Gravity reading

I just took a reading on some wine and it was 0.090. The wine started out at 1.090 what kind of alcohol % am I looking at.

Assuming your final SG is .99, around 11%

The final gravity reading was 0.090. The chart that came with my hydrometer doesn't go down that far. It tastes pretty strong.

0.090 is not possible.

Hydrometers usually don't go below 0.990.

Guthrie said:

The final gravity reading was 0.090. The chart that came with my hydrometer doesn't go down that far. It tastes pretty strong.

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To make a point here, I'll be blunt. Pure ethanol has a gravity of 0.785
Your claim is that your wine is a ninth as heavy. Obviously, this is a case misreading, and 0.990 makes sense from both a projected FG and an easy error to make.
Let it underscore, however, how important it is to read your instruments carefully. Otherwise, why bother using them at all?

So I'm fairly new and have not yet figured out the hydrometer. Could 0.90 be possible? And if so how do I determine the %

Guthrie said:

So I'm fairly new and have not yet figured out the hydrometer. Could 0.90 be possible? And if so how do I determine the %

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I use http://www.rooftopbrew.net/abv.php

I'm sure there's a mathematical formula around somewhere but I'm too lazy

Enter your readings and temperatures. Pretty easy.

Guthrie said:

So I'm fairly new and have not yet figured out the hydrometer. Could 0.90 be possible? And if so how do I determine the %

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no, .90 isn't possible. But .990 is. If you look at the hydrometer, the lines above 1.000 are in the .990/.992/.994/.996/.998 levels.

Most wines will finish at .990, as a rule, unless starting with a very high OG. Mine usually start at 1.085-1.100 and finish at .990.

Remember 1.7 oz of sugarper gal will bump up balling scale by one point or SG.....

Turnerdude1 said:

Remember 1.7 oz of sugarper gal will bump up balling scale by one point or SG.....

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I don't believe this is correct.

Balling and SG are completely different scales. 1.7 oz of sugar may raise balling by approx. one point(I haven't checked the math), but SG will go up by 4 or 5 points.

(og - fg) * 131.25

1.7 oz refers to balling scale....just used it today to make 12 gal of blackberry wine...and was right on the money taking it to 1.090 SG