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Precision Alcohol Measurements using DMA-5000


scohar

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We recently purchased an Anton Paar DMA 5000 density meter to measure % Alcohol/Proof. (No more hydrometer readings!)

The DMA 5000 is the same device that the TTB uses in their own compliance lab, and all of the big boy alcohol producers use it as well.

These babies aren't cheap, so if any of you find yourselves faced with a pending TTB audit, and would like to have your samples measured before the field agent shows up, please let us know. We'd be happy to run checks for you.

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Hi Scott.

Thanks so much for offering to do this for forum members.

You guys at Catoctin Creek are fine people, and an asset to this industry. I really appreciate your help with our distillery!

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Scott,

Tell us how large a sample you need, and also, did you get the other part of the gizmo that can make accurate measurements when sugar is present (cordials)?

Will

Samples can be 50ml. We do not currently have the setup to run with sugars present. So you'd need to bench distill your stuff first and send us the distillate.

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What a great offer!

Question: What are you using to inject the samples? I read somewhere that plastic disposable medical syringes often have a lubricant that may affect the readings -- and I'm unsure whether that lubricant can dissolve into alcohol. What have you found about this?

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What a great offer!

Question: What are you using to inject the samples? I read somewhere that plastic disposable medical syringes often have a lubricant that may affect the readings -- and I'm unsure whether that lubricant can dissolve into alcohol. What have you found about this?

Vendor supplied syringes.

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  • 1 month later...

What a great offer!

Question: What are you using to inject the samples? I read somewhere that plastic disposable medical syringes often have a lubricant that may affect the readings -- and I'm unsure whether that lubricant can dissolve into alcohol. What have you found about this?

"Injection" is best done with a peristaltic pump as this allows one to fill sample into a say a 100 mL volumetric flask (good size for the receiver if you are doing distillation of a liquer, for example) and then do multiple readings on the contents of that flask. It is most important to cover the mouth of the flask (and tubing leading to the analyzer) with parafilm (or something similar) to prevent evaporation. If you don't do this you will notice a monotonic decrease in the alcohol strength readings as ethanol is volatile enough to escape even through the narrow neck of a volumetric flask. And there are no lubricants in the tubing used in a peristaltic pump.

[Edit]: Another thing I meant to mention WRT to multiple readings on the same sample: It seems to take a while for a new sample to integrally wet the oscillating U - tube if you have followed A.P's recommendation and dried it between samples. If you haven't it takes a couple of samples to completely rinse the old sample out. In either case you will often notice a fair amount of variance in the early samples (sometimes with a monotonic trend). Eventually, the trend disappears and you get a typical set of "noisy" readings (but the noise is small).

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