Determination of yeast assimilable nitrogen content in wine fermentations by sequential injection analysis with...

An automated method for measuring the primary amino acid concentration in wine fermentations by sequential injection analysis with spectrophotometric detection was developed. Isoindole-derivatives from the primary amino acid were formed by reaction with o-phthaldialdehyde and N-acetyl- L-cysteine and measured at 334 nm with respect to a baseline point at 700 nm to compensate the observed Schlieren effect. As the reaction kinetic was strongly matrix dependent the analytical readout at the final reaction equilibrium has been evaluated. Therefore four parallel reaction coils were included in the flow system to be capable of processing four samples simultaneously. Using isoleucine as the representative primary amino acid in wine fermentations a linear calibration curve from 2 to 10 mM isoleucine, corresponding to 28 to 140 mg nitrogen/L (N/L) was obtained. The coefficient of variation of the method was 1.5% at a throughput of 12 samples per hour. The developed method was successfully used to monitor two wine fermentations during alcoholic fermentation. The results were in agreement with an external reference method based on high performance liquid chromatography. A mean-t-test showed no significant differences between the two methods at a confidence level of 95%.