Specific Gravity Rising

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Geolithic

New Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2012
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Location
North Adams
Hi folks, I've been brewing for a few years now and have had several very successful batches. Something weird is happening with my most recent batch of sumac wine (incidentally my favorite variety). My original specific gravity on 8/14 was 1.110. I racked it today into the secondary and the gravity was 1.990. Really. I'm not sure what is going on. There were lees in the bottom and it has been bubbling away constantly for six weeks now. I don't really know what could make the gravity go up. It is still very sweet and does not taste like vinegar is occurring. Thoughts?
 
i have one fermenting right now thats doing the same thing, my guess is the co2 is lifting the hydro even though its been spun.

i have not washed my hydro just been spraying it with starsan and putting it back in the last 2 days since i started this batch.
 
It's not possible that the SG can rise. Also, no hydrometer goes to 1.990 anyway! :D

I would expect a reading of .990. But it shouldn't be "sweet" at all. Can you take another reading, and see what the SG really is? Make sure you degas the sample first, and let us know?
 
or what yooper said, my reading is only changed by .0002 so i'm still going with tons of co2 since mine is just getting rolling. yours sounds like its close to done.
 
um yea not possible, if its fermenting the gravity will always go down because alcohol weighs less then the must.
 
I'm a newbie myself, but is it possible the original gravity reading didn't factor in temperature, and thus was higher than measured?
 
in my case it was just co2 lifting my hydro in the primary, i would bet the original poster misread the hydro, i know i did at first. changes in temperature only move the reading a very little bit.
 
Back
Top