Need Help from the experts.

Hello all, I'm new to wine making and I gave this recipe a try:

http://www.eckraus.com/winerecipes/pearwine.pdf

I followed to the tee. I'm almost at my 5 week mark on my 2nd fermentation. I use my thief and hydrometer to get a reading of 0.986 (negative alcohol level). How can I get my alcohol content back up? More sugar? More yeast? Both? I'm truly lost and humbly see you guys's opinion. Thanks in advance.

Also, after tasting it, it has a decent alcohol burn to it, tastes pretty good. Sweetened the glass and it tastes like a pretty darn good sweet table wine. So, is this just a glorified pear juice I'm drinking at this point?

Your hydrometer should be giving you a reading for specific gravity (not alcohol level) and you want that to go down during fermentation. What you have is good. You can rack now.

When specific gravity goes down, alcohol goes up.

Thanks a bunch heatherd. I guess I'm very confused because my hydrometer also reads the alcohol by volume.

There are sticky topics that can help you get more comfortable with the hydrometer. It's backwards to me....

Here's a link to Jack Keller's pear wine recipe:
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/request203.asp
Maybe it's a good one, or gives you some ideas on process.

Note that pear wine is notorious for taking a long time to clear. Those who have made it can weigh in....

Heather

Thanks so much Heather.

Hydrometer measures density. As the sugars get converted to alcohol and CO2, the fluid becomes less dense. You are then able to correlate the change in density to the ABV. A common formula that is used is ABV=131*(Sg1-Sg2). However, if you are reading .986, you are likely reading it long. Perhaps .996 since most brewers hydrometers only go down to .990.

Good luck and give those FAQs a read!

The ABV readings on the hydrometer are the potential alcohol levels. For example, a starting sg of 1.090 will give you approx 12.5% ABV if it finishes at .995.There are some good smart phone apps for calculating this too.

Thanks for the tip Rod. Any app in particular you suggest?

Radman68 said:

Thanks for the tip Rod. Any app in particular you suggest?

Click to expand...

This is the one I use.

I'm so glad this subject came up. I have been making wine for over 3 years. Recently I broached the subject with a couple of fellow winemakers only to learn that more than likely the online web Calculator I have been using has been wrong, over 700 bottles wrong so for those who are using these online ABV calculators please don't assume that because they are floating out there, that they are correct. Just saying :/ tonight I went to my phone and found a good app and tested it out, so far so good, but I am hesitant to trust it.

Which one do you think was wrong? I should be able to tell you if the values they are getting are in the right ballpark.

This one http://www.rooftopbrew.net/abv_calculator.php
Thanks Seth

Don't worry, the pros don't get it correct either.

Wines fourteen percent alcohol by volume (ABV) and under are allowed a 1.5% margin of error – provided the alcohol content does not exceed 14%. Wines over 14% are allowed a margin of error of 1%. In other words, a wine listed at 15% alcohol may be as high as 16% without running afoul of the feds. For this reason alone, there is a good chance that the percentage listed on the label is not entirely accurate. There are other reasons.
http://www.wawinereport.com/2011/03/do-wineries-fudge-alcohol-levels.html

Angelina said:

This one http://www.rooftopbrew.net/abv_calculator.php
Thanks Seth

Click to expand...

It is a little bit different than the 131*(deltaRho) that most wine makers I see use. However, for the most part it seems to give answers that are really close to the same.

seth8530 said:

It is a little bit different than the 131*(deltaRho) that most wine makers I see use. However, for the most part it seems to give answers that are really close to the same.

Click to expand...

Thank you Seth for the verification. Glad that it is not to far off. Lesson learned! I'm sure I will naturally be a little off, but I try to be on the mark as best as I can.
Cheers!

Sure np, btw something to keep in mind. Their is not a single end all win all ABV equation. Their are plenty of formulations out there and I am sure each one works and compares better to different data sets than the others do.