bench testing online class

[winemaker81]

Musto is conducting a online class in bench testing tomorrow night, and it appears to be free. I've watched some of their free classes, and the quality is good.

Winemaking Classes:

Our next Facebook Live/Zoom class will be Thursday, June 29th at 7:00PM. Join us for our class about How Bench Trials are used to test a product to determine if it will help your wine and the best dosage to select. The class will be held via Facebook Live & Zoom. Make sure to log in and watch as we chat at 7:00PM EST on Thursday, June 29th.

Zoom Link: Zoom

Facebook Live: How do you access Facebook Live? It’s easy. Go to Musto’s Facebook Page on the given date/time, and Frank’s class will automatically pop up on your screen. There you can ask questions in real-time. We hope you enjoy this series and look forward to bringing you more information to help you make your favorite wine!

Don’t forget that you can always access Frank Renaldi’s online classes via our sister site WinemakingInstructions.com.

 

[winemaker81]

I attended the class, missing the first 4 minutes, so I don't know how it started. Frank (instructor) dove in and spoke of sample sizes.

One takeaway that was obvious to me is that sample size will depend on batch size. If you have a 19-23 liter carboy, taking out 1.5 liters leaves a large headspace. 100 ml (3.5 US oz) samples make a lot of sense, especially for folks making batches by the carboy.

He went into detail about making samples of additives, repeating himself numerous times. I have a science background and can recall 3 hour physics, chemistry, and biology labs, and read enough winemaking related technical papers so what he said made sense to me. Anyone for whom this is new, the repetition should get the concepts across.

Then he spoke of adding small amounts of the additives to the 100 ml samples, using pipettes. He had an inexpensive tool that pulls exact size samples into a pipette. [I use medical syringes, which was mentioned in the comments.]

He did not get into sensory evaluation AKA tasting. Taste testing sugar, acid, tannin, etc. is each a class of its own.

Some he said several times made perfect sense. Dump unused samples back into the carboy, don't throw it out. I believe his intent was regarding additives other than sugar, which I'd not add back to avoid a referment. But 50 ml samples with 2.5% tannin added will not realistically affect a 19 liter carboy, so saving the wine is a good idea.

Frank mentioned the livestream being available on their Facebook page. I'm going to look for it, and to see what other classes they've done.

 

[Mcjeff]

I attended. Thanks for pointing it out ahead of time. As I watched I wondered how much are the pipette pumps? I checked Amazon - pretty cheap, so I and ordered them. The last time I used a pipette with the bulb I struggled as I am not skilled enough to get the right amount!
Afterwards I watched the blending video.
Always good to see how others do it.