I agree with Greg. I have not found that suspended solids in must are that
important to measuring SG. That is the suspended solids that we can see.
Unless they are so thick that they impede the movement of the hydrometer,
they are not going to effect the reading. After all, they are "suspended"
solids meaning they have very little buoyancy and should not effect it. The
solids that Action and Duncan and UCLA are correcting for are those that
start out in the must and end up there after fermentation as well. They
effect the buoyancy of the fluid at both ends and consequently they are not
a large effect. But I correct for them anyway. ;o)

Ray

"Greg Cook" > wrote in message
...
> On 11/18/03 11:16 AM, in article
> , "Barry"
> > wrote:
>
> > I'm a budding home winemaker.
> >
> > Getting a good S.G. reading that I can trust after the cap falls, and
> > settling starts is pretty easy.
> >
> > I'd like to know what procedures people use to do the initial reading.
> > There are so many solids in the fresh must, even using the juice I
> > get through a straining bag (especially if some non-grape fruits are
> > used)... my level of confidence in the readings I get at the beginning
> > is pretty low.
> >
> > I did a Toka plum wine which started at like 1.130 when the must did
> > not seem overly sweet to the taste. I don't believe the reading.
> >
> > How do you guys deal with this?
>
> I have checked a number of my musts that had a lot of fruit solids and
> compared simply straining it with a coarse wire mesh strainer and
filtering
> through good paper filters. I found no discernable difference in the
> hydrometer readings if I was careful to make sure I bounced it up and down
> to make sure it was not solid viscosity floating the hydrometer.
Therefore,
> I usually just push a kitchen strainer down into the must and scoop up
some
> of the pretty clear juice. All of this is ballpark anyway, so if there's
> enough sugar to float it up near 1.095, I'm happy.
>
> --
> Greg Cook
> http://homepage.mac.com/gregcook/Wine
>
> (remove spamblocker from my email)
>