Ebulliometer and altitude

[dhruv...@gmail.com]

Hi,

I have an Ebulliometer Malligand that I bought from Brouwland and I'm at 1200m above sea level.

Due to this I cannot set 0 on the sliding scale when calibrating with water. Since the scale isnt linear, I cannot simply read off it to determine the ABV of the cider post calibration. Nor can I subtract the calibration reading of water from the cider reading. With the scale adjusted to the max possible, I still get a reading of approx 1.3 for the water reading.

I tried measuring the distance between the water and cider reading on the thermometer in cm and then measing out this length on the scale from 0 but still not getting sensible ABV values.

My question is: is there any way I can get an ebulliometer to works at my elevation? If not, is distillation my only option (at a reasonable price point)?

Thanks!

[Claude Jolicoeur]

One thing you could try is to replace the Malligan thermometer by a good quality digital thermometer.

You will then be able to read the pure water boiling temperature, and with the 2 temperatures (water and cider) there exist formulae or tables that will give you the alcohol ABV.

See for example : http://seniorchem.com/2.%20Alcohol-Content-by-Ebulliometry.pdf

[dhruv...@gmail.com]

Hi Claude,

Thanks for your reply. I was considering doing that but not sure that the magnitude of the difference in boiling points will not change with elevation. Haven't found any tables that incorporate an altitude adjustment.

In fact I already trided to "hack" (for want of a better word) the ebulliometer malligand by measuring the difference/distance in millimeters on the thermometer (between the water and wine readings) and then using this distance to read the ABV on the scale by measuring distance from 0. This didn't give sensible results (based on expected ABV from sugar content).

Some literature seemed to suggest that Ebulliometers work between 0 to 300m from sea level. Also, one suggested that the cailbration (instead of distilled water) should be done with a liquid of known ABV close to the cider / wine you are testing to eliminate/reduce errors. But haven't found any literature talking about using ebulliometers at higher elevations.

Would be nice to not doubt the readings even after conversion to digital thermometer.

Thanks!

[Vince Wakefield]

I would have thought diluting something like vodka to 7%, then setting your 7% mark to this would be the best option for setting the scale.

 

You could do a test where you made up a number of dilutions between 4 and 10% and see if setting at 7% gives correct readings for the other dilutions.

 

Vince

--
--
Visit our website: http://www.ciderworkshop.com
 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the "Cider Workshop" Google Group.
By joining the Cider Workshop, you agree to abide by our principles. Please see http://www.ciderworkshop.com/resources_principles.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Cider Workshop" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cider-worksho...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cider-workshop/c64676e8-27bf-4463-93f9-2cee41c9f025n%40googlegroups.com.

[dhruv...@gmail.com]

I would have thought diluting something like vodka to 7%, then setting your 7% mark to this would be the best option for setting the scale.

 

You could do a test where you made up a number of dilutions between 4 and 10% and see if setting at 7% gives correct readings for the other dilutions.

Seems sensible and should work for any elevation!

Thanks.