Awesome Calculator

[Runningwolf]

http://web2.airmail.net/sgross/fermcalc/fermcalc_applet.html

Folks above is a link to the most complete and awesome calculator developed by Steve Gross. I have been using it for quiet awhile now and never realized I could figure out my abv on finished wine without knowing my starting sg. You do have to have a refractometer and a hydrometer but it's so easy to do and it gives you your abv using four different calulations. Pick the answer you want, but they are all very close.

WAIT... there is so much more to it, sugar calculations, blending, acid additions/reductions and so much more. This is a one stop asset!!!

 

[Runningwolf]

Oh now the bad side to the above calculator. I was just getting ready to buy a distillation apparatus to determine abv. It has completly taken away a really nice "cool feature" to my lab.

The good side it saved me several hundred dollars.

 

[Wade E]

Were you really going to but that aparatus? Are you just looking to spend money? I will send you my PalPay accnt number!

 

[Runningwolf]

I was looking at them. I could have got one at Cynmar with a electric heating mantle for under $200. Come on Wade it was the "cool factor" I was going for in my lab! I was looking at them and how they worked. It was a lot of time for each test. Seriously though with Fermcalc all you need is your current sg and brix reading of finished wine, plug those two numbers in and "bingo" you got the abv.

 

[grapeman]

Dan I have used that calculator before and I thought it was very good. I haven't in a while now and don't have it on the new system so I went to the link to download it. I get errors saying the setup file may have been moved and then Nortons brins up a threat box. Details say fermcalc_setup.exe has ws.reputation.1 . Guess I won't use it now!

Full Path: c:\**********\fermcalc_setup.exe
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On computers as of:
1/26/2012 at 8:15:58 AM
Last Used:
1/26/2012 at 8:17:53 AM
Startup Item:
No
Launched:
No
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Very Few Users
Fewer than 5 users in the Norton Community have used this file.
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Medium
This file risk is medium.
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Threat Details
Threat type: Insight Network Threat. There are many indications that this file is untrustworthy and therefore not safe
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Origin
Downloaded from http://web2.airmail.net/sgross/fermcalc/FermCalc_setup.exe
http://web2.airmail.net/sgross/fermcalc/FermCalc_setup.exe Downloaded File fermcalc_setup.exe
(WS.Reputation.1) from: airmail.net

fermcalc_setup.exe
____________________________
File Actions
File: **************\fermcalc_setup.exe
Removed
____________________________
File Thumbprint - SHA:
26095d246958c28ef5e3ed9831242ee071a9eba6b81f374e7499d2168e3a3504
____________________________
File Thumbprint - MD5:
e0face8b44157e3f6575eccabd881134
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maybe you can let him know he might have a problem in his computer.

 

[Runningwolf]

I just deleted my old version a few days ago and uploaded the new one. It worked perfect. Ill check it again at home tonight.

 

[SLOweather]

Cool factor, and you can run off your own hooch. We had a similar setup in the lab at the wastewater plant I worked at in the 80s. The heater was a Crock Pot base for which I had no crock. The boiler was a gallon wine jug, and I filled the annular space with boiling chips to transfer the heat. We distilled down some failed wine and beer attempts, and a jug of cheap wine. Got about a pint of white lightning, which I redistilled and then vacuum filtered through some aquarium charcoal.

It was, er, a bit harsh to say the least...

I was looking at them. I could have got one at Cynmar with a electric heating mantle for under $200. Come on Wade it was the "cool factor" I was going for in my lab! I was looking at them and how they worked. It was a lot of time for each test. Seriously though with Fermcalc all you need is your current sg and brix reading of finished wine, plug those two numbers in and "bingo" you got the abv.

 

[grapeman]

SLOweather we are not allowed to talk about normal distillation on the forum as it is against the law. What Dan is talking about is to use it for alchohol level determination, as that is allowed.

 

[deboard]

Anyone else have a problem using this? using the online calculator, the window is too small to accomodate all the drop downs, and I don't see how to resize. So I downloaded it and ran it on my pc, same thing. I don't see a scroll bar either, so I can't actually hit go or calculate or whatever it does.

 

[Runningwolf]

I do not have any problem with the calculator. The only place I saw a drop down box with a lot of content was the tab with conversions. There was a scroll bar in in each of those boxes.

 

[grapeman]

Well it is purring along on my 32 bit Win 7 system. Maybe it just didn't like the 64 bit system. No warning on this one. Thanks for the link, it is good to get the new version.

 

[SarahRides]

Very cool calculator...Just bookmarked it!

 

[Brintk]

I've been using FermCalc since 2010. For those that can't run this applet on your computer, the problem may be that you don't have "Java Virtual Machine" installed on you computer;

From the FermCalc website: "To install FermCalc, follow the instructions below. Regardless of your operating system, you'll need to have the the Java Virtual Machine installed on your computer for FermCalc to run."

To get Java Virtual Machine got to; http://www.java.com/en/download/index.jsp

 

[Arne]

Think I have been using this same calculator for quite some time. Wade has a link to it up under winemaking tools, then down to calculations and calculators anyway it is in the last post on winemaking tools. Arne.

 

[timber]

Great tool, I may have seen it before but now I have it bookmarked.

Thanks,