Baking Soda and Ammonia

[John Barleycorn]

I've read about baking soda and the two applications for its use: (1) to increase pH and (2) to (attempt to) hydrolyze esters in low wines.

There are posts that recommend adding it only to low wines due to potential ammonia production. For example:
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 0#p6760573

And I've seen plenty of posts where people use it their wash to bump up the pH ... apparently with no ill effects.

So my questions are: What's the connection between sodium bicarbonate and ammonia? Can anyone explain the chemistry? Basically, what causes an ammonia problem for some ... and no problems for others?

--JB