Confused about hydrometer
 

I've read that the hydrometer isn't much use unless you use it at the
beginning and at the end of making the wine but I thought I'd test it
out on some wine I already started and I'm not sure what the readings
mean can anyone explain them to me please?

I've just bottled some gooseberry wine which I made from a tin of
concentrate (a kit) and it had a SG of 9 (I think thats 1.009?) I'm now
worried from what I've read that such a SG it might blow the corks out,
is that so? It had certainly finished bubbling and was clear when I put
the sugar in to make it taste nice several weeks ago.

I've got some elderflower wine which was started 2 months ago which is
really clear and not bubbling and it has a SG of .990. Can anyone tell
me what that means and what I should do about it?

Many thanks
flowerpot

Well, yes and no as to whether it will be a problem. 1.009 indicates
you have some sugar in there but you already know that. If you added
sorbate you are probably ok, if not just refrigerate the wine and the
corks will stay put. There are other ways to keep the wine from
fermenting that sugar you added but all involve heating it to
pastuerize it.

The hydrometer indicates specific gravity, fruit wines and grape wines
have different amounts of dissolved solids in them which affect the
readings to some minor extent. I can email some info on hydrometers if
you like, I have a word doc I can send. Just email me.

Joe

>> I've got some elderflower wine which was started 2 months ago which is
>> really clear and not bubbling and it has a SG of .990. Can anyone tell
>> me what that means and what I should do about it?

That one should have virtually no fermentable sugar left. That much
you can tell by using the hydrometer at the end. But does it have
enough alcohol to keep, that is greater than 5%? You can't tell just
by measuting with the hydrometer now. Unless you know how much sugar
was added to begin with. A good place to quikle find out is this page
from Jack Keller's website: http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/hydrom.asp

I assume that you are referring to determining alcohol level when you refer
to the hydrometer below. There are several methods of determining alcohol
level but the primary one used by home winemakers is the hydrometer. But
that is not the only thing it is useful for.

First it will give you a good indication of how much sugar you have in your
starting wine. This is useful in predicting the potential alcohol level and
in making sure that the dry wine you want to make does not turn out sweet.

Next, it can be a useful tool to determining how the wine is progressing.
It can be used to determining when to go from primary to secondary and when
you have a stuck ferment.

Also, it can be a good indicator of what the sugar level is when the wine is
finished. This is more important to know than exactly how much alcohol you
have. This will tell you whether you need to stabilize your wine to prevent
wine bottle bombs.

In other words knowing the starting and ending hydrometer reading is useful
in themselves and along the way, if you know the hydrometer reading at
beginning and end of the fermentation, you can get a good estimate of the
alcohol level.

Ray

"flowerpot" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> I've read that the hydrometer isn't much use unless you use it at the
> beginning and at the end of making the wine but I thought I'd test it
> out on some wine I already started and I'm not sure what the readings
> mean can anyone explain them to me please?
>
> I've just bottled some gooseberry wine which I made from a tin of
> concentrate (a kit) and it had a SG of 9 (I think thats 1.009?) I'm now
> worried from what I've read that such a SG it might blow the corks out,
> is that so? It had certainly finished bubbling and was clear when I put
> the sugar in to make it taste nice several weeks ago.
>
> I've got some elderflower wine which was started 2 months ago which is
> really clear and not bubbling and it has a SG of .990. Can anyone tell
> me what that means and what I should do about it?
>
> Many thanks
> flowerpot
>
>