My question is: What should I do with this melomel that has a high pH and high TA?
Background info:
I have a blackberry melomel that I am making for my wedding in May. This is my 3rd or 4th batch of mead but the 1st where I am trying to do everything correctly.
I made it in mid-Oct, transferred to secondary in mid-Nov. Three days ago, I added campden tabs and ascorbic acid per the instructions(but 3 weeks later than instructed bc I mis-read them). The mead tastes pretty good. It is dry and a little tart in the finish.
FG: 0.994
pH on a dipstick: around 5-6 (I don't have a pH meter)
The next step said to test and adjust titratable acidity. I'm not sure I read the kit correctly but it started changing color around 0.6% and I called it finished at around 0.8-0.9%. Maybe it was finished below 0.8 and I didn't notice but I think that is unlikely.
Both pH and TA seem way too high. I have read this could lead to spoilage issues??? it is possible the ph strips are invalid (several years old). The TA kit is brand new.
Since it tastes ok, should I leave it alone or try to adjust something? The two suggestions I found online are either back-sweeten to around 1.010-1.020 or to adjust pH with phosphoric acid.
I only have 3 gal, so I can't do a lot of batch splitting to try things out and I would like to keep some of this for future consumption. I plan to bottle it after the Christmas holiday if I decide to leave it alone.
Any help or general advice on mead making is appreciated.
Background info:
I have a blackberry melomel that I am making for my wedding in May. This is my 3rd or 4th batch of mead but the 1st where I am trying to do everything correctly.
I made it in mid-Oct, transferred to secondary in mid-Nov. Three days ago, I added campden tabs and ascorbic acid per the instructions(but 3 weeks later than instructed bc I mis-read them). The mead tastes pretty good. It is dry and a little tart in the finish.
FG: 0.994
pH on a dipstick: around 5-6 (I don't have a pH meter)
The next step said to test and adjust titratable acidity. I'm not sure I read the kit correctly but it started changing color around 0.6% and I called it finished at around 0.8-0.9%. Maybe it was finished below 0.8 and I didn't notice but I think that is unlikely.
Both pH and TA seem way too high. I have read this could lead to spoilage issues??? it is possible the ph strips are invalid (several years old). The TA kit is brand new.
Since it tastes ok, should I leave it alone or try to adjust something? The two suggestions I found online are either back-sweeten to around 1.010-1.020 or to adjust pH with phosphoric acid.
I only have 3 gal, so I can't do a lot of batch splitting to try things out and I would like to keep some of this for future consumption. I plan to bottle it after the Christmas holiday if I decide to leave it alone.
Any help or general advice on mead making is appreciated.