scohar Posted August 25, 2010 Share Posted August 25, 2010 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swb Posted August 25, 2010 Share Posted August 25, 2010 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! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
will Posted August 25, 2010 Share Posted August 25, 2010 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohninWV Posted August 25, 2010 Share Posted August 25, 2010 I too think this is a great offer. Tell me, what do they do if they find out your spirits are not within the parameters? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scohar Posted August 25, 2010 Author Share Posted August 25, 2010 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Martin Posted August 26, 2010 Share Posted August 26, 2010 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? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scohar Posted August 26, 2010 Author Share Posted August 26, 2010 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajdelange Posted October 7, 2010 Share Posted October 7, 2010 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). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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