Wine ph Adjustment

John-Ha

Greetings! I'm new here and am hoping to get a little help from those with more experience than I have.
I've been making fruit wines (typically a 5 gallon batch with 10 lb of fruit - a mix of banana, apple, peach, pear and plum, with a jalapeño pepper) for a few years. Nothing complicated - just brewing in a plastic bucket with an air lock.
The taste is really great but it's always been very hard on the stomach - very acidic. I finally measured the ph of a batch the other day and it's about 2. What I've read suggests that the ph should be in the 3's.
I've read about the carbonates and bicarbonates, but don't have any experience with using them and don't know whether the taste of the wine would be adversely affected if I used enough additive to increase the ph all the way from 2 to 3-ish.
Is there a "best" way to increase the ph a point or so for the whole 5 gallon batch without having too much impact on the flavor?
Thanks!

hawkwing

I’m not sure how you got a pH of 2 with 2lbs of fruit per gallon. How are you testing?

John-Ha

I used a ph test strip. I got them from Amazon.

hawkwing

What range was the strip? Not sure whats so acidic. You can add chalk or potassium carbonate but the issue is you’ll have to cold stabilize it.

IslandLizard

pH test strips are not very accurate. Especially long range ones, like the ones you linked to. They're merely an indication of acidity/alkalinity, but not with the kind precision you'd want for testing acidity in beverages. Your tongue (and stomach) are much better judges as you already noticed.
Look at the top row patches for pH 2 and 3, the only ones that have significance in that range, they look quite similar. The color of the wine itself may add enough tainting to wipe out any of the subtle color difference, while pH 2.0 is 10 times more acidic than pH 3.0. Similar for the difference between pH 3 and pH 4, although arguably a tad more conclusive, not much easier to determine.
I too wonder where all that acid is coming from. What yeast are you using?

John-Ha

I admit it was a bit of a challenge comparing those colors and, as you say, the top row patch was the only one that changed. But my stomach tells me that the wine is really acidic. If I drink more than a glass of it my stomach gets pretty unhappy and I'm into the tums. I guess that's good in a way but I'd really like to fix the issue.
I used Lalvin Bourgovin RC212 yeast for this batch.
Yesterday I did an experiment to see how much I had to dilute the wine to increase the ph. I started with a 1:1 (wine:water) and tested ph. It did change a small amount but didn't really get into the 3-ish range until the ratio was 1:3 (wine:water). There wasn't much taste left at that point so I don't think that's a viable option.
I think I'll have to order some potassium carbonate and try that on a sample. As luck would have it, the cold season is almost here and I have a detached, unheated garage I can use for a refrigerator to cold stabilize the treated wine.
I do sincerely appreciate your time and help. Thank you both!

hawkwing

You might want to get some better testing strips for a more narrow range. I find it highly unlikely it’s inbthe 2 range unless it’s coming from somewhere besides the 2lbs of fruit per gallon. Unless one of them is terribly acidic. Could test the fruits and maybe switch which fruits you are using. Typically you want way more fruit for flavor. Sometimes in the 6-8 lbs per gallon.
Also does it bother other peoples stomachs? You might want to get checked out by a doctor.

John-Ha

I don't know about others' stomachs - I've given some to the neighbors but have not gotten feedback (they may be too polite to tell me it's awful). I know I'm not bothered by store-bought wine or by coffee and tea. So I'm pretty sure it's the wine that's the problem. I'll look into the narrow range ph papers too. Thanks!

troxerX

@John Ha will recommend upgrading to a handheld pH unit as strips might be subjective and unreliable. I have an Apera pH60 as of recently. It’s fabricated with replaceable probe technology (no need to change whole unit if probes gets damaged). It is also built with a sealing o-ring around the probe to facilitate keeping the probe moist with a cup and soaking solution at all times (when not in use) (see second pic below). I paid around $70 in Amazon.

Paul-Swanson

I've been making fruit wines for years, and though the pH is important, what's known as "titratable acidity" is actually more important. The tang you get in your mouth is the result of the total amount of acids in the juice, not so much the pH. Depending on the fruit, these acids are usually a mix of malic, tartaric and citric, each of which have a different taste profile. The way to measure titratable acidity is titrating a known amount of your juice (I use 15 ml) with 0.2 N sodium hydroxide (available in most fermentation shops). The pH will start somewhere between 2-3, as you already know, and then as you add the sodium hydroxide will go up. The end point is pH 7.0 (neutral). I use a portable pH meter like the one shown by a previous viewer.
Depending on the style of wine you're aiming for, the titratable acidity should be between 4.0-7.0 gm/liter (lower for reds/higher for whites or roses. My guess is the plums, especially if they are underripe, are the culprit for the high acidity. If the titratable acidity is way high, the best solution is calcium carbonate as one viewer already pointed out.
One technique I use (but more work!) for fruit wines is to ferment them separately. High acid fruits (red currants, apples, plums) can then be blended (after fermentation and stabilizing) with lower acid fruits (blueberries, bananas, strawberries, peaches) to get the acidity in range. Good luck.

IslandLizard

Calcium Carbonate is also known as Chalk. It's very neutral, just somewhat difficult to dissolve.
Mind, this is not the chalk used on blackboards, which is actually gypsum, Calcium Sulfate.
I'd stay away from using Sodium or Potassium hydroxides or salts in larger amounts (neither above 20-30 ppm, IIRC) as the Na+ and K+ ions can leave a tasteable, weird salty presence, that's impossible to overcome once you've added too much.
Calcium hydroxide (slaked lime) or Calcium based salts generally are much more neutral.