hydrometer questions

[jamesjr]

Ok, so I'm an extreme newbie. But I love it. And I just got my package today of 1 gal carboys ferm k yeast gelatin bentonite hydrometer campden and I'm thinking about making wow. On account people told me Its fairly simple to make. I very first started with bread yeast and jug juice but couldnt stand it but I love the hobby so I'm looking to learn hopefully from y'all about doing it right and making some quality wine I can be proud of so any pointers are great. Right now I'm having trouble figuring out how to read a hydrometer what should the sg. Be for a medium to semi dry wine be before ferment and after? Also keep in mind I live in very rural fl. No brew stores around, not a lot of money to keep ordering to much stuff and all ill be making is 1 gal batches until I get good and perfect what I like thanks and god bless o ya any easy recipes would be cool to

 

[zimmer2]

Welcome....here is how to read hydrometer

Look through recipe section for a recipe. Also look through beginners section lots of good info there

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTvmYaQq6Mc"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTvmYaQq6Mc[/ame]

 

[calvin]

If you have a triple scale hydrometer (I bet you do). There are 3 scales on it. 1 is "specific gravity". one is "brix". The other is "potential alcohol". They are all the same thing.

The "Potential alcohol" scale is nice to use for starting new batches. If you add sugar to get to 1.076 it is the same as 19 "brix" or 10% alcohol potential. Ferment to dry and you have right around 10% abv. You can watch it drop as fermentation takes off. I check mine every day as I stir or squeeze my fruit bag. You will catch on fast. Once you get the hang of it you can use it to tell exactly how your wines fermentation is coming along. Feel free to ask on here if you have specific questions about how to use your hydrometer. It is an essential tool for winemaking. Almost all wine will ferment completely dry and will require back sweetening after completion if you want off dry or sweet wines. A whole new topic.

My cousin tried making his first batch of wine recently. He came to me for advice. When I told him to buy a hydrometer he didn't listen and followed a recipe that told him to count airlock bubbles per minute. A hydrometer is the way to go!

 

[jamesjr]

Yes it has 3 different sections. Ok so I start with reading my unfermented must. Say it comes out to 1.020 I add sugar till I get to 1.079 then I pitch the yeast and nutrients and let it ferment out and check for it to be letting the hydrometer sink back down to around 1.000? Then campden tab to stop fermentation and add bentonite after ferment or before? Also brew store is like 3hrs away so anyone kno what nutrients or chemicals I could get at walmart? And also I sanitize with about a bottle cap of bleach and a half gallon of water ..... pros/cons? I have campden but does that lil pill realy work that good? Thanks for the feed back I'm a sponge for knowledge

I'm reading up blogs left and right but anything worth doing is worth doing right.

 

[Julie]

Stay away from the bleach!!!!! We have a couple of vendors that ship supplies, check out our vendor list. Bleach will cause cork taint. Bentonite before ferment. Campden will not stop a ferment. The purpose of adding sulphites at the end of a ferment is preservation. Let your hydrometer go down below 1.000.

 

[richmke]

IMHO, if the LHBS is 3 hours away, order a batch of stuff on-line.

Cleaner (PBW, brewery wash, etc.)
StarSan. Great for sanitizing.
Potassium Metabisulfite (k-meta). Get a 1 pound bag and you can use it for stabilizing and sanitizing (store non-metal equipment in a sealed cooler along with the solution - the sulfur smell keeps equipment sanitized). Same as campden tablets, but cheaper and easier to use.
Wine Yeast (skip the bread yeast). EC-1118 is a good general purpose yeast. Buy a bunch of packets, and store in fridge.

Small bottles of the following:
Potassium Sorbate (k-sorbate)
Tanin
Yeast nutrient
Yeast energizer
Pectic enzyme

You ferment to dry (0.996 SG), stabilize (K-Meta, K-Sorbate), and then back sweeten (sugar/water mixture-simple syrup) to your desired sweetness level. Look at the SG, and you will know your target for next time.

 

[Floandgary]

"ALCOHOL",,,, If you read info carefully, you will discover that the alcohol produced plays the more important role of preservative than an indicator of "good stuff".. Hence the references to certain SG's/ Brix/ potential alcohol. Stay tuned here and you will be enjoying you own "stuff" before you know it!

 

[DoctorCAD]

One other thing to keep in mind. It takes the same amount of time and work to make 6 gallons as it does to make 1 gallon, so if you can afford a kit wine and a 6 gallon carboy, you will get 30 bottles of wine that will turn out very well.

