pH for my Perfect T'ej BOMM is @ 9!! Please help

[Dan O]

Good morning, fellow mazers. Firstly, I will apologize for the lengthy post.

Last night I made 3 separate meads from Bray Denard's website. The one that has me concerned is the Perfect T'ej BOMM, that came in @ a whopping 9 on my pH test strips! I followed the recipe exactly.
My question is, is there a way to fix this? Do I need an acid blend or some kind of acid?

The Perfect T'ej BOMM
1. Add 3.45 lbs of Orange Blossom honey to carboy (SG ~1.135).
2. Add 1.89 grams (0.4 tsp) Fermaid K, 3.15 grams (0.7 tsp) Fermaid O and 2.075 grams (1/4 tsp) K2CO3.
-Add 3.15 grams (0.7 tsp) Fermaid O again at 1.100 & 1.070.
3. Add 0.5 oz gesho. No boil.
4. Add water to 1/2 cup shy of gallon.
5. Add a smack pack of Wyeast 1388

SG was 1.141 for mine. Bray's was 1.135
pH for Poland Springs water is 7.2 .
Temperatures for both the starter and the must were 68°F.
Nutrients were measured on a gram scale. And the yeast was one smackpack of Wyeast 1388 made into a 2000 ml starter (1 tsp Goferm, 1/2 cup Orange Blossom honey, Poland Springs spring water to 2000ml) 3 days prior to pitch.
(So I had enough to do all three 1 gallons batches) That yeast is expensive!! Gotta maximize the booze I can make out of one envelope.
The other two Meads pH came in at 4 and 5, but, .....9 is just way too high.
I'm still new to this hobby, (1st batch 1 July 2020) but, I'm loving making my own, instead of buying it.
Thank you, in advance, for any help that anybody can give me. It will be greatly appreciated.

BTW, everything that comes into contact with the must is sanitized in starsan prior to starting, including the water jugs & yeast smackpack.

 

[bernardsmith]

Test strips? I wonder if they might be faulty. Have you checked the strips against known pH solutions (buffering liquids used to calibrate pH meters). Very hard for me to accept that any mead could possibly be as alkaline as a pH of 9. If you don't have access to these solutions (usually one is about 4, one is about 7 and one is about 9) check the pH of some vinegar (pH around 3) and some distilled water (ph of around 7). If you have some store bought wine you might check the pH of that too (I would expect that to be around 3 - 3.5)

 

[Dan O]

Thank you for replying. Are pH strips generally faulty or unreliable? Never looked into a pH meter. I have no access to pH solutions as you mentioned, but, I will check against the vinegar & distilled water. Guess I'll be looking on Amazon tonight. Any recommendations on a good one?

 

[Dan O]

I don't generally buy wine. I buy meads from meaderies local to me, but, rarely wine. However, Sweet Baby Vineyards, in my town, makes a phenomenal raspberry wine that I swill down like ice cold water on a sweltering day...(hic) I do happen to have a bottle of that on hand. Guess I'll be having some wine tonight while searching for a pH meter

 

[CKuhns]

Are pH strips generally faulty or unreliable?

In and of themselves pH strips typically are not faulty or unreliable but do have a large range in variability. They do have a shelf life and some are designed for a specific a range. (Check to be sure you have pH strips are that have a good shelf life and are good for the expected value. In this case I would expect the value to be somewhere between 2 and 5. Some strips are only good for a range of say 7 - 12, 4-7 or 0-6 etc while others claim to cover the entire range.

With that said, they are well known to mis-represent the pH of a product IF the solution your measuring carries some color (Like Mead) and or is left in the solution or read after a longer than recommended time. (Typically the directions say something like submerge for 3-5 seconds and read after 10-15 seconds. I'm making numbers up here but something like that.) Finally, we all seem to perceive colors a little differently and what one may interpret as a 3 pH another may interpret as a 2 or 4. But not a 3 to a 9...

 

[Dan O]

Well, I'll be ordering a pH meter tonight, along with calibration fluid. The pH strips I have could be considered suspect, my work was tossing them. I had no idea they had a shelf life. No matter, I'd rather have something that shows me a number vs. matching colors. One's perception of color will vary person to person as you stated, CKuhns. In the meantime, do I just let the brew sit & wait for the pH meter to show up? If it really is high, like the test strip suggests, what are my options?

 

[CKuhns]

Wont really hurt it to let it sit a few days as long as you keep an airlock on it.

