Monitoring SG in small batches

I've been looking at some recipes for various wines (plum, pear, rhubarb), looking to do 1 gallon batches.

They all say you should check the SG daily for a few days to a week (until it reaches a certain level). But it seems 5+ days worth of hydrometer vials would deplete your amount pretty quickly.

How do you all monitor this? I'm pretty new to HB beer and even newer to wine, so I am likely missing something somewhere, but I always was told you shouldn't pour the sample back in. Is it different with wine?

Thanks!

Kosch

Kosch said:

I've been looking at some recipes for various wines (plum, pear, rhubarb), looking to do 1 gallon batches.

They all say you should check the SG daily for a few days to a week (until it reaches a certain level). But it seems 5+ days worth of hydrometer vials would deplete your amount pretty quickly.

How do you all monitor this? I'm pretty new to HB beer and even newer to wine, so I am likely missing something somewhere, but I always was told you shouldn't pour the sample back in. Is it different with wine?

Thanks!

Kosch

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A refractometer would be very helpful in these situations.

Best practice is not to pour your samples back in.

You may have to just do one or two readings when you think its about done.

Float a sanitized hydrometer in the jug? i wouldnt normally do it but it makes sense for your situation.

Wow, HBT, now with InstaReply(tm)! Thanks for the quick replies everyone.

I've been looking at refractometers, but am torn because of the mixed reports I hear; with having to use a conversion table once fermentation starts, some say it's been accurate, others say not even close.

I've wondered about the floating hydrometer, seems like a nice way to monitor and fairly low risk for contamination (compared to pulling samples with a thief).

I guess in the idea of just checking it a couple times near the end, is there a risk if it goes beyond the recommended SG (in this case, you take it to a named SG, then rack to secondary)?

Thanks!

Kosch