Marty, I made Regina Merlot this year and my acid and pH were identical to yours. (The SG was 1.086 since yours has probably started fermenting slowly.) I got it on 10-01-05. I did not add acid at that point; I'll measure mine now and get back to you. This went through cold stabilization already as a heads up.
Getting startedPlease help 159It is need...or neat. New winemakers are generally advised to start with a wine kit. Kit manufacturers are pretty adept at walking a newbie successfully thru the process...
Regina acids tend to go up relative to TA, pH is not too predictable for me yet. I don't have enough data to say.
Help! funny smell You got Hydrogen Sulfide! 158Stu Pedaso You have come down with the dreaded Hydrogen Sulfide disease my friend! Hydrogen Sulfide forms during fermentation when there is an excess of Sulfur present on the grapes due...
The only thing they do that annoys me is adding citric to balance acids; I hate that. I've never had one go to vinegar but that is a good way to do it if you are trying to. That said the juice is decent and incredibly cheap so I'm not complaining. (I would pay you the extra money for tartaric if any of the Pantaleo's or Lamanuzzis are listening).
gene I never bump a Regina red beyond 5.5 g-l preferment as a heads up, it's just to acidic after fermenting for my taste. I don't do ML on them either, so that would be a good option if going that route. I'm not seeing the flabby on mine though; maybe I just prefer lighter acids or maybe Marty does ML and it drops enough malic out that it ends up flabby. These are hot climate grapes so you don't treat them exactly the same as you would must from cold climates.
Heavy & LightA main contributor to perception of "body" in wine is alcohol content. Earlier in the game...
Great idea but I would shoot higher on TA; maybe even go by pH and take it to 3.4 or lower. You can always cold stabilize it back out. That should really help define the flabbiness. It would be a great experiment since it's all the same must; I might blend them all together first thought to make sure the starting point is the same.
Not that I am suggesting experimenting with someone else's money...
Joe
