Yep, I am one of the dummies, as my background certainly isn’t chemistry (and hasn’t been since High School basics many moons ago).
In simple terms, titration is carried out by adding a known amount of alkali to neutralise a sample of acid (i.e. cider), then using this information to calculate how much malic acid is in the cider. Usually this is done with a kit from a Home Brew store, containing the necessary chemicals, measures, instructions etc.
Last year and again early in March I put up some posts asking for help with this because getting a Total Acidity (TA) kit or supplies here in Oz can be difficult. I had some really helpful replies and decided to look into the problem further because the kits generally are imported from the USA where they are quite cheap. But, a USD $12 kit will retail here at around AUD $30 - $40 plus postage if and when they are available. BTW the kits are excellent so I am not trying to “put them out of business”.
What sent me down the “alternative” path was the price and difficulty of getting the chemicals plus a comment from a local wine maker “I just use caustic soda from the hardware store”
When I know the TA of my various apples I can put together a balanced blend at the acidity I want. As most of my apples are either sweet or sharp there aren’t a lot of blending options to play with so it is worth getting it right.
Following a bit of “scratching around”, I found that there are readily available alternative materiaIs like caustic soda (Sodium Hydroxide) and pool or aquarium pH indicators that can accurately determine TA. I imagine that others in remote locations might have the same issues.
Attached is a write-up of what I have found out, including how to DIY your own “titration kit” from the readily available alternative materials. The results from these alternatives compare very well with the kits and are good enough for my “craft cider” purposes.
I hope it helps someone with the same supply issues that I had. (BTW if there are some technical inaccuracies in the attachment, please let me know)
Cheers!
In simple terms, titration is carried out by adding a known amount of alkali to neutralise a sample of acid (i.e. cider), then using this information to calculate how much malic acid is in the cider. Usually this is done with a kit from a Home Brew store, containing the necessary chemicals, measures, instructions etc.
Last year and again early in March I put up some posts asking for help with this because getting a Total Acidity (TA) kit or supplies here in Oz can be difficult. I had some really helpful replies and decided to look into the problem further because the kits generally are imported from the USA where they are quite cheap. But, a USD $12 kit will retail here at around AUD $30 - $40 plus postage if and when they are available. BTW the kits are excellent so I am not trying to “put them out of business”.
What sent me down the “alternative” path was the price and difficulty of getting the chemicals plus a comment from a local wine maker “I just use caustic soda from the hardware store”
When I know the TA of my various apples I can put together a balanced blend at the acidity I want. As most of my apples are either sweet or sharp there aren’t a lot of blending options to play with so it is worth getting it right.
Following a bit of “scratching around”, I found that there are readily available alternative materiaIs like caustic soda (Sodium Hydroxide) and pool or aquarium pH indicators that can accurately determine TA. I imagine that others in remote locations might have the same issues.
Attached is a write-up of what I have found out, including how to DIY your own “titration kit” from the readily available alternative materials. The results from these alternatives compare very well with the kits and are good enough for my “craft cider” purposes.
I hope it helps someone with the same supply issues that I had. (BTW if there are some technical inaccuracies in the attachment, please let me know)
Cheers!
