I spray off with a water/sulfite solution first, then rinse well with water. (we have good water). I will add hydrometer to my buckets but if the wine is in a carboy, I'll put some in a plain beaker. Vern's right it's a lot easier to read, although my hydrometer always spins away from me. Lil bstrd.
Often when I rack I'll stop siphoning to the carboy and fill up the beaker. Return the hose back to thecarboy and continue.
This is what I will use to test sweeten or add to the carboy if I'm not.
Turkey basters work good for home winemaking. I use a plastic wine thief for small containers 55 gal down to 5gal etc. Clear hydrometer jars are the best. My lab has an asortment of hydrometers in the stand 24-16 brix, 16-8 brix, 8-0 brix along with my bit larger one of -5 to +5 Brix. Dry wine will usually go to negative brix of -1.0 or better when all the sugar is gone.
I also use a clinitest pill to test for Residual Sugar (Reducing Sugar), along with the Gold Coast method if we really need to stop the fermentation at some point, ....say 2.3-2.5% sugar.
Enter your email address to join: