A neighbor has asked me to help him in rescuing his Sour Cherry wine.
He made it with about 8lbs per gallon of water. I've sampled it, and it's got a funky aftertaste, I'd call it SOUR.
I tested it to be Ph 4.05 and TA of 9g/L. (yuck)
I bench tested by adding sugar and water, but the sour taste keeps coming through. Do I ameliorate 1st by adding water, then work to resolve the Ph/TA levels? How about the sour tase and smell ? I doubt it's Hydrogen Sulphide, if it is, I could try Copper.
Any suggestions ?
The poor guy has about 36 gallons in his basement. Hope it's salvageable.
If it smells OK forget about hydrogen sulfide, you smell issues with that not tastes them. The pH doesn't make a lot of sense but the TA seems in line with your tartness perception. If the pH is right he is going to have a hard time keeping this for any length of time.
Do you have any idea how much alcohol is in this? Higher alcohol tastes sweeter. If it's low alcohol, say 7% you could add sugar and Lalvin 71B; it eats malic acid and cherries are malic. You could pull the acid down by blending, chemically sounds iffy at that pH. Make sure of the pH value. Another option is to make a cheap white kit at lower acids by adding too much water and blending that in to reduce the acid.
At 36 gallons you have room to experiment. Take a gallon and reduce the acid to 7.5g/l and see if it improves. You can try calcium carbonate or potassium bicarbonate.
Another experiment might be to add 100 proof cheap vodka to increase the alcohol because it is perceived as sweetness. You could experiment with that in small quantities.
Honey as a sweetener may taste better because it's not one dimensional.
Those are some ideas, just don't quit until it works out. It's almost impossible to not salvage a wine that is not spoiled. That is a whole lot of cherry wine....
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