Is my Specific Gravity too high?

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feffer

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I'm starting a plum wine, and want it "dry." The must, before adding yeast, is at a temp-corrected SG of 1.108. Is this too high? If so can I alter it by adding more sugar?

Initially, I used 7.5 lbs of sugar for a 5 gal batch. I inverted the sugar. I think this is on the low end, but it's what the recipe called for. Last year, I used a bit over 10 lbs of sugar, and the wine turned out sweeter than I liked. I don't know whether this was due to incomplete fermentation, or just that I added too much sugar to start with. I don't want to overcompensate, but not sure what to do. This is my first try with a hydrometer, so I'm not sure what to expect. Hope I can get an answer quickly, as I'll have to add the yeast later today.

thx,
feffer
 
I'm starting a plum wine, and want it "dry." The must, before adding yeast is at a temp-corrected SG of 1.108. Is this too high? If so can I alter it by adding more sugar?

Initially, I used 7.5 lbs of sugar for a 5 gal batch. I inverted the sugar. I think this is on the low end, but it's what the recipe called for. Last year, I used a bit over 10 lbs of sugar, and the wine turned out sweeter than I liked. I don't know whether this was due to incomplete fermentation, or just that I added too much sugar to start with. I don't want to overcompensate, but not sure what to do. This is my first try with a hydrometer, so I'm not sure what to expect. Hope I can get an answer quickly, as I'll have to add the yeast later today.

thx,
feffer

That OG is a bit high. Don't add more sugar- it'll go even higher! It should ferment down to .990 or so, so it might be "hot" for a while but it should age ok. One thing that will help is you can use water to top up when racking and the ABV will decrease a bit from the dilution. Otherwise, the wine would be nearly 16% ABV. I like my table wines more like 12-13%.
 
OK, great. Thx for the really quick reply. I should be good then. So then sugar, water, fruit has a higher SG and when it converts to alcohol it goes down. I'm assuming OG is the same as specific gravity, and that ABV is the percentage of alcohol in the finished wine.

thx,
feffer
 
Yep, you're right on those fronts. OG means original gravity (and FG is final gravity). ABV is the alcohol percentage - stands for Alcohol By Volume.

Water alone has a specific gravity of 1.000. Sugar increases the gravity, alcohol decreases it. Pure alcohol is .794.
 
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