Recording must parameters

[back2it]

I wish to create consistency in my creations and am thinking of recording PH, TA, Alcohol level, and residual sugars at the different stages of fermentation and the maturation process.

I’m not sure if recording residual sugar is of much use other that knowing how much sugar you are consuming per glass/bottle/carboy but it takes very little effort and I am hoping that seeing the figures over time will help my decision making when creating a must and help me to gradiually adjust my creations to my personal taste from the start rather than post fermentation.

Do you think this is a reasonable path to follow and I should record anything else?

Thank you

Ray…

 

[BarrelMonkey]

Data is good! By residual sugar, do you mean measuring brix/SG? That is commonly done before and during fermentation, whereas measuring actual residual sugar (typically glucose + fructose, at least for grape wines) is a more complicated exercise.

For your starting must, I would measure brix/SG, pH and TA; you can estimate potential alcohol from brix/SG but again actually measuring ethanol is more work. You will also want to record any adjustments you made, eg adding acid to bring pH/TA to some desired level. You could also measure YAN (yeast assimilable nitrogen), which gives you some indication of how much if any supplemental nutrients to add.

During fermentation I measure brix/temp daily. This gives you a good feel for how things are progressing and when to add nutrients. Temperature is also important; in general I try to ferment whites cool (preserve aromatics) and reds hot (increase extraction). Both brix/SG and temp will also be a guide as to when fermentation is done.

I wouldn't bother to measure pH/TA during fermentation; the acid evolved during fermentation will render the results meaningless. But I would test pH/TA again once or twice during aging (once CO2 from fermentation has dissipated), and certainly at bottling. And you may want to measure SO2 at regular intervals during aging in order to make appropriate adjustments.

This is a useful table outlining what you might want to measure and when. I have his Modern Home Winemaking book, it's quite good.

 

[back2it]

I don't really do much during fermentation, just keep an eye on it really. My intention is to manage before fermentation then if required monitor and adjust after.

I don't want to make this too complicated so I will probably drop calculating residual sugar as the only way I have seen is using PH/brix to convert. I havent looked at YAN so far and hadn't thought about SO2 so I will read up on them to understand what they can do for me. Time for more reading I think. So many books, so little time. It does fill the fermentaion and ageing waiting time though, so all good.

I did invest in a nice new Apera PH20 as I wasn't confident in the £10 Chinese one I had, it seemed inconsistant to me.

I control the fermentaion to within 1° and normally at the lower temeperature range of the yeast but will start experimenting with different yeasts and temperatures at some point.

Thanks for the link and advice.
Ray...

 

[BarrelMonkey]

...and hadn't thought about SO2 so I will read up on them to understand what they can do for me.

Super important for producing good quality wines. Here is a good introduction to SO2 and why we use it.

I did invest in a nice new Apera PH20 as I wasn't confident in the £10 Chinese one I had, it seemed inconsistant to me.

Good choice - I also bought one of those cheap pH pens, it worked once but in the end it turned out to be a piece of junk...

 

[back2it]

I found that SO2 testing kits are big bucks (for me) and was thinking that I will not be able to test at all but I found an SO2 hydrometer which costs £20, now that I can afford.

This may turn out to be the equivalent of the cheap PH pens or may be the answer for me.

Are there any other reasonably priced tests I can use?

Thanks
Ray...

 

[BarrelMonkey]

I found that SO2 testing kits are big bucks (for me) and was thinking that I will not be able to test at all but I found an SO2 hydrometer which costs £20, now that I can afford.

This may turn out to be the equivalent of the cheap PH pens or may be the answer for me.

Are there any other reasonably priced tests I can use?

Thanks
Ray...

Huh - I've never heard of an SO2 hydrometer, I have no idea how that would work.

See here for discussion of SO2 testing methods. You are right that some SO2 testing apparatus can be expensive but there are cheaper alternatives. Ripper method basically requires a burette and flask along with a few chemicals that are relatively inexpensive. I think it's a worthwhile investemnt if you plan to make good wine.

I see you're in the UK... what kinds of wine are you making/planning to make?

 

[QuiQuog]

See here for discussion of SO2 testing methods. You are right that some SO2 testing apparatus can be expensive but there are cheaper alternatives. Ripper method basically requires a burette and flask along with a few chemicals that are relatively inexpensive. I think it's a worthwhile investemnt if you plan to make good wine.

I'm interested in the SO2 testing methods, but your link appears to be blank.

 

[BarrelMonkey]

I'm interested in the SO2 testing methods, but your link appears to be blank.

Fixed the link, thanks!

 

[back2it]

It seems that I have done the hard part in getting a decent PH meter. I ordered Sodium Hydroxide 0.1N on Saturday it was shipped today and I will download and look at the PDFs. Thank you. I might even get the SO2 hydrometer; it has piqued my curiosity.

To answer your question…

I started with a grape kit but I don’t want to make kits I want to make my own creations. I quickly moved on to mango as I like mango and can get frozen chunks from my local ALDI.

I don’t have access to wine grapes but I do have access to fruit. I have two apple and a plumb tree, rhubarb, strawberries and gooseberries. I also have access to a local nature reserve that has copious amounts of blackberry bushes.

So fruit wine it is. I'm glad I have a tall freezer.

The kids got me some of the 10 ltr wide mouth fermenters which is great as the small demijohns I have are 5.2 ltrs so I can create an excess make sure they are really topped up and still have some left for tasting and testing. They also gave me 5.5 kg of raw honey and I will need to look at that soon.

The above will allow me to play and refine but I will use the 30 ltr buckets and 25 ltr carboys to make larger batches. I can’t go any bigger as I only have a fermentation fridge, a small wine fridge and an under-stair space which is 1.5m sq. I plan to take over the spare bedroom as soon as I can. Shhh, she thinks its gong to be a sewing room

 

[BarrelMonkey]

I might even get the SO2 hydrometer

I would recommend finding out more about this before investing your £20. As far as I'm aware, a hydrometer is for measuring density of liquids (which is a surrogate for sugar concentration in the context of wine and beer making). I don't see how a hydrometer would be of any use in measuring SO2, which is typically added to wine in a few 10s of ppm. The only web page I could find with a 'SO2 hydrometer' was the one you linked to above.

 

[back2it]

I called them earlier today and asked for more information on how it worked. The reply was that it measures SO2 the same way as a sugar hydrometer measures sugar. I left my email with them and asked them to email further info.

Still waiting, maybe tomorrow.