Novozymes’ wine enzymes

The pectin test

– a unique tool to monitor the performance
of pectinases in the wine industry

What is in it for me as a winemaker?

The degradation of pectins is an essential step during winemak-
ing. The hydrolysis of must pectins by pectolytic enzymes re-
duces the must viscosity and enables faster and easier settling of
the must. Full depectinization is necessary to achieve rapid and
effective clarification of the must before alcoholic fermentation,
avoiding the risk of off flavours.

Why should I use the Pectin Test?

This monitoring enables you to follow the pectin degrada-
tion during clarification and decide if more enzymes need to
be added to achieve full depectinization. The test also assists
in highlighting when the enzymes dose needs to be adapted Novo Test®
for optimal performance - i.e. demonstrating when the dose
needs to be increased to work on must or wine with high pectin
content.

What do I need to run a Pectin Test?

To run this test you can either use our Novo-Test® kit, available
from our distributors, which is ready to use, or set up your own
test kit using the following elements: test tubes, acidified alco-
hol (ethanol + 1% chlorhydric acid), and a few ml of your must/
wine.

Simply mix the acidified alcohol with your must or wine at a volume of 2:1, gently
shake, and within minutes you get an easy reading of the pectin content. Use a
scale from 0 to 3 to interpret the test.
Pectin test
How to prepare the “Acidified Alcohol”
solution:
Pour 250 ml of alcohol, industrial ethanol, into a flask. Add
2.5 ml of chlorhydric acid to the alcohol and mix gently. The
solution is ready and stable. This volume of test solution will
enable you to run approximately 25 tests.
How to run the pectin test:
A sample of 4 ml of must, or wine, should be taken from the
tank. Leave the sample standing for 5 minutes to enable the
sedimentation of particles prior to the test.
In a test tube:
- Add 4 ml of must or of wine
- Add 8 ml of the acidified alcohol solution
- Mix gently and leave to stand before reading.
Wait 5 minutes after mixing to read the results for must samples
and in the case of a wine sample, wait 10 minutes. The pectin
precipitates in the presence of acidified alcohol.
Reading scale:
The presence of pectin is visualized by the presence of flakes.
The presence of pectin indicates that the additon of pectinases is
required to fully hydrolyze pectins to enable smooth processing.
Pectinases are the only effective methold to remove pectins.

Interpretation of the Test: After a short 5 to 10 minutes you can already see if the pectins have been completely hydrolyzed.
Left test tubes: white must or wine, right test tubes: red must or wine

0 - negative pectin test: clear liquid 1 - positive : haze formation 2 – clear positive : flock formation 3 – strong positive : heavy flock =
= absence of pectin = slight presence of pectin = medium presence of pectin high presence of pectin
©Novozymes A/S · Customer Communications · No. 2009-00678-01

Target fully achieved Extra enzyme addition is recommended

Novozymes Switzerland AG
Phone: + 41 61 765 6111
www.novozymes.com
wineprocessing@novozymes.com
If you want to be empowered to self-assess the presence of pectin in your must, contact your
local Novozymes’ enzyme distributor for more information, kits and test protocol, or contact us
directly via E-mail: wineprocessing@novozymes.com
‘In vino veritas’ – monitor the presence of pectins in your must, and realize exactly how our
pectinases truly elevate wine-making!