Taking original gravity

I started making small batches of mead with all different kinds of ingredients and it's been pretty exciting. At first I wasn't concerned with taking any specific gravity readings but now that I'm more serious I am very curious what the final % alcohol is going to be.

I wanted to know how am I suppose to take original gravity readings on meads where I add fruit, like oranges and pears. How will the fruit affect the reading or am I missing something and it doesn't matter?

Would I be better off using a vinometer to have a reading before bottling? I can't imagine that it is very accurate for mead.

Thanks

You need to crush up the fruit. I add the hot water/sugar/honey mixture over frozen fruit, crush it up, then take the reading.

Also be sure to mix it up well. I've been doing 1 gallon batches lately and you need to tip the jug for several minutes before everything is all mixed evenly.

peppage said:

...Would I be better off using a vinometer to have a reading before bottling? I can't imagine that it is very accurate for mead.

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FYI... Vinometers are most accurate when testing dry wines where very little residual sugar is present. The sweeter the wine (mead, etc.) the less accurate the vinometer becomes.