<1 hydrometer readings

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John Long

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I just racked some Cider and some Chamomile Agave Mead (excellent!) and got two hydrometer readings less than 1.

The Cider read 0.85 and the Agave Mead read ~0.79. I could not read the mead correctly as my hydrometer label doesn't go that far.

Both are fermented using dry wine yeasts and both are very dry with barely any carbonation. I'm assuming the yeast ate so many sugars the liquid is now less heavy than water?

Both sat in primary for over 2 1/2 months.

I'm confused!

-Cheers
John Long
 
Readings below 1.00 for meads and cidars aren't unusual. Those two seem really low to me, though. You may want to test your hydrometer by putting it in pure water. Should read 1.00 even
 
I think you're reading the hydrometer wrong- I'd be willing to bet that your readings are .985 and .979 respectively. (Hydrometers generally don't go below .990- that's usually where the scale starts.). It's impossible to have the readings be what you posted.

Most of my wines finish dry at .990, as do my meads and ciders. That's actually "dry" and when they are done fermenting, although some will finish as high as .998 or so.
 
Both are fermented using dry wine yeasts and both are very dry with barely any carbonation. I'm assuming the yeast ate so many sugars the liquid is now less heavy than water?

John Long

Alcohol is less heavy than water, and if they have fermented waay down, it is possible to get readings like what you describe. Dry wine yeast can do this depending on what fermentables you started with, the other possibility (very rare) is a gusher bug. How does the stuff taste?
 
Alcohol is less heavy than water, and if they have fermented waay down, it is possible to get readings like what you describe. Dry wine yeast can do this depending on what fermentables you started with, the other possibility (very rare) is a gusher bug. How does the stuff taste?

I have NEVER heard of any wine/cider or mead going under .990. Never. I don't think any wine yeast could do it. Has this actually happened to someone?
 
.8 does sound pretty low for most yeasts. But basically what is happening, as you suspect, is that the alcohol (less dense than water) is causing your reading to go bellow pure water.

This doesn't happen with beer because wort has a lot more unfermentable sugars and ale/lagger yeast are more picky about what they eat. Grape juice and honey are almost pure simple sugars that the yeast gooble up. And wine yeast will generally atenuate more, ie eat more into the range of complex sugars.
 
My hydrometer reads 60 F water as 0.950.

So my correct hydrometer readings are:

Cider 1.0
Agave Mead: 0.94
 
I have NEVER heard of any wine/cider or mead going under .990. Never. I don't think any wine yeast could do it. Has this actually happened to someone?

All my temps were over or under 60 F by less than 0.4.

I used 1# of honey and 3# of agave nectar in my mead and I'm sure agave sugars ferment differently than honey. Thats probably why the reading is so low.

And the taste is excellent!!
 
All my temps were over or under 60 F by less than 0.4.

I used 1# of honey and 3# of agave nectar in my mead and I'm sure agave sugars ferment differently than honey. Thats probably why the reading is so low.

And the taste is excellent!!

I'm sure it is! I actually wasn't directing the "never under .990 to you", I was just pointing out that it wasn't possible to do it. Under 1.000 is very common for wine and cider and mead- indeed, it's expected. Under .990 isn't possible, though.

And I hate to sound nitpicky, but your readings AREN'T off my .4. There is a missing number- you're off by .04. That is really important, even though it sounds like it isn't. A reading off by .04 can just be easily corrected by adjusting for the calibration.

You initially said your mead was 0.79, and that's what I said was not possible. Again, a missing number- I'm sure you meant .979, which corrected to .994. That of course is possible, and it might go even lower, to .990.

0.940, though, is really not possible.
 
Hmm.

Tap water at 59.7 F measured 0.850.

My mead at 61.4 F measured at something like 0.790. Compensated for the incorrect hydrometer 0.790 + 0.150 is 0.940.

So obviously that is wrong because I've had a glass and I'm not falling down yet.

Does the 0.3 degrees and the 0.4 degrees F change the hydrometer reading very much? Could that be where I'm getting an incorrect reading?
 
Hmm.

Tap water at 59.7 F measured 0.850.

My mead at 61.4 F measured at something like 0.790. Compensated for the incorrect hydrometer 0.790 + 0.150 is 0.940.

So obviously that is wrong because I've had a glass and I'm not falling down yet.

Does the 0.3 degrees and the 0.4 degrees F change the hydrometer reading very much? Could that be where I'm getting an incorrect reading?

Well, do you have a picture of your hydrometer? I don't know of any scale that even goes below .990. Maybe that's why I'm confused. No, even 5 degrees doesn't affect the SG that much.
 
ok, here's a picture of a hydrometer like mine:

hydrometer-closeup.gif


Is yours like that? Of course, there are lines between .990 and 1.000, so that I can read it at .990, .992, .994, etc. Mine goes from .990 to 1.180 ish.
 
Mine is just like that. It ends at 0.980 The readings I have were measured with a string. The cider was easy to estimate and the mead I measured down to the centimeter or so. I totally could have miss measured though, the mead is apparently strong.

I just measured some old fashioned soft cider I have and with my hydrometer correction it's at 1.190. Seems right.
 
Mine is just like that. It ends at 0.980 The readings I have were measured with a string. The cider was easy to estimate and the mead I measured down to the centimeter or so. I totally could have miss measured though, the mead is apparently strong.

I just measured some old fashioned soft cider I have and with my hydrometer correction it's at 1.190. Seems right.

But.............if it only goes as low as .980, (should be .990) how are you getting readings of .790? That doesn't make any sense to me.
 
It ends at .990 but has extra lines above it to measure .988, .986, .984...

I got 0.790 by measuring with a string the length between 0.990 and the top of the mead, then used the labeled part of the hydrometer to see what the string's length represented.
 
It ends at .990 but has extra lines above it to measure .988, .986, .984...

I got 0.790 by measuring with a string the length between 0.990 and the top of the mead, then used the labeled part of the hydrometer to see what the string's length represented.

Aha! Thanks for explaining this to me! I was trying to figure it out and just couldn't.
 
How about warming the sample up to 70* or so in order to not need any temp compensation? Also, some of the cheaper hydrometers just have that paper slid up inside them. (well, actually all I have seen) Is it possible that maybe the paper slid a little?

Perhaps the poster could take a photo of the hydrometer sitting in water and post the picture.
 
String? Why not just read it at the bottom of the curve (meniscus) in the liquid, that's what it was designed for. I think this bit with string is going to throw your readings off. That's my 2 cents worth, hope you find it useful. Regards, GF.
 
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