Adding acid to all fruit wines?

[The forager]

I’m new to wine making. I’ve just made a pear wine adding one banana.

I am reading that all fruit wines need acid.

Do I need to add lemon juice, even though it is not called for in the recipe?

 

[toadie]

Welcome to the club. You need a ph meter or test strips. Some fruits are high acid and some are low. Apple and pear are often in the right range.

 

[The forager]

I see. I have PH Strips so will take a reading. Thank you.

 

[toadie]

Forgot to mention that pH btn 3.2 and 3.4 is considered good for fruit wines though it's up to personal taste. Also fruit wines often need backsweetening to really bring out the fruit taste.

 

[The forager]

Thank you. Ok. So that’s adding a little sugar during bottling?

 

[toadie]

That's a whole new set of problems. You have to use k meta and sorbate to stop the yeast. I would sweeten each glass individually if you are just starting unless you want to carbonate and/or get bottle bombs.

 

[The forager]

I did purchase some yeast stopper. Hopefully the wine will be sweet enough. I think I’ll cross that bridge once I sample them. Thank you so much for your help!

 

[iceman_ii]

I did purchase some yeast stopper. Hopefully the wine will be sweet enough. I think I’ll cross that bridge once I sample them. Thank you so much for your help!

Unless you put a crap-ton of sugar in at the beginning, it won't be "sweet enough"... plan on stabilizing and backsweetening. For fruit wines, I use sugar/OSG to hit an ABV target, after fermenting dry. After the sugar is attenuated, I stabilize, backsweeten, clarify (bentonite and keisesol/chitosan), then I usually cold crash, and either bottle or force carb... if you stabilize, you can't bottle condition, if you want sparkling, you have to make it fizzy mechanically, so bottle bombs are not really an issue. I KNOW purists out there will slam me for backsweetening, but country wines need the sweetness.

I have also used erythritol to backsweeten. If you do, you end up with zero calories from carbs, so your beverages are "Keto friendly"

 

[Mallerstang]

It may be a matter of personal taste - I started out following recipes that called for acid blend, but now I usually don't add any. Also I make dry fruit wines, and I don't find they need sweetening.

I mostly use blackberries, blueberries and peaches.

 

[Raptor99]

The acid not only affects the taste, but helps to preserve the wine. If the pH is greater than 3.6 then the wine might not last very long, and you will need a lot more Kmeta to prevent oxidation. So you should drink those wines quickly. If you want to age it for a year or longer, you should get the pH in the 3.4 to 3.6 range.

I always add acid to peach and pear wine, but cranberry wine is already too acidic, so I have to reduce the PH rather than raise it. Each type of fruit is different. Blackberries and blueberries have a little more acid, so you might need to add as much. Peaches and pears need acid.

The amount of acid in a given fruit is dependent on variety, soil, weather, and exact ripeness at harvest, so it is better to measure the pH rather then depend on a recipe.