A monitoring and control system for wine fermentation

Abstract

A sampling and monitoring system for fermentation has been trialled. Red wine has been
successfully sampled through two 10 day fermentation cycles with approximately 700 litres of
must. The incorporation of water and nitrogen flushing systems for the sampling line enabled
real-time data to be obtained for the selected sensors: pH, oxygen, redox, conductance, and
colour: during fermentation. Microdistillation determined alcohol content concurrently.
Preliminary near infrared spectrometric determinations of some key parameters were
examined in the laboratory with both synthetic samples and wine samples a promising future
direction for fermentation measures.

Summary

Prototype unit comprising five inline flow electrodes in a flow cell for oxygen, pH, redox, EC and temp. Microdistillation measured alcohol, a flow photometer gave colour values. Results are analysed in a computer which operates vontrol valves. NIR has been incorporated in particualr for on-line sugar analysis.