I brew fruit wines, on the peels, for maximum flavor and color. And efficiency too, pressing after all the enzymes have ripened the pulp has to allow for better extraction. Like mashing for beer.
But I've never had any confidence in checking sugar levels by specific gravity. What with the 'stuff' swirling around, and the sugar still bound up in pulp, I didn't think it worked. Refractometer neither, with much sugar still in pulp. And I want a guess at ABW, ever since I added too much sugar to a plum wine, and needed a chaser with every sip.
So, here's my idea- I weighed my vessel of must after all of the initial additions. Lets say 50 pounds. I'll weigh it before pressing, let's say 45 pounds. 5 pounds of CO2 lost, so being as yeast makes alcohol at the same rate as CO2, (49/51, equal is close enough for my calculations) , there ought to be 5# of alcohol. Press the wine, weigh again, calculate the ABW using the 5# of alcohol, convert to ABV. Then, using the 50% alcohol basis, add appropriate amount of sugar to hit target ABW.
At a later racking, I can figure ABV by refractometer and SG, for final adjustment.
It won't be within 1/10%, but it ought to be better than trying to guess at the sugar content of must.
Whaddya think?
PS, I have a doctor's office scale, marks in 1/4#. Excellent for so many uses in brewing. Perhaps this is a case of "If the only tool you have is a hammer, all of your problems look like nails"?
But I've never had any confidence in checking sugar levels by specific gravity. What with the 'stuff' swirling around, and the sugar still bound up in pulp, I didn't think it worked. Refractometer neither, with much sugar still in pulp. And I want a guess at ABW, ever since I added too much sugar to a plum wine, and needed a chaser with every sip.
So, here's my idea- I weighed my vessel of must after all of the initial additions. Lets say 50 pounds. I'll weigh it before pressing, let's say 45 pounds. 5 pounds of CO2 lost, so being as yeast makes alcohol at the same rate as CO2, (49/51, equal is close enough for my calculations) , there ought to be 5# of alcohol. Press the wine, weigh again, calculate the ABW using the 5# of alcohol, convert to ABV. Then, using the 50% alcohol basis, add appropriate amount of sugar to hit target ABW.
At a later racking, I can figure ABV by refractometer and SG, for final adjustment.
It won't be within 1/10%, but it ought to be better than trying to guess at the sugar content of must.
Whaddya think?
PS, I have a doctor's office scale, marks in 1/4#. Excellent for so many uses in brewing. Perhaps this is a case of "If the only tool you have is a hammer, all of your problems look like nails"?