The Use of Gum Arabic Liquid in Winemaking
As all winemakers must learn, winemaking is a delicate chemical process that they must perform in the right manner to receive favourable results. The technique of extracting the juice from the grapes is just a small part of making the ideal wine since the juice needs to ferment correctly to transform into the wine of your choice. While you may already know that you will need to add yeast and other additives, you may not be aware of the part that gum Arabic liquid can play in your endeavour.
What Is Gum Arabic Liquid?
Gum Arabic is resin-like substance from certain kinds of acacia trees that can also be manufactured into a liquid, and it is 100-percent natural. It has a wide variety of uses including as a food additive. For this reason, it is an ideal agent to provide colloidal stability to wine to ensure that it develops the right characteristics for the type that you are making.
Reasons to Add Gum Arabic Liquid to Wine
- You add this liquid to usually simple red wines that have a short fermentation time to prevent undesirable changes occurring in the colour of the wine so it will retain is deep red shade.
- Gum Arabic liquid helps reduce the astringency of the wines by softening the tannins.
- Another reason for using the gum Arabic liquid is to lower the risk of the formation of potassium bitartrate crystals from forming under cold conditions. These crystals develop naturally and are not harmful except for the clarity of the wine. Tannins can attach to these crystals, though, and change the flavour of the wine.
- This additive also helps with the microbiological stability of wine, so you can add it after the microfiltration process.
- It prevents certain issues from occurring in the wine from the formation of the colloidal complexes of metals
- One last reason to use this liquid is to improve the perlage of sparkling wines.
Can Be Filtered Out After It Performs Its Tasks
Once this liquid performs all of its intended tasks for your winemaking, you can filter out of the final product if you so desire. It will not cause the filters to clog in any manner. Of course, whether or not you filter it out depends upon why and when you added it in the first place.
For your supply of gum Arabic liquid or other winemaking supplies, equipment and machinery, rely on Grapeworks Consumables. We provide a wide assortment of quality products that are ideal for use in the making wine, cider and brewed beverages.