Removing alcohol

Yes, it does. Be aware that it will also change the flavor, possibly considerably, and possibly in undesirable ways.

The time required to boil off the alcohol depends on the amount of wine being heated, the size and shape of the container it's being heated in, and the amount of heat applied to it. So instead of using a clock to tell when the alcohol is gone, you use a thermometer. Ethyl alcohol boils at about 80 deg C, and water by definition boils at 100 C. So when you observe boiling taking place at 80 C, that's the alcohol. When the boiling stops, and the temperature begins to rise, the alcohol is gone. Heating wine to 90 C should be sufficient to remove all of the alcohol.

This difference in the boiling points of alcohol and water is, of course, the principle that makes distilling possible: the alcohol vapor is captured and condensed, yielding nearly pure alcohol. The remaining portion can be boiled down further to remove the water (or some of it simply discarded), then the alcohol is added back after it cools. The end result is a liquid with a much higher alcohol content than it had initially, better known as brandy.

"Ruiseart agus Ceit" wrote: > > Hallo, > >

Thankyou very much. This is most informative :)

Ruiseart. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That sounds right to me too. Your comment on the temperature approaching 100 C is right on too, water does not boil at 100 C unless it's pure and at a barometric pressure of 29.92 inches of mercury (760 mm hg). I used that boiling point as a calibration check when doing precise calibrations and here in Pittburgh PA the barometic pressure is usually around 740 mm hg. which reduced the boiling point by at least 1 degree C. We are around 1000 feet above sea level, it is reduced at higher altitude. We are not talking about major temerature swings here, so a thermometer that reads in 5 degree increments would not be useful as a heads up.

Boiling will impact the taste in several ways, it messes with the acid and SO2 levels too. Regards, Joe

joe You are right about the elevation correction. The boiling point elevation is often more pronounced (unless you live at higher altitudes). This is caused by the dissolved matters in the wine and causes it to boil at higher than 100 C. My main comment is, as you confirm, that the boiling off of alcohol is a difficult matter to follow precisely by temperature unless you have very accurate measurements. And, maybe more important: If you do not have a distillation still you will easily loose half of your original volume of wine before the alcohol is gone.