| Making your own wine is a brave step if taken | | | | The testing procedure involves taking a sample of |
| after sampling a number of other bottles. If you | | | | the must and adding a chemical reagent until such |
| have been through the process of tasting what is | | | | point as the mixture does not return to its original |
| commercially available, and feel up to trying to | | | | color upon mixing. From this you will be able to |
| emulate them, then your courage is to be saluted. | | | | judge the percentage level of acidity in your wine. |
| As many of us are no doubt aware, a knowledge | | | | What you are looking for with a red wine is an |
| of the production methods is no guarantee of a | | | | acidity level that falls between 0.6 and 0.7% for a |
| quality end product. Some simple tips can make a | | | | dry wine, or between 0.65 and 0.8% for a sweet |
| big difference to the quality that you produce, | | | | one. If you are using a winemaking kit bought |
| however. One of these would be to remember | | | | from a supplier, this really is not something that |
| the importance of adjusting red wine acidity. | | | | you need to worry about. They will have |
| Particularly troublesome in wine growing | | | | pre-mixed the concentrate so that it has the right |
| environments where the climate is routinely very | | | | acidity level. If, however, you have tested the |
| hot, acidity of grapes can make for a | | | | wine and found it to have too low an acidity level |
| disappointing bottle of wine. Knowing when and | | | | you will need to add a product called "acid blend". |
| how to attenuate this problem can really pay off, | | | | A mix of citric acid, tartaric acid and malic acid - |
| especially if you want to sell your wine | | | | the three acids found in detectable levels in a |
| commercially. | | | | bottle of wine - this will bring the levels up to |
| Adjusting the acidity of the wine is something | | | | where they need to be if added in the right |
| that needs to take place at the "must" stage | | | | amount. |
| which comes just after the grapes have been | | | | If you need to decrease the acidity, it is a matter |
| pressed. The juice will by this stage have been | | | | of adding either calcium carbonate or Acidex by |
| freed and you will be able to identify in it the liquid | | | | reference to the manufacturer's instructions, |
| which will become wine. You will need to take a | | | | instead of adding an acid blend. As one would |
| measure of the acidity levels using a testing kit - | | | | expect, the relevance of acid levels in a batch of |
| these are easy to find on the Internet - and by | | | | home made wine is most important in terms of |
| following the instructions that come with the kit. | | | | the taste. |