The concept of Oxidation Reduction Potential – or ORP – isn’t revolutionary science; it’s been known throughout the winemaking and brewing communities for more than 80 years.
ORP measures electron pressure; the tendency of a system to gain or lose electrons. Positive ORP, an electron-accepting process, creates an oxidizing environment, while negative ORP, an electron-donating reaction, creates a reducing environment.
The effects of ORP chemical reactions on fermentation processes have been observed for decades.
What’s groundbreaking for today’s modern winemaking community is that two top-notch, fermentation specialist companies have teamed up on the ability to accurately measure ORP dynamics in wine must, which vastly improves the potential for production winemaking controls across the board.
Gusmer Enterprises, the leading manufacturer, supplier and innovator of products and services to beverage industries since 1924, is partnering with Hamilton Company, global pioneer in process analytic technologies, to feature a superior ORP process sensor that can accurately track, control, and manage fermentations.
Modern Hamilton ORP ARC sensors use a silver chloride field standard. Their robust platinum bands are designed to handle the difficulties of wine must and have been manufactured to deliver robust quality, consistency and reliability in the lab to the cellar.
This ability to accurately monitor ORP signal profiles throughout fermentation can highlight process changes and process failures in real time, helping to target, guide and predict critical sensory outcomes with unprecedented precision.
Tracking process events and batch trends through deviations of the ORP control signal offers a path to optimized sensory profiles as well as reducing labor input costs, which facilitates greater production efficiency.
“The connection to sensory outcome is critical to winemakers,” emphasizes Kurt Driesner, Hamilton’s Business Development Manager for the Winemaking, Brewing and Distilling Industries.
“ORP measures effective, not dissolved oxygen levels, which is vital to keeping wine must from becoming over or under-aerated.”
Driesner notes recent Australian and American studies profiling the fermentations of various cap management techniques, aerated-managed wines reduced the bitterness in Petit Syrah and reduced astringency and increased red fruit characteristics of Pinot Noir and Petit Syrah.
In those same studies, the authors noted that automated aeration protocols can significantly reduce the “labor hours required for cap management compared to pump down or pump over techniques.”(1)
Calvin Watkins, the Product Manager for Gusmer Enterprises, is enthused by the potential of the latest ORP ARC sensor technology, now available to the worldwide wine community.
“ORP is a more complex chemistry that’s been around for a long time, but we’ve only begun to see the benefits for winemaking,” Watkins points out. “There are some well-respected wineries using it, who’ve discovered its value and have now integrated it as part of their winemaking protocol. It’s very exciting.”
“Winemakers are very good at what they do,” attests Driesner. “This technology is here to help them get better at what they’re already doing or what they want to do next.”
For more information or to set up a demo, contact Gusmer Enterprises at www.gusmerwine.com.
(1) Effect of Contrasting Cap Management Protocols on the Phenolic Composition, Redox Potential, and Sensory Properties of Pinot Noir and Petite Sirah Wines, Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research, April 2025
