when to degas 246I've had a persistent problem with my wines over the last several years, and I suspect the...
That sounds like underripe fruit to me. I had a similar situation to deal with in 1985 with Chardonnay.
The plus side is that you won't need much sulfite to prevent spoilage. The minus side is it's so acidic you could use it in your battery!
You could adjust now with potbuttium carbonate (NEVER sodium, and preferably not calcium), but it may yet go through ML and end up on the low side. Alternatively, you could wait until fermentation is complete.
I think the best course is to do a conservative adjustment now and another later if necessary. It's simply too difficult (if not impossible) to thread the needle at this point.
An addition of 2 grams-liter of KHCO3 sounds a little drastic to me. That would take your 0.98 TA down to 0.68 (after cold stabilization). After ML that number would be lower still. I suppose you could use lysozyme to inhibit ML, but there's still no good way of predicting where the pH would end up - ML or no.
If you adjust the TA of this juice (and I think you should), I'd recommend you go no higher than 1.4 grams-liter KHCO3. You really don't want to overshoot on this. You can hit it again later if need be.
BTW, the others who responded to your question gave you pretty good info too. I suggest that you weigh all of it.
Tom S www.chateauburbank.com
