Estimate how much tartaric, malic or citric acid to add to bring your wine or must down to a target pH. Buffer capacity varies between wines, so always add in small increments and re-measure.
Calculate the acid needed to reach a target titratable acidity (TA). TA is the only relation that is exact — acid needed for a target pH cannot be calculated, because pH movement depends on your wine's buffer capacity. Bench-trial for pH.
As tartaric. EU labels express TA as sulphuric — multiply by 1.53 first.
Typical TA: 6–7.5 g/L whites, 5.5–6.5 g/L reds
Acid to add
34.5 g
Rate
1.5 g/L
Track this in your batch log
MakeWine is a free winemaking app — log additions, lab readings and fermentations, and get a deterministic assistant. No card required.
As a rough guide, ~1 g/L of tartaric acid lowers pH by about 0.1 in a typical wine, but buffer capacity varies a lot. Add half the suggested amount, mix, measure, then adjust.
Tartaric is the standard wine acid and the most stable. Malic adds a tarter, greener acidity; citric is occasionally used but can be metabolised by bacteria. The calculator supports all three.
Calculations are estimates based on standard winemaking formulas (Henderson–Hasselbalch for SO₂, Duncan & Acton for wine ABV, standard addition rates). Always verify critical additions with a reference or lab analysis. The decision and responsibility for any addition rest with you.