VinoD

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Yeah...........I re-read what I typed and that's what it sounds like to me too. What I did was to siphon some into a sanitized cylinder and dropped the hydro (which I had sanitized, too) in that. I did, however, dump that back into the carboy.

I did take an initial reading on the pre-yeast must of 1.092. But that's where I forgot all about my hydrometer until yesterday. I missed a reading when I strained the must and then again when I racked it off the bottom yeast slime (my term ).

Guess I should leave it sit a while and take another reading.

How long can I leave it sit in a, basically, stalled state before I have to add potassium sorbate and sulfite?

Yooper

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First of all, it's not in a stalled state. You don't know that it won't ferment lower, and you can check it whenever you want. Most people don't worry about it, and just check it "later". When the wine is crystal clear, and you rack it to another carboy to get it off the lees is a good time to check the SG.

I let my wines sit in a carboy for a long time. I have a rhubarb wine in a carboy that I made in May of 2008. It's clear, and it's finished, but it's fine where it is until I bottle it. Since I'm not sweetening it, I won't be adding sorbate. I do use sulfite at every other racking, though. Usually, I use one crushed campden tablet per gallon at every other racking, which keeps the sulfites in a good range to help preserve the wine and help prevent oxidation during racking.

I'd let the wine sit now, and see if the SG drops. If you get some thick lees, you can rack it whenever it needs it but you can wait 30-45 days at least between rackings.

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VinoD

Recipes 

Thanks to all for the extremely helpful replies.

Will let the batch sit for a while and re-check the SG. What I have now looks beautiful and even tastes not too bad. Just that the hydrometer reading tossed me off balance in what I thought I knew should be taking place. I know I'm a lot better off fermenting with SG readings than I was my first year without them. But my ignorance last year was truly bliss.