The basic kit has all you need. After a few tests, I stopped using the standards, so you probably don't need a ton of that. I'm still on the paper that came with my original kit a few years ago. Only thing I've gone through is the solvent, which can be easily reordered when necessary.
Edit: the basic kit does NOT have the standards. But it does come with malic acid and tartaric acid (I have no idea why you need these)
Is this the only supplier you can use?
You said after the first few kits you stopped using the standards, what do you mean by that? Yes its the only supplier in western canada i can find
The kits come with a plastic jar
Like Mike, I too, still use the standards. Seems like you might not know what is meant by the standards, so I'll attempt to explain.
First, how paper chromatography works, in layman terms. You put a dot of wine 1" from the bottom of the chromo paper, more than one wine if you need to. Paper is rolled into a circle, stapled to hold the shape, and set into the jar which has the solvent in it. Wine dots are on the bottom. As the solvent rises up, it pulls the acids up with it, they have different properties and therefore drop out of the rising solvent at different heights. Tartaric drops out first (lowest), malic drops out second (middle), lactic drops out last (top). Once the paper is removed from the jar and allowed to dry, paper turns light blue, but the acid spots turn yellow. You can then see what acids are present in your wine.
The "standards" refer to each type of acid, tartaric, malic, and lactic. In many test kits, you are furnished with a small jar of each kind of acid, you put one drop of each in its own column, along with your wine dots in their columns. Once the paper is dried, above the tartaric acid, there will only be one yellow acid dot, same for above the malic and lactic spots. You can then compare the acid spots above your wine dots to the ones above the "acid standard" spots, confirming their presence, absence, and to some extent, concentration.
Look at the attached photo. The horizontal pencil line is 1" off the bottom of the paper, each tick mark along the line is where the liquid dot was applied. The T is where the tartaric acid standard was deposited, M - the malic, L - the lactic, Chard 6g - the Chardonnay in the 6 gallon carboy, Chard 3 g- the 3 gallon carboy, Chard 1/2g - the 1/2 gallon jug.
Note the bright yellow spot above the T, about 1/3 of the way up the page, that's the Tartaric standard spot, that's how high Tartaric acid rose in my test. All spots above the Chards that are in line with it are tartaric acid in my wine. The same hold true for the Malic, as well as the lactic acid. In this test, you'll not that there is no malic spot above the Chards, which told me that all of the malic acid was gone, and hence, MLF was complete.
Once you run these tests a bunch of times, you'll come to the realization that the standard spots are always in the same place, T on the bottom, M in the middle, L on the top, that's why Jim says he doesn't bother running the standards. Personally, I still do them, as it lets me know that my test ran properly. Your choice.
If you already know all of this, I apologize for the long post, if you didn't know it, hopefully you or someone else will find it useful.............
So is there a top and bottom to the paper? Does it matter which edge of the paper i draw my 1" line? I guess im wondering what makes the yellow dot on the tartric acid line ( first line up) and os there something in the paper that makes the malic acid drop out second and the lactic drop out third? Or is the paper uniform and i can use any edge as my bottom edge? Sorry for the noob questions but this is my first MLF and i want to get it right. And one more thing not related to this thread but i dont want to start a new thread for another noob question, Opti-Malo, the smallest quantity i can buy from my supplier is 1kg, i know this is way too much, is there a shelf life/expirey date for this product? If so how long will it last? Will i get 2 seasons at least from it? Should it be stored room temp? Freezer? Fridge?
You decide top and bottom, front and back, the paper doesn't care.
The acid on the pencil line just didn't get drawn up with the solvent as it rose.
Nothing in the paper causes the acids to drop out at different times, the properties of the acids are responsible. Just believe that tartaric is heaviest, lactic lightest, malic in between, they respond to gravity.
I don't know the shelf life of OptiMalo, but mine has been through 2 seasons, I keep it in the freezer in a vacuum sealed bag between uses.
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