Funny brix reading during fermentation

[wanders]

I harvested, crushed, and pitched yeast on Saturday afternoon on a back yard crop yielding around 8 gallons of syrah must.

The brix was 23 (by temperature compensating refractometer) before and after harvest and ph was 3.73 which I knocked down to 3.65 with tartaric acid. 13% potential alcohol by hydrometer.

Fermentation seemed to be started by Sunday afternoon. Yesterday, Monday, I got home and tested and apparent brix showed 12. Calculated it using the More Wine spreadsheet which shows actual brix at 4.6.

Is this possible? Or am I misreading something? I just drew the testing sample directly from the must.

Thoughts welcome.

 

[Runningwolf]

The numbers work out right according to their spreadsheet. With that said that is an awfully fast ferment. I would be double checking it with a hydrometer. What is today's reading? Did you stir your pail before obtaining a sample?

 

[wanders]

The numbers work out right according to their spreadsheet. With that said that is an awfully fast ferment. I would be double checking it with a hydrometer. What is today's reading? Did you stir your pail before obtaining a sample?

I'll have to check later today. I took the sample yesterday just as it was getting dark and didn't apply the spreadsheet correction until this morning. I did punch the cap before testing. Today, I'll take off some liquid and let it settle before testing and, I'll certainly cross check with the hydrometer this evening. If yesterday's brix of 4.6 is correct, then the hydrometer should show virtually no potential left in the must.

Thanks for thoughts,

 

[seth8530]

I would double check your numbers just to be sure. Could be your initial reading was off. However, sometimes surprises happen.

 

[wanders]

Yesterday evening, I thoroughly mixed the must, drew a fairly large sample then allowed the sample to settle for around 10 minutes. The new numbers are: Apparent brix=11 (refractometer), corrected to 3; potential alcohol=5% (hydrometer).

Guess it is what it is. I figure primary fermentation is complete, so I covered the fermentation bucket and installed an air lock.

The must pretty much tastes like wine, but it is, naturally, heavy and cloudy and just a tad sweet. Not sure what to expect from here.

My plans are to let it sit for a week or so to get it down to zero. Wonder if it would make sense to rack it off in the near future.