Page 9 - Grapevine NovDec 2020

In The Winery
tively adsorbed by the CMS, allowing nitrogen gas
of 95-99.999% to pass through to the application.
The CMS in the ‘offline’ columns is regenerated by
releasing the pressure in the columns and venting
the waste gases to the atmosphere. This constant
swing in pressure between columns is why the
technology is called pressure swing adsorption.”
Peccia told The Grapevine Magazine that PSA
technology is the primary candidate for winer-
ies because of the purity levels it allows users
to achieve. He added that depending upon the
amount of nitrogen used at a given winery, Parker
Hannifin’s PSA nitrogen gas generators can deliver,
at minimum, a 12- to 18-month payback with low
energy usage and stable gas costs. Peccia detailed
the most common uses of nitrogen in wineries:
sparging, flushing and blanketing.
“During the fermentation process, oxygen will nat- spaces and so is dangerous in that respect.
urally dissolve into the wine. Sparging is a process
where very fine bubbles of nitrogen are passed
through the wine to remove dissolved oxygen. It
is important to note that red and white wines dif-
fer in chemistry, and because of this, the use of
nitrogen gas sparging may differ in production. For
example, some wines require a certain amount of
CO2,” he said. “To avoid removing CO2 below the
required level, a mixture of CO2 and nitrogen is
utilized for sparging. This is most common in pro-
duction of white wines but required for some red
wines.
“During production, wine is transferred between
multiple containers via pumps and hoses before
becoming a finished product and sealed into a bot-
tle. This adds the risk of oxygen exposure. Nitrogen
is used to flush out oxygen within storage tanks,
barrels, transfer pumps, hoses and bottles to pre-
vent unwanted oxidation. Flushing is also used
during bottling before a bottle is filled with wine. winemaking. For a product whose optimal result
“Nitrogen can be used to blanket the ullage,
or headspace, of partially filled containers used
throughout the production process. Headspace is
the result of not filling a container from top to bot-
tom. This space helps to compensate for the expan-
sion and contraction of the wine due to changes in
ambient temperature. Headspace is also a factor
877-892-5332 The Grapevine • November - December 2020
Grapevine Main Pages G111220_Layout 1-1 .indd 7 10/27/20
during bottling where there is a space between the
bottle seal and the wine. Blanketing the headspace
of a container before a bottle is sealed helps to
eliminate oxygen exposure,” said Peccia.
Bars and restaurants use nitrogen gas in wine dis-
pensing, reducing the risk of oxidation in a bottle of
wine before that bottle is empty. That means those
businesses can stretch the shelf life of a bottle of
wine for one to two months instead of throwing
out spoiled wine and, in the process, losing money
on an unusable product.
Necessary Caution
Safeguards are a must when it comes to using
nitrogen. Rack and Riddle’s Gadd-Coster explained
why wineries have to exercise caution to protect
their workforce. “It does displace air in enclosed
Enclosed space protocols need to be respected.”
Suffocation is a genuine threat to workers if a
nitrogen gas leak goes undetected. For this reason,
most wineries use gas monitors, portable sensors
and other gas detection technology designed to
protect workers from oxygen depletion. Illinois-
based PureAire Monitoring Systems services a vast
array of food and beverage clients, including win-
eries. The company has a wide range of monitors
for specific needs with features that promote ease
of operation and longevity, such as a digital screen
displaying an instant-read of oxygen levels and a
zirconium oxide sensor cell. Its dual oxygen/carbon
dioxide model includes both the zirconium oxide
sensor cell and a non-dispersive infrared sensor
cell.
The use of nitrogen gas is a part of nearly every
food and beverage processing industry, including
depends on the right combination of artisanship
and science, wineries are using nitrogen to height-
en the taste and quality of their wines as well as
their profits.
Page 7
1:36 PM