Growing grapes and making wine in Bellevue
Posted in measurement & testing on Mar 17th, 2010
Hydrometers measure soluble solids. We use them to measure sugar content because almost all the soluble solids in wine grapes are sugar. I use a hydrometer on other fruit, and it was while researching raspberries that I discovered just how much hydrometers can overstate sugar content.
Posted in measurement & testing on Apr 27th, 2009
I’ve mentioned that I’m getting inconsistent results with my CO2 acid testing apparatus, and I’ve been trying to figure out why. I noticed that the measured volume of CO2 increased in the first few minutes. That’s an important problem because the test works by using that figure to determine how much acid was in the [...]
Posted in measurement & testing on Sep 8th, 2008
So what’s that contraption pictured above? I wrote about it back in February, and I think it’s a better way to measure titratable acidity (TA). It works by adding a measured sample of wine to sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). The baking soda reacts with acid in the sample, giving off carbon dioxide gas (CO2) in [...]
Posted in mead, measurement & testing on Feb 29th, 2008
I checked the titratable acidity (TA) of my cherry mead the other day, and something didn’t add up. Over six months, three measurements, and two acid additions (totaling 2.6 g/L) the TA fell from 6 to 5.5 g/L. The most obvious explanation is that I goofed up the titrations. As I added more acid, the [...]
Posted in apple wine, mead, measurement & testing, tomato wine on Feb 28th, 2008
Cherry Mead: The case of the disappearing acid Suppose you measure 6 g/L titratable acidity (TA), then add about 1.3 g/L of tartaric acid. After you let it sit for a while you’d expect a TA over 7, right? Me too. You certainly wouldn’t expect just a little over 5 (call it 5.2), would you? [...]
Posted in enology, mead, measurement & testing, winemaking on Feb 8th, 2008
I talked about five of my meads yesterday, and how I might decide if they were ready to bottle. I looked at clarity and specific gravity (SG) because I didn’t want the mead throwing off sediment or fermenting in the bottle. I tasted, probably the most important test of any wine or mead, and I [...]
Posted in enology, mead, measurement & testing, storage and aging, tasting, winemaking on Feb 7th, 2008
I looked in on five meads yesterday to see if they were ready to bottle. I was looking for clarity, I tasted them to see if they were pleasant to drink, and I measured the specific gravity (SG), pH, and titratable acidity (TA). Name SG pH TA (g/L) 2004 Plain Mead 1.001 3.05 5 2005 [...]
Posted in enology, equipment, measurement & testing, winemaking, winemaking clubs on Feb 5th, 2008
A man, his contraption, and a different way I learned of a different way to test for titratable acidity, the other day. At the last meeting of the Puget Sound Amatuer Wine and Beer Makers club, Don Proctor demonstrated this method using an odd looking device. He used ordinary baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) to neutralize [...]