pH sweet-spot for mead? (CaCO3 pH adjustment)

[ondiferi]

Hi,

I made a pandan mead recently, it's been aging for 3 months now and after giving it a taste the acidity was at 3.30 which was way too low to my taste. I'm trying to raise it to something more acceptable, using CaCO3. I added 1/2 tsp ground CaCO3 to the 20L / 4.5 gallon (17.03 L) batch 10 days ago. The pH is now at 3.45, not yet what I want.

Here are the questions on my mind:

1. What's the pH sweet-spot for your mead? (subjective, but interesting).
2. Have you tried adjusting pH with CaCO[sub](3)[/sub] and with what degree of success?
3. What ration of CaCO3 do you add to mead? pH scale isn't linear, so I'm being careful here adding any more.
4. When do you know the CaCO3 reaction is complete? Say now I checked after about 10 days, but was it over 5 days ago or is there another 10 days to go before all CaCO3 reacted?

Cheers!

 

[Ty520]

Calcium carbonate will only take you so far...and it isn't that far - too much can make it taste and feel chalky.

I personally prefer it at 3.4 and above: typically lower for trads (both sweet or drier), and higher for heavy-bodied, higher tannin meads, like a melomelor pyment; really, much like the typical profiles you'd want in a traditional grape wine.

Traditionally, blending is used to balance pH, but that's difficult to do for the average home hobbyist.

another issue is the buffering capacity - some meads will be more resistant to pH adjustment.

And then of course, is the factor of what kind of acid is present, and the TA versus the pH.

 

[madscientist451]

When I first got into winemaking, I tried the "numbers" approach and made all kinds of adjustments using chemicals. After a few years though I realized I really was just throwing darts and not hitting the target. Every time you add a chemical, you have to realize there may be an unintended consequence. If you try to adjust one of your numbers, other numbers won't stay the same. So these days I don't worry about the numbers, use hardly any chemicals (just some sulfites and maybe sorbate to stabilize) and make wine, mead and cider by blending to taste.
If your mead doesn't suit your taste, try to think what you can blend it with. How about making a mead cocktail by with some sweet fruit juice? Run some bench trials with honey to backsweeten, if that works, stabilize the mead and backsweeten the whole batch.

 

[mabrungard]

The acids that drive pH down in beer and mead, are strong enough to dissolve chalk relatively quickly. This is unlike the conditions in a mash where the acids aren't very strong and chalk doesn't dissolve. I don't find that fully dissolved chalk tastes chalky. The remaining calcium in the mead is virtually tasteless. Chalky comes from having suspended chalk in the liquid. Remember that chalk is a solid and it does take several minutes to dissolve when its fully suspended in the solution. Don't expect that pile of chalk to dissolve quickly, keep it stirred up to keep it in suspension where it will dissolve faster.

If you're afraid that chalk will taste chalky, then baking soda is another decent option. The sodium from the baking soda can accentuate sweetness, if you found that lacking in the untreated sample. Sodium at levels of 250 ppm or less, generally will not taste 'salty'.

I find that the titratable acidity (TA) value is useful in estimating the amount of base to add, but it is still likely to come down to taste when reducing the acidity of beverages. Trial and error experiments on small samples to find what dose tastes best, is a wise and simple way to go. Scale the best dose up to apply to the batch.

 

[ondiferi]

Thanks all.

Actually, it is quite frustrating as I realize that "acids" are much more complex chemically than the definition I have in my mind on a day to day basis. I just simply need to educate myself more on this.

Not only that but like @madscientist451 explained, it's a complex environment and cannot be reduced to simple numbers (at least not with today's tools available at home).

PS: I also found that Calcium Hydroxide would be a good substitute as an acidity buffer. I will experiment with that.

 

[mabrungard]

Thanks all.

Actually, it is quite frustrating as I realize that "acids" are much more complex chemically than the definition I have in my mind on a day to day basis. I just simply need to educate myself more on this.

Not only that but like @madscientist451 explained, it's a complex environment and cannot be reduced to simple numbers (at least not with today's tools available at home).

PS: I also found that Calcium Hydroxide would be a good substitute as an acidity buffer. I will experiment with that.

Careful, there! While calcium hydroxide does supply calcium and does consume (neutralize) acid, it's also much more reactive with other organic compounds. Using it instead of chalk can result in compounds in the beer/mead being hydrolyzed into other things. Calcium hydroxide is a strong base, not a buffer. A buffer only participates in a reaction if there are stronger acids or bases present.

 

[ondiferi]

I don't get it. Yesterday my mead was at pH 3.45. I added 1/2 tspoon Calcium Hydroxide per 20 L. I have a check on the pH today, and it's at 3.41...

 

[Ty520]

I don't get it. Yesterday my mead was at pH 3.45. I added 1/2 tspoon Calcium Hydroxide per 20 L. I have a check on the pH today, and it's at 3.41...

Is it still fermenting? Acidity increases during fermentation

 

[ondiferi]

Is it still fermenting? Acidity increases during fermentation

No. The Mead was fermented by April. Gravity was already at 1.000. The gravity had gone up with CaCO3 (see OP)

I'll assumed that something went wrong with one of the readings. I'll do another reading next week to see what happens.