.990

Maudi

hi guys...im brewing 4/5 years usually pretty sucessfully..went from kits to mostly country wines these days....and have avoided hydrometers like the plague far too modern for me!..however in trying to get over my fear of them and took it out tonight and popped it into my elderflower brew..(second rack tonight)its reading ...am i reading correctly...?.just under.990 or 1004...does this sound correct...?

mayto

Wines usually finish below 1000 alright with the hydrometer. Beers are normally in the 1010 plus region.

Khannie

You're probably right. This thread here has someone with an FG of 0.990 for mead with an OG that would have a similar ABV to most wines.

Ratsathome

Did a Solomon Grundy and mine finished off @ 0.995

Maudi

Khannie wrote: »

You're probably right. This thread here has someone with an FG of 0.990 for mead with an OG that would have a similar ABV to most wines.

fg? og?abv?dear mevee?alcohol wise and mine reading .990..what would it equal to?ten/eleven %?

Ratsathome

What was your original gravity?

Maudi

Ratsathome wrote: »

What was your original gravity?

god ive no idea..like i said im just getting over my fear of hydrometer..im gona start using it tho....990 what alcohol % is that indicitive of?

BeerNut

Maudi wrote: »

.990 what alcohol % is that indicitive of?

It's impossible to say. All a hydrometer measures is the density of the liquid as against water. From the density it's possible to guess the amount of sugar in it, and by comparing the initial amount of sugar ("original gravity") to the final amount of sugar ("final gravity") it's possible to estimate the amount of alcohol in there. But you need both readings to work that out. All a reading of .990 tells you is that all your sugar is gone and enough alcohol has been created to make the liquid slightly less dense than water.

Ratsathome

Found this on the net.Hope this help.

"This method measures the alcohol content by volume of any wine,spirit,or beer,using a hydrometer, giving readings as accurate as an ebulliometer used by commercial wineries. The method is based on the research of Dr. William Honneyman,Ph.D."

1.Measure the SG of the wine you wish to test.We will call this figure SG-1.

2.Measure exactly one pint of the wine (500ml).We will call this the sample.

3.In a enamelled or glass pan,boil the sample down to about half it's original volume.This drives off some of the water,but all of the alcohol,because alcohol boils at a lower temperature than water.The sample now consists of water,residual sugar,colouring matter,acids and proteins-that is,all the non-alcoholic constituents of the wine.

4.With distilled water or rain water,make the boiled-down sample up to exactly a pint again.Tap water is not recommended because,in some areas,it has a considerable dissolved mineral content which could affect your results.

5.Cool the sample down to 60o-F, or what ever temperature your hydrometer is calibrated for.

6.Read the SG of the sample,we will call this reading SG-2.You will find it higher than SG-1 because you have removed the alcohol and replaced it with water.

7.Subtract SG-1 from SG-2. The difference is called the Spirit Indication.

8.Read the alcohol strength from the following table.

Spirit Indication---- Alcohol Strength,% by volume
1.5

---

1,0
2

---

3.4
6

---

4.1
7

---

4.9
8

---

5.6
9

---

6.4
10

---

7.2
11

---

8.0
12

---

8.8
13

---

9.7
14

---

10.5
15

---

11.4
16

---

12.3
17

---

13.2
18

---

14.1
19

---

15.1
20

---

16.0
21

---

17.0
22

---

18.0
23

---

19.0
24

---

20.0
25

---

21.0
26

---

22.0

As an example:
SG-1 (SG of oraginal wine) = 0.995
SG-2 (SG of sample at stage 6) =1.011
Spirit Indication= 1.011 - 0.995 = 16
Alcohol strength= 12.3 % by volume.

Buy a short range hydrometer, reading from 0.990 to 1.020. This should let you read SG to half a degree.You can then work out a spirit indication to half a unit and by interpolation on the table reach a closer value for alcohol strength.