other question #5065

Giorgio, a 59 year old male from ITALY asks on August 25, 2010,

Q:

My question is related to wine making: How does alcohol concentration (in the same wine) affect CO2 solubility? In other words, with the same amount of CO2 to be dissolved in solution, how the pressure in the bottle change if the alcohol content in one bottle is 10% and in another is 12%?
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the answer

David Harrington answered on 0000, A:

The solubility of CO2 in alcohol/water mixtures depends on the amount of alcohol and the temperature. The solubility increases as the temperature drops (as with most gases). For low alcohol concentrations the solubility decreases as the alcohol concentration but for concentrations at about 10% and above, the solubility increases with the concentration of alcohol. For example at 20 degrees C, the solubility of CO2 for 10% alcohol is 1.23 g/L and for 12% is 1.33 g/L. So the pressure should go down as the alcohol content increases in this regime.

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