along to friends and others, as long as it is used in its entirety. Distribution or publishing of

this article in partial or edited form is prohibited.