Practical investigations
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I am investigating the acid content in wines by performing a titration with sodium hydroxide. I know I’ll have to dilute my wine sample with distilled water and add phenolphthalein to determine the amount of tartaric acid in my sample, but I'm wondering is this the best way to carry out the investigation?
Igloo writes ...
Using a titration is the conventional way to determine the acid content of wines, and yes, you appear to be doing the right things. However, make sure that your solution of sodium hydroxide is approximately of the same concentration as the total acid content of the wine, otherwise you will either be reading off a titration reading which is ridiculously small, e.g. 0.1 cm3, or inconveniently large, requiring the burette to be refilled during the titration. Remember too that you will need to standardise your solution of sodium hydroxide at some stage.
Risk assessment
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updated: 20 December 2007
