What recommendations for analytical tools for start up?
Have refractometer, pH meter and thermometer. Wondering about “shiny spectrophotometer” or similar tools.
Any clear “must haves” ? Multiple vs stand alone ?
Save up for “foss” or use lab service?
We expect to operate at 500-1000 cs level in 3 yrs.
For that case level, the expense of a Foss makes no sense - stick with a lab service for whatever you can’t do in-house. Beyond what you already have, a titration setup for doing TA and free SO2, plus paper chromatography for ML and maybe an RS test kit might be all you really need in-house to handle that production level. Oh, and a few hydrometers if you don’t already have some (high-range, low-range, full-scale). That’s about all we’ve had at the small wineries I’ve worked at. You won’t have to spend an arm and a leg for that. If you have a bigger budget for these things, you can look at buying autotitrators for TA & SO2.
A Densiometer would be a nice addition in lieu of hydrometers . . . They’ll cost you in the neighborhood of $2K but are definitely worth the $$$.
Specs are certainly helpful and you can run lots of different tests on them - from RS and ML to acetics.
If this is not in the budget, I would consider getting a cash still set up for VA - always a good tool to have to check your wines in barrel throughout elevage . . .
Cheers!
Specs get cheaper all the time. I believe good ones can be had for about $2,000 and I would much rather have one than a densiometer.
For a spec the main question is how many lots you’ll have (not how many cases you produce) and how often you will want to check RS, malics, VA, etc. Last time I checked (it’s been a while), ETS charged about $20/each for glucose+fructose and malic acid analyses. If you only have a few lots, it will probably cheaper to go with a lab like ETS. But if you have 20 lots, you’ll pay for the spec in no time.
Thanks for the responses, we plan to run 5-6 varietals and at 1000cs thats about 40 bbls, so payback would be in a year or so.
I will use labs for the startup phase of course. We are in Gilroy, but thats not really an issue with UPS
S
For that $2k Spectrophotometer… any suggestions on model ?