Fun with Chemistry

With the Chardonnay juice off the skins, there was one last step to take before beginning the fermentation.  The perfect glass of wine will reach the ideal combination between alcohol level and acidity to provide a refreshing, thirst-quenching balance.  The amount of alcohol level in the wine is dependent upon the amount of sugar in the grapes, since as we know fermentation is the act of turning that sugar into alcohol.  You can measure the sugar level with a refractometer, which I did, and got a reading of 23 brix.  This equates to an alcohol content of approximately 13.0%.  If your brix are low, then the only thing to do is literally add sugar to your juice, but fortunately I’m right where I need to be, so we managed to avoid that strange act this time.

We also need to use a pH Meter and acid testing kit to measure the TA, or titratable acid, and pH of our juice.  The TA refers to the amount of acid in the juice, and the pH refers to the strength of the acidity.  I don’t frankly understand what that means, but I’m reading verbatim in this book right here, so it must be true.  Our TA of .69 and pH of 3.52 are just within the desired range, although a little towards the low side, so for now we’ve avoided the even more disturbing act of mixing powdered acid into our juice, although I’ll need to continue to track it to make sure it doesn’t fall too much during malolactic fermentation.

TA – Titratable (or Total) Acid.  Not to be confused with "T and A".

With those measures in the book, Drew and I racked the wine into two 5-gallon glass carboys, leaving plenty of room for the rising foam that will be brought on by fermentation.  The final, most important step of the day is actually the easiest.  We dissolved two packets of powdered yeast in a half-cup of lukewarm water, poured it into the carboys, and our work was done.  Done, that is, except for the hour of washing and clean-up that seems to accompany every time you even look at the juice.