Hydrometer readings

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Ciderdelic

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I have made 1 gallon of blackberry wine and took hydrometer readings at different stages. I mashed my blackberries in a bucket and waited 24 hours before adding sugar then took a hydrometer reading. The reading was 1.098.
I then waited 4 fays before straining the blackberries out and took another reading, it read 1.008.
The wine in the demijohn was only at the shoulder so I topped up with water to the neck and the reading remained the same at 1.008.
I thought the reading should have dropped if only slightly as I had diluted it making a lower percentage of sugar and therefore making the liquid thinner. I prbably added 500ml of water to top it up but the hydro reading was the same. If you dilute wine with water the alcohol strength will also be diluted so how was my reading the same?
 
Could be solid particles(from blackberries) in the mix causing the hydrometer to give slightly off readings , this is certainly the case with mango wine
 
Ciderdelic said:
I have made 1 gallon of blackberry wine and took hydrometer readings at different stages. I mashed my blackberries in a bucket and waited 24 hours before adding sugar then took a hydrometer reading. The reading was 1.098.
I then waited 4 fays before straining the blackberries out and took another reading, it read 1.008.
The wine in the demijohn was only at the shoulder so I topped up with water to the neck and the reading remained the same at 1.008.
I thought the reading should have dropped if only slightly as I had diluted it making a lower percentage of sugar and therefore making the liquid thinner. I prbably added 500ml of water to top it up but the hydro reading was the same. If you dilute wine with water the alcohol strength will also be diluted so how was my reading the same?
Click to expand...

As a complete novice and on a big learning curve it did occur to me here though - adding water will dilute the sugar level and reduce the reading but at the same time will also dilute the existing alcohol level at that stage which will actually increase the reading. Maybe the two have cancelled each other out?

I have some blackberry on the go too and was surprised at how quickly the reading dropped.
 
Thanks for replies. Just not sure how accurate it will be when I work out the percentage after taking the finnishing gravity reading as I was expecting to use the difference between both readings to work out what my sg would have been if topped up from the start.
 
When you topped up, was it hot or warm water? If temp's are high e.g if 35c then you would add 5 to the reading 6.8 to 40c, if warmer more. It's not impossible, depending on the yeast and as more surface area in the bucket would give a quicker ferment. If aiming for a dry, leave it you can always back sweeten. The thing with blackberry is that you want malo/lactic fermentation even if if has reached 0.990, so two weeks in the dj is wanted with no camdens.
 
Not sure if this help but my blackberry starting SG was 1.110 . Spent 8 days in fv and was then put in dj at which time SG was 0.990. That was almost 2 weeks ago. It is still going but only just, a bleep every 5 minutes or so. Whilst this should give me a tad over 16% abv I suppose that will dilute when I rack off sediment and top up a couple of times as recommended.
 
Just to confuse the issue I also played around with the hydrometer when making a parsnip wine a couple of days ago. Concerned about temperatures etc I was surprised to get a 1.000 reading on water at three different temps from 20c to 28ish. Also had a steady reading on the sample taken whilst it cooled. Confused? Then the SG for the parsnip boil before sugar was 1.005. I used calculator for sugar aiming at 14% but after sugar added etc the SG went to 1.120 which was actually much higher than I was aiming for despite the aforementioned calculations. I am beginning to think the 'wobble and fall over sampling test' is a more accurate reflection on what I am making! :)
 
Vinotinto said:
Then the SG for the parsnip boil before sugar was 1.005.
Click to expand...

Not surprising as starch not sugar is the main source of carb's in Parsnips, have you used Amylase to break the starch into sugar?
 
Tau said:
Not surprising as starch not sugar is the main source of carb's in Parsnips, have you used Amylase to break the starch into sugar?
Click to expand...

Got me there Tau! Recipe required citric , pectolase and nutrient. Also had a good quantity of overnight soaked raisin juice .

Edited - ok, research done and the answer is no. 😉
 

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