When i firsts started making supermarket juice wines i found because you have to leave head-space in a DJ the hydrometer reading is wrong, in the end i stopped using a hydrometer if the total sugar content is 1100g it will end around 13%.
probably as they are cheap enough buy another hydrometer to double check the original one is reading correctly
To be honest, if I am doing a kit - wine or beer - and are just following the instructions and not doing any funky pimping... I don't even bother using a hydrometer. I only use it to confirm its finished brewing after a couple of weeks.
If it says add 1kg of DME, or 3kg of sugar - it will be right.
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