Hello everyone, firstly I would like to say Hi!
I'm a newbie to the forum and I would like to ask a question to all winemakers out there, I'm really having trouble getting my head around measuring TA in my wine must (well translating what it means anyways!)
Firstly a little about me, well I like to dabble in a bit of homebrew, usually making beers, ciders, fruit concoctions and kick ass ginger beer but I've recently decided to make a wine. Usually I just concoct a recipe or experiment and end up with something worthwhile drinking (or in some cases not!) but with my wine I want to be, lets say more thorough and true to winemaking as there's a lot to consider. I have been doing a lot of reading but there's so much to learn and glean from people whom know their stuff! Basically I have a plum based wine in the fermenting bucket, 3 gallons consisting of 3.5kilos Plums mashed, 1.5kilos Blueberry and 0.5kilos Summer fruits - Raspberry/Blackberry/Blackcurrant/Redcurrant. Not from any recipe I've found online or owt but just some fruits from many recipes I've viewed/read/researched and thought they sound like they'd make a good wine lol :) The must has been sterilized with Campden Tablets for 24hrs, Pectonase then added post CT addition - 24 hrs at approx. 6pm this evening and has a current SG of around 1.070. I will be aiming for 1.090 but the pectolase is still working its magic, the SG reading was taken before addition of the enzyme. Sooo, I thought I was ready this evening to test my TA and roll with pitching/acid blend addition as I thought I had an ok understanding of this TA malarky. My Ritchies Acid Test kit turned up last night and after reading the instructions the overall TA is expressed as PPT Sulphuric which has really thrown me from everything i've been researching and reading. Everything I have read/researched is in %v/v or g/L and i'm finding it hard to find a conversion, or any tables suggesting an aim point for a red fruit wine in PPT... i.e I was aiming for 0.60% acidity but have no idea how this would be expressed as PPT. The more I try to read, the more I get confused or find the information contradictory or to my googling knowledge not available - too much knowledge is a dangerous thing! I read on Grapestompers how to test acidity with a similar kit and it kinda seems the same but the expression of how to 'calculate' overall TA but its not PPT per se and % v/v as I thought I would be using. I have tested the acidity now (this is an edit) and the PPT consistently comes out around 3.5PPT (3.5mls of NaOH added). Would using the explanation on Grapestompers (i'm using this as reference but similar info has been read on other sites/forums) still be a correct analysis of my TA. This is a quote from their page:
When the color (either pink or gray) DOESN'T go away, stop and determine the amount of reagent used. From here, it is very simple to determine the acidity of your must. For each cc of reagent used, this equals 0.1 % TA.
For example, if you used 6 cc of sodium hydroxide to react with the must, the titratable acidity of your must is 0.6 %.
As example they use X amount of must and titrate but I understand that the volume of must is of no consequence in relation to total TA?!? I followed the the Ritchie kit instructions, 5mls of must, equivalent vol in dionized water and then titrate. 3.5mls = 3.5PPT. So i guess really my question would be is this equivalent to 0.35% TA. The Ritchie kit references that between 3 and 4PPT is sufficient for home wines but if the above is true then this is a bit short of the recommended 0.5 - 0.6% TA for red fruit wines as referenced in books and info available online. Please can someone help and clarify if I have this right in my head or if i'm barking up the wrong tree. I really don't want to over acidify my must if i have this wrong. Some expert advice would really really be appreciated. Thanks so much. Kyle, a confused newbie.
I'm a newbie to the forum and I would like to ask a question to all winemakers out there, I'm really having trouble getting my head around measuring TA in my wine must (well translating what it means anyways!)
Firstly a little about me, well I like to dabble in a bit of homebrew, usually making beers, ciders, fruit concoctions and kick ass ginger beer but I've recently decided to make a wine. Usually I just concoct a recipe or experiment and end up with something worthwhile drinking (or in some cases not!) but with my wine I want to be, lets say more thorough and true to winemaking as there's a lot to consider. I have been doing a lot of reading but there's so much to learn and glean from people whom know their stuff! Basically I have a plum based wine in the fermenting bucket, 3 gallons consisting of 3.5kilos Plums mashed, 1.5kilos Blueberry and 0.5kilos Summer fruits - Raspberry/Blackberry/Blackcurrant/Redcurrant. Not from any recipe I've found online or owt but just some fruits from many recipes I've viewed/read/researched and thought they sound like they'd make a good wine lol :) The must has been sterilized with Campden Tablets for 24hrs, Pectonase then added post CT addition - 24 hrs at approx. 6pm this evening and has a current SG of around 1.070. I will be aiming for 1.090 but the pectolase is still working its magic, the SG reading was taken before addition of the enzyme. Sooo, I thought I was ready this evening to test my TA and roll with pitching/acid blend addition as I thought I had an ok understanding of this TA malarky. My Ritchies Acid Test kit turned up last night and after reading the instructions the overall TA is expressed as PPT Sulphuric which has really thrown me from everything i've been researching and reading. Everything I have read/researched is in %v/v or g/L and i'm finding it hard to find a conversion, or any tables suggesting an aim point for a red fruit wine in PPT... i.e I was aiming for 0.60% acidity but have no idea how this would be expressed as PPT. The more I try to read, the more I get confused or find the information contradictory or to my googling knowledge not available - too much knowledge is a dangerous thing! I read on Grapestompers how to test acidity with a similar kit and it kinda seems the same but the expression of how to 'calculate' overall TA but its not PPT per se and % v/v as I thought I would be using. I have tested the acidity now (this is an edit) and the PPT consistently comes out around 3.5PPT (3.5mls of NaOH added). Would using the explanation on Grapestompers (i'm using this as reference but similar info has been read on other sites/forums) still be a correct analysis of my TA. This is a quote from their page:
When the color (either pink or gray) DOESN'T go away, stop and determine the amount of reagent used. From here, it is very simple to determine the acidity of your must. For each cc of reagent used, this equals 0.1 % TA.
For example, if you used 6 cc of sodium hydroxide to react with the must, the titratable acidity of your must is 0.6 %.
As example they use X amount of must and titrate but I understand that the volume of must is of no consequence in relation to total TA?!? I followed the the Ritchie kit instructions, 5mls of must, equivalent vol in dionized water and then titrate. 3.5mls = 3.5PPT. So i guess really my question would be is this equivalent to 0.35% TA. The Ritchie kit references that between 3 and 4PPT is sufficient for home wines but if the above is true then this is a bit short of the recommended 0.5 - 0.6% TA for red fruit wines as referenced in books and info available online. Please can someone help and clarify if I have this right in my head or if i'm barking up the wrong tree. I really don't want to over acidify my must if i have this wrong. Some expert advice would really really be appreciated. Thanks so much. Kyle, a confused newbie.
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