Practical investigations
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I have read an article about how to find out the concentration of alcohol in wine. In the titration part, does the alcohol that reacts with the dichromate ion come from the original wine or the solution after the distillation? Will the opened bottle of wine for one or more weeks affect the result if I use it again?
Igloo writes
When the wine is distilled the alcohol distils over, and it is this alcohol with which the dichromate ions react. So the answer to your question is: the alcohol comes from the original wine.
If the wine is left in the open air for a few weeks, a slow oxidation of alcohol to ethanoic acid will take place, and this process is accelerated by some of the microbes naturally present in the wine. As a result the ethanol content will probably decrease.
Risk assessment
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For further guidance see our tutorial on Risk Assessment.
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updated: 09 March 2006