 

[BernardSmith]

One other thing to keep in mind. It takes the same amount of time and work to make 6 gallons as it does to make 1 gallon, so if you can afford a kit wine and a 6 gallon carboy, you will get 30 bottles of wine that will turn out very well.

True, it does take the same amount of time and effort to make one gallon as it does six, but sometimes the real cost of making six gallons is not simply the price. If I start off by making six gallons and I screw up royally or simply make a wine that tastes poorly, then the likelihood of me trying a second time is far smaller than if I begin with one gallon. Dealing with a problem that is counted in five bottles is to my way of thinking, very different from dealing with a problem that involves 30 bottles. But I guess my typical batch size tends to be between 1 and 3 gallons.

 

[DoctorCAD]

True, it does take the same amount of time and effort to make one gallon as it does six, but sometimes the real cost of making six gallons is not simply the price. If I start off by making six gallons and I screw up royally or simply make a wine that tastes poorly, then the likelihood of me trying a second time is far smaller than if I begin with one gallon. Dealing with a problem that is counted in five bottles is to my way of thinking, very different from dealing with a problem that involves 30 bottles. But I guess my typical batch size tends to be between 1 and 3 gallons.

That's true, however, if the OP starts off with a kit wine in a variety that they know is liked, then those chances of making "undrinkable" wine go way down.

It's really hard to wreck a kit assuming you follow the directions and keep in touch with this web site. Thats the real marketing genius of kit wines, they work. And they keep you coming back because they work.

 

[BernardSmith]

That's true, however, if the OP starts off with a kit wine in a variety that they know is liked, then those chances of making "undrinkable" wine go way down.

It's really hard to wreck a kit assuming you follow the directions and keep in touch with this web site. Thats the real marketing genius of kit wines, they work. And they keep you coming back because they work.

Again, totally agree with you. My sense is that kits are "fail safe".... but I have never tried to make a kit and in truth, my thinking is that with a modicum of attention and understanding it is a challenge to make a wine that is truly not salvageable. Which is not to say that you won't have to do cartwheels and somersaults to save a potential disaster...

 

[tanddc]

I believe it was DoctorCad who said earlier that you about have to throw in a dirty sock to mess up a kit. I might try that sometime as I am beginning to think that won't work either...

 

[jamesjr]

Ok thanks for the reply all I got an understanding now how to use it . I start and An apple wine 8 days ago and the sg is 1.010. Keep in mind I didn't have a hydrometer when I started. What is 1.010 in alcohol and how can I convert in the future on my own. ( keep as simple as possible) I hate math lol also I just want to do one gallon batches for now. I dont kno about wine.... Anything at all I'm trying to find one I like and put my own twist..... awesome hobby though and I love doing this

 

[jamesjr]

Also for yeast I have the red pack of I think its montrach something like that lol spelling is probably off. I was advise to get that because it can handle a wide range of tempature. I do plan on eventually getting ec1118. Any constructive criticism is awesome just be nice I have minimal funds this time of year.

 

[sour_grapes]

What is 1.010 in alcohol

This is an unanswerable question. It is very much like my asking you "I have $100 in my bank account. How much have I spent so far?" We cannot know the alcohol produced without knowing the SG that you started at.

If you tell us the recipe you are following (or what you added to your must) we may be able to take a guess.

and how can I convert in the future on my own. ( keep as simple as possible)

In the future, take a SG reading before fermentation begins. Then, at any future point, your alcohol (as a percentage of the volume of your must) will be close to:

ABV = (starting SG - present SG)*131

This formula is indeed the simplest possible one.

 

[garymc]

I'm guessing you're saying the specific gravity is 1.010 after 8 days of fermentation. All this tells you is that there is only about 1.4% alcohol that can be made from the remaining sugar. Not much help. To learn about the use of the hydrometer, go to this site:
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/hydrom.asp
There is a chart which will give you an idea how much sugar to add and what amount of alcohol will result from a given sugar concentration/specific gravity. Be sure to read all the way to the end. As Paul said above, if you didn't take a beginning sg reading, you can only guess. If you know the amount of sugar you added, you can estimate the amount of alcohol which will result, but you will have to take a guess at how much sugar was naturally in the juice before you added any.

 

[jamesjr]

Ok kool thanks for the link ya I didn't have a hydrometer when I made it and it just cam in the mail thank u so much for the help ( wine making is so fun) and I hope to be as knowledgeable as y'all one day.