Must data...

[The_italian_cider_maker]

Hi all and have nice end of 2021, hoping the 2022 will be better (cross fingers )
I've done 200 liters of must and measured the following parameters:
SG 1.075
Brix 18.4
total acidity 3,6
pH 4.1

I added today sulphite (less than half allowed dose) just to prevent basic spoilage.

What do you think about this parameters?
Maybe the acidity is too low but I'm not sure if it could be a good idea to add malic acid... I would preserve the original taste...

Thank you all as usual!!!
All the best

 

[Maylar]

What is the source of your juice?

For fresh pressed orchard cider that I use, these parameters are typical:

SG 1.050. Your 1.075 is higher than normal and could yield about 9.8% ABV.
TA varies from 0.5 g/l to 0.6 depending on the apples used.
pH typically 3.3 - 3.5. You want that below 3.8 for resistance to bacteria.

 

[Chalkyt]

Wot Maylar said!

With 200 litres you can afford to sacrifice a bit for a "taste test". You might find that with a TA of 3.6 your cider is a little "flat" so adding malic acid will help with this and also increase TA and lower the pH. After your fermentation is finished I suggest drawing off a tasting sample and start adding malic acid to it, aiming for a TA of 0.5-0.6 as Maylar suggests. This should also pull the pH down below 3.8 (I will sometimes go as high as TA 0.7 with apples like Red Delicious which are a bit "bland" when the sugar is fermented out). Note how much malic acid gets you a nice bite then add a bit more to see when it gets too much. This will help you zero in on what TA suits your taste. Generally 2.5 -5.0 g/L (half to one teaspoon) of malic acid per litre works for me.

 

[The_italian_cider_maker]

Thank you @Chalkyt, your help is precious as usual!

Have a nice end of the year and a wonderful 2022!

 

[The_italian_cider_maker]

What is the source of your juice?

For fresh pressed orchard cider that I use, these parameters are typical:

SG 1.050. Your 1.075 is higher than normal and could yield about 9.8% ABV.
TA varies from 0.5 g/l to 0.6 depending on the apples used.
pH typically 3.3 - 3.5. You want that below 3.8 for resistance to bacteria.

Thank you @Maylar, I used local apples that had two months to ripe. The sugar is quite high maybe because they had too many time to ripe.

 

[Maylar]

(half to one teaspoon) of malic acid per litre works for me.

You mean per gallon, not per liter, right? Even 1 tsp per gallon is a LOT.

 

[Chalkyt]

Good pickup Maylar. Sorry, my typing went a bit astray. Sometimes things get a bit messy when working in metric and writing in US or Imperil measures. (US gallon is 3.8 litres, Imperial is 4.5 litres and my "gallon" carboys are 5 litres... aaargh!). It should have read 1/2 to 1 tsp per gallon.

My notes said that I added 1/4 tsp of malic acid (then a little more to taste) into two litres (I had split the cider into two batches to see if there was a difference in taste using sugar or AJC for bottle priming). However taste and measure is the way to go rather than just shovel it in .

Hope you picked this up OP.