Determination of Ash Content in Wines by the Conductometric Method

Željka Dikanović-Lučan, Angelina Palić, D. Hanser

Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology, Zagreb

Article history:
Received September 30, 1992
Accepted April 22, 1993

Summary:
Ash content is one of the important indicators in wine quality determination. The conventional gravimetric method for ash quantity determination is time consuming. As conductivity is primarily dependent on mineral content, its value (from 7276 to 3460 μS/cm) was determined in 107 wine samples. Alcohol (53.20-109.35 g/L) and total extract concentration (4.82-24.40 g/L) were also analyzed. Based on the experimental data the empirical equation for ash concentration calculation is proposed. The results obtained by using this equation were correlated with the results obtained by gravimetric method. Calculated ash content, according to the proposed equation is found to be satisfactory for 79.4 % of analysed wine samples, while the efficiency of this model is found to be 98.2 %.