Thursday, October 12, 2006

Titratable Acidity vs pH

I've been trying to get a handle on the difference and I think I've finally nailed it, Here's some excerpts from various web sites that have helped:
Gerald Goodwine has this to say:
We apparently taste both free and bound H+ ions. I think I have heard that we taste the free ones "more loudly" than bound ones, but there are so many more bound ones that titration gives a more accurate measure of taste. The pH gives a better measure of whether or not the wine will go bad, whether the sulfite will work, or whether the mash will produce the right amount of sugar.
Jack Keller offers this:
Although TA and pH are interrelated, they are not the same thing. A solution containing a specific quantity of a relatively weaker acid such as malic will have a different (higher) pH than a solution containing the same quantity of a stronger acid such as tartaric.
Wikipedia:
A strong acid is an acid that dissociates completely in an aqueous solution.

In any other acid-water reaction, dissociation is not complete, so will be represented as an equilibrium, not a completed reaction. The typical definition of a weak acid is any acid that does not dissociate completely. The difference separating the acid dissociation constants of strong acids from all other acids is so great that this is a reasonable demarcation.

Due to the complete dissociation of strong acids in aqueous solution, the concentration of hydronium ions in the water is equal to the concentration of the acid introduced to solution: [HA] = [H+] = [A-]; pH = -log[H+].
Finally, here's a little taste test you shouldn't try at home because it will probably burn your mouth:
Emile Peynaud, in his seminal work Knowing and Making Wine (originally Connaissance et Travail du Vin in French, 1981, translated into English by Alan Spencer, 1984, John Wiley & Sons), offers the following experiment which is best suited to be administered by a winemaking club, society or guild. Prepare the following six buffered solutions with the same pH:
* Tartaric acid at 1 g/L
* Malic acid at 1 g/L
* Citric acid at 1 g/L
* Lactic acid at 1 g/L
* Acetic acid at 1 g/L
* Succinic acid at 0.5 g/L
...Future considerations might well be shaped by realizing that tartaric produces the hardest taste, malic the most pronounced, citric the freshest, lactic the weakest, acetic the bitterest and most odorous, and succinic the saltiest.

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