How Useful Are Clinitest Tablets?

[NoSnob]

I have found winemaking references that recommend the use of Clinitest tablets to determine if your wine is dry. It is a measure of residual sweetness. Prior to dip sticks, Clinitest tablets were used by diabetics to test for the presence of sugar in their urine.

Maybe those tablets are an older more traditional winemaking practice since I see little reference to them on this board. We seem to use hydrometer readings to give us a ballpark idea of dryness. The idea is that the further below SG of 1.000 we get the dryer the wine is. The practical limits for kit wines seems to be around SG of 0.993 or so. Jack Keller considers SG at or below 0.999 as Dry.

The simple test consists of placing one tablet (about the size of an aspirin) in a test tube, mixed with a few drops of wine and given 15 sec. or so to attain a color that is compared with a color chart. Readings are given as % sugar, like .50%, .75%, or 1.0%, etc.

So using the Clinitest tabs I tested two of my 3 month-old juice bucket wines now aging in the carboy.

=>The Petite Syrah had SG of 0.980 and residual sugar of 1.0%.
=>The Pinot Noir had SG of 1.000 & residual sugar of 0.25%.

I would have thought that the wine with the lower SG would also have the least sugar but that was not the case. That I cannot explain.

I am interested in whether any of you have used Clinitest tablets and whether you find them to be useful in assessing residual sugar in wine.

NS

 

[GreginND]

The amount the SG is below 1.000 when dry varies depending on how much alcohol is present. Your results are not surprising. I would think you started at a higher SG with the petite sirah thus you have more alcohol to skew the result on the hydrometer.


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[Runningwolf]

I agree with Greg, trust your clinitest. Peoples lives rely on the daily.

 

[NoSnob]

Some practical examples would be helpful for me. In, say, a red wine that is not sorbated what level of residual sugar would indicate the possibility of re-fermentation occurring?

NS

 

[Runningwolf]

Give us a clearer example first.

Are you talking about a red wine finishing at 1.00 OR are you talking about a wine finishing at .995 and adding sugar back to it?

Terms describing dry can be misleading. Some competitions will consider anything under 1% rs as dry. Legally a wine can be back sweetened to .5% and doesn't need to report sugar as an ingredient.

 

[Runningwolf]

Yes Clinitest's work. I used mine today. I use a different set of directions though. Not the ones that come with it.

 

[NoSnob]

From your responses, I hear that they work, they identify levels of residual sugar, and that some of you follow different methods from those that come with the tablets.

I don't think I understand how Clinitest tabs are used sufficiently to give a hypothetical example for this discussion! I gave specific examples of sugar levels in my wine I tested. But I don't know what the results mean exactly. My guess is that my two wines are fairly dry. One TASTES a bit sweeter than the other. Strangely, the sweeter one has the lower level of residual sugar. I have no intent to back sweeten them. They've both been sorbated, so it is unlikely they have enough sugar to re-ferment.

What are some circumstances in which Clinitest tablets are useful?

I always appreciate help I get from this board. Please be patient with my lack of understanding!

NS

 

[Runningwolf]

NS, no problem keep asking that's how we all learn. Without expensive equipment the clinitest is the most accurate.

First off the addition of sorbate was unnecessary. Sorbate will only help prevent a fermentation from restarting after you add sugar, it won't stop a fermentation. Additionally it could add a bubble gum or cotton candy taste to your wine if you over shoot your addition. This will intensify in red wine.

I addition to the sugar, acid and tannin's comes into play. If one wine has more acid than the other it may seem dryer even though it's a hair sweeter.

If I'm missing something, anyone please step in...

 

[NoSnob]

"I[n] addition to the sugar, acid and tannin's comes into play. If one wine has more acid than the other it may seem dryer even though it's a hair sweeter."

That could explain why my wine with the lower residual sugar seemed to taste sweeter

What do you find Clinitest tablets best for testing and how do you use them?

NS

 

[Runningwolf]

What do you find Clinitest tablets best for testing and how do you use them?

NS

They are for testing residual sugar. You can buy a kit from Presque Isle Wine Cellars.

http://www.piwine.com/clinitest-residual-sugar-test-kit.html

 

[seth8530]

Perhaps you could mix up a sugar solution of a known sugar content and test it out made of sugar and water. And then make a sugar solution of known sugar concentration from sugar and alcohol? Perhaps this could determine whether or not the test method is vulnerable to alcohol.