Main objectives were:
- to alert the winemaker early of any stops in the fermentation process,
- to produce the best possible bouquet of the wine,
- to indicate the end of the fermentation process,
- to indicate the alcohol content of the wine,
- to save a great deal of time in the vital monitoring of the fermentation process,
- to create controls for a range of wine and all volumes of must for fermentation,
- to ensure a high degree of fermentation safety and accuracy.
The objectives were largely achieved. However, during its practical implementation (Autumn 2019), we realised that certain musts did not contain 0% alcohol, but up to 1.5% vol. As our software assumes an alcohol-free must, the calculations of the end of the fermentation process and the end alcohol level of the wine were incorrect. We also found various software bugs and minor errors in the refractometer measurements.