First time using a hydrometer

Hedley said:

Hi there brewers,

I have been making wine for a year now and done four batches. One of the things I have found is that my wine is often sweet, and I would like it less so.

I have recently brought a hydrometer and have used it for a batch of blackberry and raspberry wine that I have just transferred to a demijohn. I wanted to take a reading before adding sugar so that I could work out how much sugar was present in the fruit, and alter the amount of sugar to be added. However I was not able to as I did not have a deep enough vessel to put the hydrometer in at that stage in the process.

The recipe I used (page 189 in C.J.J. Berry's book) called for the yeast to be added to the primary fermentation a few days before adding sugar, so presumably some of the natural sugar in the fruit would have been converted into alcohol during those few days.

After the 5 days in the primary (4 of those with yeast) I added 2 and a half lb of sugar (the recipe called for 3) and took my first SG reading (I have since brought a trial vessel). It read 1.082. This was lower than I expected (I think it was low because there was actually more than a gallon of liquid, which I only discovered when transferring to the demijohn). According to the table on page 81 of the aforementioned book that SG reading means that the wine will end up as around about 11 per cent.

However because some sugar may have been converted during the primary phase it might come out a little stronger, yes?

Any thoughts or pointers most appreciated.

Ross

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Hedley said:

Hi there brewers,

I have been making wine for a year now and done four batches. One of the things I have found is that my wine is often sweet, and I would like it less so.

I have recently brought a hydrometer and have used it for a batch of blackberry and raspberry wine that I have just transferred to a demijohn. I wanted to take a reading before adding sugar so that I could work out how much sugar was present in the fruit, and alter the amount of sugar to be added. However I was not able to as I did not have a deep enough vessel to put the hydrometer in at that stage in the process.

Your hydrometer should have come with plastic cylinder that holds the juice and the hydrometer. You should get or use the cylinder for a hydrometer reading, rather than floating the hydrometer in the must bucket. I suggest you use a strainer pressed into the must to separate fruit from juice, and use a turkey baster to transfer juice into the hydrometer cylinder. You will get a better reading this way.

The recipe I used (page 189 in C.J.J. Berry's book) called for the yeast to be added to the primary fermentation a few days before adding sugar, so presumably some of the natural sugar in the fruit would have been converted into alcohol during those few days.

I don't know what advantage, if any, is gained by not mixing sugar prior to pitching the yeast. I think it's poor advice for several reasons. Certainly it prevents you from getting an original specific gravity reading on the combined fruit and sugar must.

I think a better method is to mix Kmeta, pectic enzyme and sugar into the fruit, let it sit a day or two for the fruit to begin to break down and the sugar to integrate, then take an SG reading just before pitching the yeast.

After the 5 days in the primary (4 of those with yeast) I added 2 and a half lb of sugar (the recipe called for 3) and took my first SG reading (I have since brought a trial vessel). It read 1.082. This was lower than I expected (I think it was low because there was actually more than a gallon of liquid, which I only discovered when transferring to the demijohn). According to the table on page 81 of the aforementioned book that SG reading means that the wine will end up as around about 11 per cent.

However because some sugar may have been converted during the primary phase it might come out a little stronger, yes?

Yes, you are right, and the method described in the recipe is flawed, in my opinion. Just because someone writes a book, article or post on winemaking doesn't mean they always follow best practices. The more you read about winemaking the more you'll realize this is almost universally true.

Any thoughts or pointers most appreciated.

Ross

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Hummer said:

I don't know what advantage, if any, is gained by not mixing sugar prior to pitching the yeast. I think it's poor advice for several reasons. Certainly it prevents you from getting an original specific gravity reading on the combined fruit and sugar must.

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