Setting up a wine lab

[distancerunner]

What kinds of glassware and other hardware do you want in your wine lab?

What kind of tests do you want to run?

 

[BarrelMonkey]

Lab equipment so far:
- Hydrometer and sample cylinder
- Thermometer
- 250mL beaker and 100mL measuring cylinder
- a few glass pipettes and a pipette pump (much easier than those squeezy bulbs IMO)
- 10mL burette and clamp stand, small magnetic stir plate (for doing titrations)
- pH meter (Milwaukee MW102)
- Vacuum pump and glassware for AO method determination of SO2. (This is fairly expensive gear and I would not normally have invested in this yet, but I got it for free...)
- Various other glass jars and plastic tubes that are not technically lab gear but which work just fine for me (eg for keeping aliquots of pH standards)

What kind of tests do I want to run?
- Brix and temperature
- SO2
- pH (meter) and TA (titration)

I did my first TA titration for my elderberry over the weekend, and it seemed to work out. The only other thing I might get in the short term is a kit for doing ML chromatography. morewinemaking.com sells one for $100 that comes with 20 sheets of chromatography paper; assuming the reagents last a few years, $5 per test (and potentially multiple samples per test) seems quite reasonable.

 

[winemaker81]

My lab is barebones:

hydrometer + FermTech wine thief
several wine thieves
several Pyrex measuring cups
pH test strips
TA test kit
digital kitchen thermometer

I test SG at all stages, check pH and occasionally TA.

 

[CDrew]

A good pH meter is indispensable and allows TA titrations (I have an Extech PH-220C)
Beaker set
Several Erlenmeyer flasks (very useful for making yeast starters too)
Pipettes (Agree with @BarrelMonkey that a pipette pump is much easier to use)-syringes can also be used but are not as precise
Burette (to measure NaOH solutions when doing TA titrations)
Magnetic stir plate and stir bars (cheap and come in sets)
Burette stand/clamp
pH standards
pH electrode storage solution
Disposable beakers
Squeezy bottle for distilled water to rinse pH probe after a measurement
Infra-red thermometer

I can recommend precision short scale hydrometers. I have a 20-30 brix hydrometer to get accurate starting Brix, and a -5/+5 hydrometer to have an accurate finishing brix. Other than improved accuracy you also get better repeatability, and as a bonus, the reading is much easier to see. You will need a sample cylinder too.

I would like to also measure SO2 but don't yet have the equipment to do so.

 

[BarrelMonkey]

Squeezy bottle for distilled water to rinse pH probe after a measurement
Infra-red thermometer

yes, forgot about the squeezy bottles! Though I also like to swirl the probe in a beaker of distilled water between measurements, and blot the end (though not the bulb) on a paper coffee filter.

That IR thermometer, any advantage over the basic kitchen thermometer? I guess you don't have to stick it in the wine/must, but I can't imagine that is a major route of contamination...

 

[CDrew]

IR thermometer is instant and no touch. And useful for a lot more than wine making.

 

[distancerunner]

I am adding a burette and stand to the lab this year. Magnetic stirrer is on the wish list, but I wonder if it's useful to have one that doubles as a hot plate.

Thermometer: IR is certainly convenient but, at least from what I've read, the accuracy is not as good as an instant read probe, which is what we've been using. How important are accurate temps in the cellar?

For pH standards, we use these: pHydrion.

Inexpensive, always on hand. Mix with distilled water. Good service from Gemplers, too. (Not associated with the company in any way. Just like the product.)

 

[winemaker81]

How important are accurate temps in the cellar?

If the reading is within a couple of degrees, it's fine. I asked myself the question, "What will I do different if the temperature is 68 instead of 70 F?"

 

[DaveMcC]

Don't forget to add a paper chromatography kit for malolactic fermentation tests. Stapler, pencils, markers, etc.

 

[Tin_Man]

Attached is a free lab manual. Equipment needs are listed for each test.

 

[Michael Kusenko]

I purchased the Vinmetrica SC300 Pro Kit. Made it easy having all the stuff basically in one purchase.