Determination of Energy Savings in Alcoholic Wine Fermentation According to the IPMVP Protocol

Abstract

Alcoholic fermentation in wines is a complex process that is difficult to model and may vary according to many different parameters. Temperature is a key parameter throughout the fermentation process that must be controlled to avoid quality problems or even interruptions in fermentation. In industrial facilities, temperature is controlled via low-temperature fluids, according to preestablished settings or the experience of the enologist. In industrial winemaking, information is not always available on the energy involved at each time point of the fermentation or on the amount of energy actually needed to guide the process through the proper conditions. In this study, we sought to establish a method for conducting energy analyses of must fermentation to determine how much energy the process requires and what its cooling needs are. This approach enables decision making with a view to keeping the process within the conditions required and determining how much energy is needed for that purpose. Once these points have been determined, benchmarks can be established to which the actual energy used in the process can be compared to determine its efficiency. Moreover, the information compiled may help enologists in decision making during the fermentation and prevent undesirable developments of the product. Once the fermentation is completed, this information can also help winemakers to analyze the process variables that yielded the wine product, thereby making it easier to reproduce the same variables in order to continuously improve the product.