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Test for alcohol  in your wine, beer, mead, cider, and distilled spirits with the Vinmetrica ABV Kit!

NOTE: We highly recommend a 10mL burette for this assay. If you already have a 25mL burette we recommend getting a 10mL burette separately to ensure the highest level of accuracy. If you select the 10mL burette option for the ABV kit, you will also receive a lab support stand and a double burette clamp.

The Vinmetrica Alcohol By Volume (ABV) Assay Kit

The Vinmetrica Alcohol By Volume Assay Kit uses a simple method to measure the presence of ethanol in wine, beer, distilled spirits, kombucha, etc. The kit includes everything you need to perform approximately 25 tests*: all reagents, reaction bottles, pipettor, pipette tips, safety pipetting bulb, volumetric pipette, and transfer pipettes.

ABV Kit Manual
ABV How-To Video
How To Accurately Use Your Volumetric Pipette

The Vinmetrica ABV Assay Kit can save you time and money by testing ABV on your own! With results available in 1 to 24 hours (depending on sample type), the new ABV Kit allows you to get simple, accurate, and reliable results on your schedule without having to wait for results from a laboratory. The ABV Kit comes in several different configurations, either with or without labware, to make your testing experience even easier.

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Complete Kit Includes Everything You Need for Your First 25 Tests.*

• ABV Oxidant (0.062M potassium dichromate/2M sulfuric acid) (PN: SC-60-3)
• ABV Titrant (0.2M sodium thiosulfate) (PN: SC-60-4)
• ABV Developer solution (PN: SC-60-5)
• Starch Indicator solution (PN: SC-60-6)
• Reaction bottle with cap assembly (2) (PN: SC-60-8)
• 5.0 mL volumetric pipette (PN: SC-60-9)
• Pipetting safety bulb (PN: SC-300-16)
• Calcium hydroxide ( Ca(OH)₂, neutralizer and sequestrant) (PN: SC-60-7)
• Transfer (“Squeeze-bulb”) pipettes (2) PN: SC-60-10)
• 50-250 µL Pipettor (PN: SC-60-11)
• 100 µL Pipette tips (25) (PN: SC-60-11-2)

*Additional Materials may be purchased separately if additional tests are required. With the materials provided you can only run two analyses at a time but have the ability to run 25 tests total. You will need more ABV Reaction Bottles if you want to run more than 1 sample at a time. Please see the manual for further information.

Simple To Use

1. Use a glass volumetric pipette (provided) to put exactly 5.00 mL Oxidant into a reaction bottle.
2. Use a micropipettor (provided) to put exactly 100 microliters of your sample into the hanging bucket of a bottle cap assembly.
3. Tighten the cap assembly onto the reaction bottle.
4. Place and hold the SO2 electrode into the wine sample and swirl beaker.
5. Let react 4 to 24 hours in a warm location (depending on sample type). The ethanol in the sample evaporates into the bottle, where it contacts and reacts with the Oxidant.
6. Titrate the Oxidant remaining after the reaction, using a starch color change to determine the endpoint.
7. Calculate the %ABV from the volume of Titrant used.

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How It Works

Ethanol in the sample reacts with the Oxidant to form acetic acid. Each molecule of ethanol consumes 2/3 of a molecule of the dichromate in the Oxidant. The amount of dichromate remaining after the reaction is determined by conversion to iodine and titration with the Titrant (sodium thiosulfate). This gives a simple calculation for the amount of ethanol.

Oxidation of ethanol to acetic acid by dichromate (Oxidant)
2Cr₂O₇^2- + 3CH₃CH₂OH + 16H⁺ → 4Cr₃₊ + 3CH₃COOH + 11H₂O

Conversion of leftover dichromate to iodine by iodide (Developer)
Cr₂O₇^2- + 14H⁺ + 6I^– → 2Cr³⁺ + 3I₂ + 7 H₂O

Titration of iodine by thiosulfate (ABV Titrant)
2 S₂O₃^2- + I₂ → S₄O₆^2- + 2I^–

Most wine, beer, cider and other samples that we analyze for alcohol content have nonvolatile components (sugars, tannins, etc.) that can also react with the Oxidant. Therefore, unless your sample is a relatively clean distillate that lacks these components, you can’t get accurate results if you just introduce the sample directly into the Oxidant. The kit’s Reaction bottle assembly provides a separate chamber for the sample so that only the volatile components of the sample can enter the Oxidant. Since few volatile components other than ethanol react with the Oxidant, you get a very accurate determination.

Assay Notes:

• If you are analyzing distilled spirits with very low non-volatiles content, you may use the direct method which gives results in little over an hour. See step 9 of the Reaction step under Procedures, on page 4 in the manual.
• Some volatiles present in your sample may be quantified as ethanol. Although these are rarely
  produced in significant enough quantities to affect wine or beer results, distilled spirits may have amounts that are significant; this is especially the case for methanol. If you suspect appreciable amounts of methanol, higher alcohols and /or some aldehydes to be present, bear in mind that these may be detected as ethanol, making the assay results higher.

Specifications

• Sensitivity: Below 1% ABV
• Accuracy: 0.3%

**Further Clarification on the Accuracy percentage: The accuracy number of 0.3% is a little confusing; it’s based on a typical sample analyzed at 13% ABV. So percent-wise its 0.3/13 * 100 or about 2.3% error. For a sample with low ABV, the error is a little higher.

Reasons Why Vinmetrica’s Alcohol By Volume Kit is the Right Choice

Simple as that!