Interesting hydrometer reading issue...

DoctorCAD · 02-15-2009, 02:00 AM

I started my first batch of real fruit wine this past week. I am making a blackberry wine because I read on this forum that it is a really good wine.

My recipe:
4 1/4 pounds Whole Foods organic blackberries
2 1/4 pounds sugar
7 pints water
1/2 tsp acid blend
1/2 tsp peptic enzyme
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1 crushed campden tablet
1 pack wine yeast

Mixed everything but yeast and let sit 24 hours. SG measured 1.075 instead of 1.085 in recipe book.

pitched yeast

Stirred daily for 6 days

Ghecked SG on 6th day and it was 1.000!!!!!

I racked into 1 gallon bottle and about 3/4 of a 1/2 gallon bottle under airlock. Both bubblers are active and sediment is falling out. The wine is a beautiful red color and it smells raw, but good.

The SG of 1.000 in 6 days really has me baffled. I don't think the wine is bad, but what could cause that?

I am wondering if my hydrometer may be out of calibration, I guess I could check some distilled water to verify.

Any ideas?

alee · 02-15-2009, 12:02 PM

I have had many batches of wine finish in 5 or 6 days. Don't worry about it.
I was using Montrachet yeast for every fruit wine when I first started and found that it was really fast fermenting. It is much better in my opinion to have a slower ferment, so I switched to a different yeast and slowed them down. Sometimes a fast ferment will leave sulfur flavor, but it will mellow out in time. All of my wines finish totally dry at 1.000, then I age them in carboys for 6 months (racking as necessary) and don't sweeten until a couple of weeks before bottling.

DoctorCAD · 02-15-2009, 12:50 PM

Montrachet yeast was what came with my 1 gallon kit.

What kind of yeast would be better? (I assume my LHBS will be able to help with this).

If I leave the blackberry to age for 6 months, it will be fine?
Do you think it will get lower than 1.000, or does that even matter?

I'm thinking of trying mango next batch if I can find good ones...

alee · 02-15-2009, 02:33 PM

I have found that Lalvin 71B-1122 is a great all purpose yeast for red fruit wines. It ferments slower than the Montrachet. Montrachet is know for producing sulfur taste due to the quick fermentation. I'm sure it is great with the right type of wine. After aging my blackberry, it tastes great. We like it on the sweeter side since we pick wild berries and they can come accross a little tart. Just make sure you rack it off the sediment once a month or so and let it age in glass with an airlock. It will be fine. Haven't tried Mango, but made a peach/banana last fall that is still young. So far it tastes good, just could have used more and riper peaches. My all time favorite is blueberry made from 1/2 frozen (Dole) blueberries and 1/2 canned. It's a good wine to make in the winter when fresh berries are not available. Did the same with cherries and made a super wine also. Good luck and have fun with it..and above all patience. The wine will improve drastically with age. I've had a couple that weren't that great at 6 months, but in a year they were exceptional.
Some wines will drop below 1.000. I've had the hydrometer bottom out a few times. The main thing is that the wine is completly stable before bottling. If you are going to sweeten the wine, do it a couple of weeks before bottleing and stabalize it with sorbate and sulfite. Then let it sit at room temp for 2wks to make sure it doesn't start fermenting again. I've always done this and haven't had a cork blow yet....probably just jinxed myself!!!!!!!!

**Yooper** · 02-15-2009, 09:21 PM

In my experiences, the speed of the fermentation means nothing. It's true that a super fast ferment might cause the temperature to climb inside the fermenter, as fermentation is exothermic, but that might be the only reason to be concerned about a fast vs. slow fermentation.

Unless a wine starts over 1.140 or so, any commercial wine yeast will take almost all wines to .990 (dry). I've had some stop at .994-.996, depending on the OG and what yeast I was using, but Montrachet will easily take your 1.075 wine to .990. It doesn't really matter what the reading is- as long as it's unchanging over a period of time so that you know it's done.

As alee mentioned, you can always sweeten the wine to your desired amount, once it's completely done and stabilized.