fizzydrink wrote:Is there a way to see what %abv my lemoncello is?
yes there is and different methods
I do Alcohol (%ABV) Determination tests all the time to ensure our products are quality and most importantly the Australian Tax Office (ATO) is not missing out. (Damn Excise)
If you were to take a sample of you product and try and measure alcohol via density, alcohometre even light reftaction your result will be inaccurate. this is because the measuring devices are calibrated for alcohol and water only. hence the sugars, lemon particle and lemon oil (Limonene B.P. 176 Deg C) are changing the reading.
The method we at the Hunter Distillery undertake is to just get a mixture of alcohol and water for a set volume then apply the measuring instruments to determine the alcohol content.
If you were to take a determined volume (we use calibrated 500ml flasks). Distill that volume so that
all the alcohol is collected (we use a Lab Still). then add water into the collected alcohol back upto the original volume determined (500ml). what you have create a mixture of alcohol and water that your instruments then will be able to analyse.
for example we measure via a calibrated flask 500ml of product. A determined volume of product is now established. we then add this to our lab still. boil it and collect all the alcohol. as we have collected all the alcohol from 500ml of product we then need to make the volume backup to 500ml as to replicate the original product now with only water and alcohol. then we test with calibrated alcohmeters the %ABV ( as the alcohometers measurements are set for 20 Degrees Celcius ) we take a temperature reading and correct the recorded %ABV to the actual %ABV. The temperature reading is critical as density will change due to temperature. however i doubt you need to be this accurate.
I have outlined 1 method as there are other ways to determine %ABV of a mixture that we use as a Commercial Distillery