pH and TA out of whack?

[Nbritton]

This is my first batch of cider. Pressed three different kinds of apples and got about 6 gallons of juice. SG is 1.058 and the TA is about 7.1 g/l malic acid. Which is right in the sweet spot according to the book I am working from. Problem is that according to the test strip the pH is somewhere around 5?!

The book says that if the pH is over 3.8 I need to add acid to bring that down or the sulfite won't work properly. I'm kind of reluctant to do this since I don't want the final product to be overly tart, but I do want the sulfite to work.

I guess my first question is whether it is really possible to have the pH and TA so out of whack or whether there might be an issue with the test strips or the other test results? I tried with several strips with the same result.

I have half a mind to just add 40 ppm sulfite and proceed with the fermentation, but I'm mindful that the book says that if the pH really is that high it would take something like 180 ppm to be effective.

Anyway, I figured I'd see what more experienced folks had to say. Appreciate any input you might have.

 

[Gitmoe]

You need to bring that pH down. I've made some ciders with pH 4.2 and they've been fine just adjusting the So2 addition accordingly but 5 would have me concerned. With a pH that high you're kind of asking for infection issues. The cider will be very unstable.

 

[Yooper]

I wonder if those strips are accurate. Some are not accurate at all.

If the TA is that high, I don't think the pH could be 5. I could be wrong, of course, but it doesn't seem right at all and pH strips are notoriously inaccurate.

I wonder if you have a substance within the strip's ranges with a known (or likely) pH that you could use to check the accuracy of the strip before messing around with adjusting the pH?

 

[stella_tigre]

Jolicoeur's book has a plot of TA vs pH for 187 test points, with TA of 7 g/l ranging in pH from 3.1 to 3.8. Make sure you read the strips in daylight, not incandescent or florescent lights.

 

[Nbritton]

Thanks all for your responses. I was talking today with one of the folks from my local brewing supply and she echoed a lot of your advice. Her take was basically to ignore the pH reading. Her reasoning was a) that adding acid to bring the pH down would make the final product undrinkable and b) that she didn't think the reading from the strips (which was by artificial light, btw, thank you) was accurate and that it was possible I have something in the 4ish range but that it was unlikely that juice with a TA of 7 could have a pH that high. She advocated proceeding with 40-50 ppm sulfite and adding another 30ppm when I rack after the primary fermentation, which sounded reasonable to me. Will let you what happens!

 

[madscientist451]

Some home cider makers and cider making companies are skipping the sulfites before fermenting. The idea is that a little wild yeast adds complexity and eventually the store bought yeast will take over anyway.
I have tried this many times without problems. You can still add sulfites later during racking.

 

[stella_tigre]

Some home cider makers and cider making companies are skipping the sulfites before fermenting. The idea is that a little wild yeast adds complexity and eventually the store bought yeast will take over anyway.
I have tried this many times without problems. You can still add sulfites later during racking.

One gallon of my first pressing ended up starting to ferment even with a campden added - it was not very acidic! I added some yeast after it was going for a couple of days, and it will be interesting to see what it does.