WVMountaineerJack
Senior Member
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2010
- Messages
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There have been many good threads on helping newbies to winemaking. There is one small thing any newbie can do to speak a common language with other winemakers and make it easier for everyone to determine if things are going good and our newbie is doing everything correctly or if our newbie is in trouble and something is going a little wrong or even horribly wrong. The only common language we all have is a hydrometer. Its a cheap little glass thingy that tells you so much about what your wine is doing, its like magic really.
After you mix up your must it tells you how much sugar is in there, knowing that can tell you if you have too much sugar, yes that is possible, some yeasts dont like to much sugar so if your batch doesnt start you can post to the list that your original gravity is say 1.165, then most experienced posters on here can let you know to add a bit more water to drop it down. If you dont post that number everything else is just a guess.
They hydrometer can also tell you when your wine is finished, when it reaches 1.00 to 0.990 you are pretty much done. A typical newbie question is "is my wine done?". If you have a hydrometer that can be answered very quickly.
Just suppose your wine seems to stop fermenting, you taste it and its still very sweet, you are worried it has stopped to early or is stuck. Again your trusty hydrometer can come to your rescue and with its magic can tell you what they gravity is. If you started at a reasonable level like 1.095 and it stopped at 1.030 experienced posters can tell you right away there is a problem and start to help you figure it out and get the fermentation rolling along quickly.
So our new newbie friends, GET A HYDROMETER PLEASE, so that we can all talk a common language. I also need to be honest and tell you that they break pretty easy, all magical things are fragile, I have broken several over the years, so actually get 2 so you have a spare just in case.
WVMJ
After you mix up your must it tells you how much sugar is in there, knowing that can tell you if you have too much sugar, yes that is possible, some yeasts dont like to much sugar so if your batch doesnt start you can post to the list that your original gravity is say 1.165, then most experienced posters on here can let you know to add a bit more water to drop it down. If you dont post that number everything else is just a guess.
They hydrometer can also tell you when your wine is finished, when it reaches 1.00 to 0.990 you are pretty much done. A typical newbie question is "is my wine done?". If you have a hydrometer that can be answered very quickly.
Just suppose your wine seems to stop fermenting, you taste it and its still very sweet, you are worried it has stopped to early or is stuck. Again your trusty hydrometer can come to your rescue and with its magic can tell you what they gravity is. If you started at a reasonable level like 1.095 and it stopped at 1.030 experienced posters can tell you right away there is a problem and start to help you figure it out and get the fermentation rolling along quickly.
So our new newbie friends, GET A HYDROMETER PLEASE, so that we can all talk a common language. I also need to be honest and tell you that they break pretty easy, all magical things are fragile, I have broken several over the years, so actually get 2 so you have a spare just in case.
WVMJ
Last edited:
Arne.
