How would you determine the % ethanol content of red wine?
Friday, May 22nd, 2009 at
9:35 pm
tttyner asked:
I need to describe how you would determine the % ethanol content of red wine?
I need to describe how you would determine the % ethanol content of red wine?
Tagged with: Ethanol Content • Red Wine
Filed under: Wine
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You can only accurately determine this with a hydrometer which measures sugar content. However, you need to know the specific gravity (measured by hydrometer) before and after fermentation. Otherwise yiu have to send it to a lab.
You may want to assume a specific gravity.
this is a link to the tables
Depends on your level of sophistication. If you just want a rough estimate, and your in grade school or high school, you could take a known volume of the red wine, and evaporate the alcohol and then re-measure the volume to get the % by volume. The ethanol will evaporate at a lower temperature than the water content, so be sure not to heat the wine too high. If you want the percent by weight, you can do the same but weigh a known amount before and after evaporation.