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48 WINES&VINES June 2017 WINERY & VINEYARD EQUIPMENT TANNINS From harvest to pre-bottling, exclusive tannin products from BSG Wine help make your very best wines. Unlike nanofiltration, RO does not remove the heart of a wine when it is used as a vehicle to re- move VA, Brett or smoke taint. Be sure your RO is used in accordance with TTB regulations so it does not get classified as a distilling unit. Any permanent separation of the permeate stream from the loop will force the classification of it as a still and require operation under a Dis- tilled Spirts Permit. (Editor's note: For a more com- plete discussion of RO, see the column "Selecting a Machine for Reverse Osmosis" in the January 2017 issue of Wines & Vines.) Electrodialysis This type of membrane separation uses a specific membrane type driven by electrical current and pore size. In this type of separa- tion, the molecules are driven through a membrane that is either positively or negatively charged. The flow is still tangential, but it is not under high pressure. The driving force is electricity. The primary use of electrodialy- sis is to produce cold-stable wines. The membranes are set up in a specific order of a cathode side, neutral product and an anode side as a three-part sandwich made into a membrane stack. When the sur- face is charged, the cathode at- tracts the negative component of a salt, and the anode attracts the positive component of a salt. As one component passes through the membrane on one side, a matching component passes on the other, which keeps the neutral product at an electrically neutral condition. The particles exchanged are the respective H + and OH - . When a special membrane type and configuration are used (bipolar membrane), the ionic species that pass through the membrane, from the wine's per- spective, are potassium to the anode and tartrate to the cathode. This changes some membrane parameters, and the system can be used to adjust the pH of a wine. Summary Many companies supply these types of equipment. It would be in your business's best interest to first clearly define what type of filtration is needed to improve the quality of your wine and what fits into your budget. Familiarize yourself with the operation of the equipment and be sure to understand what is re- tained on one side of the membrane and what passes through. Most manufacturers provide some means for testing their equip- ment, and don't hesitate to take the equipment for a test drive. Tangen- tial-flow filtration is a powerful tool; be sure you can harness that power to improve your wines. Richard Carey, Ph.D., is a wine consultant in Lancaster, Pa., and owner of Tamanend Wine Inc. He wrote a software program to help small wineries keep track of their wine production records and results of laboratory analyses. MEMBRANE FILTRATION SUPPLIERS Company Phone Website ATPGroup (707) 836-6840 atpgroup.com Bucher Vaslin North America (707) 823-2883 bvnorthamerica.com Della Toffola USA Ltd. (707) 544-5300 dellatoffola.us Euro-Machines Inc. (707) 864-5800 euromachinesusa.com Gusmer Enterprises (559) 485-2692 gusmerwine.com Koch Membrane Systems (888) 677-5624 kochmembrane.com Oenodia North America (707) 486-4651 oenodia.us Scott Laboratories Inc. (707) 765-6666 scottlab.com Scott Laboratories Ltd. (Canada) (905) 839-9463 scottlabsltd.com Tamanend Wine Inc. (717) 475-7629 tamanend.com Tangent Membranes Inc. (707) 217-3765 tangentmembranes.com VA Filtration USA (707) 552-2616 vafiltration.com Winesecrets (888) 656-5553 winesecrets.com Winetech LLC (707) 257-2080 winetech.us For more information about the suppliers listed above, visit winesandvines.com/buyersguide or see Wines & Vines' 2017 Buyer's Guide.