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Detection Reagents from Unitech Scientific LLC
Traditional winemakers like to say that, “with good grapes and viticultural practices, wine makes itself.”
It is true that, exceptional grapes can make exceptional wine. It is also true that few microorganism - in addition to select fermentation yeast and mali-lactic strains - survive in must and wine. But these “few” microorganisms routinely cause a lot of trouble. Review our collection of Microbiology and Brettanomyces literature related to the wine industry.
Modern winemakers and cellar workers are always alert to the presence of these few, troublesome microbes, because wine spoilage results in off-flavors and odors, atypical mouth-feel and other wine defects. Spoilage organisms cause significant financial loss to wineries each year.
Laboratory monitoring and trending for microbes (& microbial products) in wine provides the ‘early warning’ needed for timely preventive and ameliorative action. Minimizing the effect of spoilage organisms is a principal activity in the cellar. The Lab also monitors certain microbial products (and amelioration chemicals) - the concentrations of which are regulated in wine.
Unitech Scientific LLC offers a collection of reagents and technologies for detecting Wine Spoilage Organisms and their metabolic products.
PRODUCT GROUPS
1. ENZYMATIC Monitoring (a few minutes/test) Grape juice contains no Lactic Acid; monitoring for D-Lactic Acid (formed by lactic acid bacteria [LAB] metabolism of sugar) provides an effective ‘early warning’ for the presence of unwanted Lactic Acid bacteria. Some Lactic Acid bacteria (e.g. Leuconostoc sp., Oenococcus) are introduced during mali-lactic fermentation, converting L-Malic to L-Lactic Acid. Unwanted LAB metabolize Citric Acid to Acetic Acid and diacetyl. Acetic Acid bacteria are generally undesireable in grape juice and wine production and monitoring for Acetic Acid (VA) provides an effective ‘early warning’ for their presence |
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| REAGENTS | SPOILAGE ORGANISM | Detection Target / Wine Defect | |
| UniFLEX Acetic Acid kit | Acetobacter, Gluconobacter, Gluconoacetobacter, Lactic Acid Bacteria, Gluconobacter | Acetic Acid / high V.A., sharp vinegar aroma & taste | |
| D-Lactic Acid EnzyPLUS kit D/L-Lactic Acid EnzyPLUS D-Lactic Acid ACCUVIN Test Strips (visual) | Lactic Acid bacteria (Lactobacillus, Leuconostoc, Oenococcus, Pediococcus, P. pentosaceus, L. plantarum, etc. | D-Lactic Acid / lactic taint, biogenic amines, and bitter, mousy, or ropy wine | |
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2. EIA Monitoring (a few hours/test) |
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| Z-Brett Test Kit (3-hr) | Brettanomyces - Dekkera | whole Brettanomyces cells Non-varietal-odors, e.g. horsey, sweaty & ‘wet-dog-in-a-phone-booth’ | |
| Z-Brett & Culture, Lab Service | |||
| Mycotoxins | |||
| Histamine 96-well quant. |
Lactic Acid bacteria, etc.
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Histamine, a biogenic amine | |
| Ochratoxin A 96-well quant. | Aspergillus & Penicillium molds | Ochratoxin A (nephrotoxin, carcinogen) | |
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3. MICROBIOLOGY Monitoring (a few days/test) |
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| Differential Microbiology Media | Format | Target Organisms | |
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A. Stab Vida Yeast Spoilage |
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| 1. DBDMTM | Agar & Broth | Brettanomyces/Dekkara | |
| 2. Zygo-DM | Agar & Broth | Zygosaccharomyces | |
| B. Compact DryTM, Media | |||
| 1. Yeast & Mold (YM) | Dry Plates | Yeast and Mold colonies of different colors | |
| 2. Total Counts (TC) | Aerobic Bacteria colonies of different colors | ||
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C. Sartorius Microbiology Media |
NPSTM |
AMPULES | |
| 1. Orange Serum | 14062 | OS | Acid-tolerant bacteria (Acetobacter, Gluconobacter, Pediococcus,Lactobacillus) & yeasts (Brett, Pichia, |
| 2. Malt | 14086 |
WL-Diff. (=Wallerstein Differential) |
Yeasts and molds; smoothy, shiny mostly white Yeasts; cotton wool-like molds |
| 3. Yeast Extract | 14090 |
WL (=Wallerstein) |
Bacteria, yeasts molds can grow, mostly colorless |
| 4. Tomato | 14079 | Leuconostoc oenos Wine and fruit juice Lactic-acid bacteria form small, whitish colonies | |
| 5. Weman | 14065 | Leuconostoc mesenteroides forms transparent, colorless colonies | |
| 6. VLB-S7-S | 14059 | lactobacilli & pediococci Beer-spoilage organisms form greenish colonies (w/ acid color changes to yellow) | |
| 7. Wort |
14058 14008 |
Yeasts smoothy, shiny, white or colored; cotton-wool-like molds, first white then in different colors | |
| 8. Schaufus-Pottinger |
14070 14072 |
Sugar fermenters develop whitish- yellow colonies; other colonies are bluish-green | |
| 9. Standard | 14064 | Predominantly bacteria colonies | |
| 10. Standard TTC |
14055 10445 |
Predominantly bacteria colonies various sizes and shapes | |
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