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


(K.J.Kristiansen) wrote in message . com>...
> Be aware that it is the vapor temperature which obviously is referred
> to here. Even this temp. will not be as low as 80 at the beginning of
> boiling. If you measure the temp. of the wine you should rather look
> for the temp. change and the approach to 100 C rather than the
> absolute level. You should also be aware that you will loose a
> considerable amount of wine when you apply this method unless you have
> a rectification column which will reflux your "non-alcholol" portion
> of the vapor.
>
> "Ruiseart agus Ceit" > wrote in message om.au>...
> > "Doug Miller" wrote:
> >
> > "Ruiseart agus Ceit" wrote:
> > > > Hallo,
> > > >
> > > > Just a quickie for you wine experts Does boiling remove the
> alcohol
> > > >from mead/wine, and if so, how long should it be boiled?
> > > >
> > > 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.
> >
> >
> > Thankyou very much. This is most informative
> >
> > Ruiseart.
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> > http://www.amitar.com.au/~druid1/RavensWing.html
> > "Mist Covered Mountains" new CD from RavensWing available now
> > http://gdosc.bravepages.com
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~