Determination of long term normal storage effects on urea and ethyl carbamate in wine.
The prediction of the changes in ethyl carbamate are directly proportional to the ethanol concentration and to the urea concentrations. The rate at which the formation occurs follows the Arrhenius equation. It is simply a chemical reaction (no enzymes involved). The higher the storage temperature the faster the reactions proceed. Essentially, only a small percentage of the urea is lost with time. At the temperatures of normal storage, the hydrolysis rate is very, very slow. Citrulline also reacts, but much more slowly with ethanol to form ethyl carbamate.