Need Some Advice On This Chokecherry/Cranberry

[timothyap]

Hello again, I'm really confused on what to do this time..

Have a chokecherry/cranberry in the primary, everything added except yeast and acid blend.

Sat overnight and this morning S.G. is 1.148, I usually adjust the must to not be over 1.100.
I checked acidity and took 4cc of NaOH, which I calculated at 6.67 teaspoons of acid blend.

I then put some must into a graduate and diluted down to a S.G. of 1.100
Did an acid test on that and that took 2cc of NaOH, and calculated at 13.3 teaspoons of acid blend.

The must will be diluted down after I take out the fruit bag, usually takes about 1 1/4 gallon water to get to 5 gallons mark or a little over.

At this point I'm not sure what to do about the amount of acid blend to add, I normally wait until I have the acidity correct before adding yeast.

Thanks,
Tim

 

[Yooper]

Something seems wrong with the readings you're getting- you should need about 0 acid blend with cranberry and chokecherry- how does the must taste? It should like it would be very tart already.

I'd pitch the yeast and not worry about adding acidity at all.

 

[timothyap]

Something seems wrong with the readings you're getting- you should need about 0 acid blend with cranberry and chokecherry- how does the must taste? It should like it would be very tart already.

I'd pitch the yeast and not worry about adding acidity at all.

Yooper, I just tasted it again and it is very sweet.

 

[Yooper]

Ok, but you're diluting it? I didn't really understand what you are attempting, but you don't really want to do acid adjustments (especially adding acid) until the entire must is together, and often you don't want to raise the acidity and lower the pH anyway- usually the reverse is true that you want to raise the pH a bit to drop some of the acid.

 

[timothyap]

Ok, but you're diluting it? I didn't really understand what you are attempting, but you don't really want to do acid adjustments (especially adding acid) until the entire must is together, and often you don't want to raise the acidity and lower the pH anyway- usually the reverse is true that you want to raise the pH a bit to drop some of the acid.

When should the acidity be tested?
I was told to get the must all together except the yeast and acid blend, wait 24 hours, then test acid, and if needed, add acid blend to get to .60%, then if that checks out ok, then add the yeast.
Am I doing this all ass backwards?
How should I be doing this from the start, maybe I have been doing it wrong all along.

 

[Yooper]

Well, definitely if you absolutely need acid adjustments, you can do that when you mix up the must. But you said you're adding a gallons or more of water after- which will totally dilute the must and change the acidity remarkably- so you don't want to do ANY acid adjustments until you are 100% certain that your must is ready and that it absolutely needs it.

The must will be diluted down after I take out the fruit bag, usually takes about 1 1/4 gallon water to get to 5 gallons mark or a little over.

Also, if you're diluting the must you'll also change the SG. So right now your acid and SG measurements are meaningless. You know the titratable acidity of 3.5 gallons, and the SG of 3.5 gallons- but your batch size is 5 gallons so adjusting things now will not be helpful at all.

Sure, you can pitch the yeast now and then pull the fruit bag out in 5 days, and top up, but your SG will be very low when you add 1.5 gallons of water!

What I do is lift up the fruit bag right in primary, so that I have five gallons (more or less) and put the fruit bag back in it. Then take the SG. Once you add pectic enzyme and the fruit breaks down some, you won't get a whole lot more volume but maybe a little.