Just to be clear honey disolved in water and thus your must prior to fermentation typically has a pH <5 and the fermentation process reduces the pH / increases acidity. A 9 pH does not make sense to me. Could it be? Sure, but not very likely!

Here is a pretty good link that might help understand it a bit better
https://blog.hannainst.com/honey-wine
The pH of a solution is a measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions in the solution. A solution with a high number of hydrogen ions is acidic and has a low pH value. A solution with a high number of hydroxide ions is basic and has a high pH value. The pH scale ranges from 0 to 14, with a pH of 7 being neutral.

If in fact your mead is a 9 pH then you have a basic mead and need to add acid to reduce the pH. Increasing acid levels in a wine / mead chemically is pretty straight forward. I would add tartaric acid in small increments by disolving a half to 1tsp of acid at a time in a small amount of your mead and adding it being sure to mix it in to your carboy well.

 

[Dan O]

CKuhns, looks like you were right. I found the expiration date on my pH strips. Expired Dec 2018. When I got home from work today all 3 were bubbling like mad, so, false alarm for me. Sorry to have wasted anybody's time. I did order a pH meter as soon as I got home tonight, but, it won't be here till Saturday. By then I'm sure the pH will have changed some, but, I will still check it anyways. Thank you again for your replies & advice. I really appreciate it.

Is that the acid you would typically add or is there a specific reason you go with that particular one? I only ask because I have seen citric acid & another one called acid blend. Just curious for your reason of choice. Or is it just personal preference for the mead drinker? Mouth feel & such?

 

[Dan O]

Thank you , also, for the link. There's a lot of information on that site.

 

[CKuhns]

Is that the acid you would typically add or is there a specific reason you go with that particular one? I only ask because I have seen citric acid & another one called acid blend. Just curious for your reason of choice. Or is it just personal preference for the mead drinker? Mouth feel & such?

@Dan O - I would use Tartaric to lower the pH as it is the strongest acid of the three and is less likely to convert to something else. I do tend to use the acid blend Malic, Citric, Tartaric for mouth feel and that little "bite" to adjust after fermentation is complete.

 

[Dan O]

I would use Tartaric to lower the pH as it is the strongest acid of the three and is less likely to convert to something else. I do tend to use the acid blend Malic, Citric, Tartaric for mouth feel and that little "bite" to adjust after fermentation is complete.

Thank you very much. It's nice knowing there are people who are willing to share their knowledge to help others improve, learn & understand the world of mead making. This is promising to be a fun ride.(& tasty, I might add)

 

[bernardsmith]

Here's another thing to consider, Dan O. pH is critical more for shelf life of the wine or mead. A lower pH (a more acidic solution) is less susceptible to spoilage bacteria and other organisms. A higher pH is far more easily spoiled. This is why wine makers measure the pH - it helps them determine how much free SO2 their wine needs to help it age without spoiling. But the pH has very little to do with taste. On the other hand, a too low pH (below say, 2.8) may prevent fermentation altogether as the yeast can only tolerate so much acidity.

Flavor and taste is very different - here you are looking for the AMOUNT of acids in solution - not the STRENGTH of the acids. pH deals with a measure of the strength of the acids NOT how much acid is in solution (so you can have a tiny amount of a very strong acid or a huge amount of a very weak acid) - Taste is about the amount and the amount of acid is measured as grams/liter and for a bright wine or mead rather than one that tastes dull and blah you want about 6g/L of acidity (could be a little more)... and with a pH meter you can monitor that if you add an alkaline base (Sodium Hydroxide) to the wine and measure the amount of that base you added to bring the pH reading to 8.2 . In other words, your pH meter - when calibrated can give you the pH (strength of the acids) of your wines and mead and the TA (the amount of acids in your wines) . There are full instructions and guidance on measuring TA in this forum and online in other sites ... but given that TA is all about flavor your tongue is a good practical tool for "measuring" TA. How bright and "sharp" does your wine taste - too sharp? then you might want to reduce the TA. Too dull and blah then you may need to sharpen it by increasing the TA (and note TA and pH may work in opposite directions)...

 

[Dan O]

Wow. Good info. Thank you, @bernardsmith . I am grateful & appreciate all who are willing to share knowledge.

 

[Dan O]

Just a T'ej update.
I racked 4 other meads on Thursday, Kickin coffee, delicious dandelion, very tart cranberry, & a very beginners knock-off of a JAOM,
I decided to check the gravity....(& a shot of) the T'ej to see how it was coming along. 1.030 & scrumptious!
Thanks, again, to all who helped with my original question. I have since gotten a pH meter