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Potassium bicarbonate

Acids and deacidifiers

KHCO3

Deacidifier: lowers titratable acidity and raises pH.

Typical dose

About 0.9 g/L lowers titratable acidity by roughly 1 g/L. Keep the total drop under about 2 g/L.

When to add it

Finished wine, then cold stabilise to drop the tartrate it forms.

In practice

Neutralises tartaric acid to potassium bitartrate, which then has to be cold-stabilised out or it precipitates later. Past a two-gram drop it leaves a soapy, salty note, so a wine that needs more than that wants the double-salt method with calcium carbonate instead, or blending.

Linked faults are the ones this addition either treats or, used wrongly, causes. The fault page says which, and whether it can be undone.