Hydometer readings from WOW's that are yet to be topped up with water

[MrWoolf]

HI all.

Kicked off 3 WOW's that were all left in the DJ short of water - IE they were left to ferment with 3.5 LTRs in total volume with 1 Ltr of water to be added later.
How/will this affect the Hydometer readings as the brew will have more water added later.

FYI - they have been going for nearly 3 weeks and still giving readings of 1.022, slowly bubling away.

Sorry if this is a dumb question but surley adding water will change the reading?

 

[cheapbrew]

I would add the water now, may help fermentation to finish.

And yes adding water will change hydrometer reading, less sugar per litre, but if you followed the standard wow recipe then this is taken into account.
What was your recipe and original gravity reading?

 

[Chippy_Tea]

As Cheapbrew says add the water now but only to the shoulder, if you aim for 1100g of sugar including what is in the cartons you will end up with 13%.

I only used my hydrometer to make sure my wines had finished and now don't bother using it all once it gets down to a bubble every couple of minutes you can call it done, don't use this method if using fermenting vessels as a lot of them do not seal properly.

 

[MrWoolf]

Thanks for the advice chaps, Topped up with half a litre of water and it seems to have helped, they now have a thin layer of foam/bubbles around the glass and a small amount on the surface. Will give it a couple of days and take another reading :thumb:

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Keep us posted.

 

[MrWoolf]

just taken another reading off them and the WGJ is now down to 1.018 and the franken-punch mix hs only moved to 1.020. Time for drastic action so i have thrown 1/4 tsp more yeast into each to see if can kick start it again.

 

[MrWoolf]

So the woes continue.................

1st WOW started 17/04 - Over 5 weeks in ans still reading 1.018
2 and 3 WOW started 23/04 - Over weeks and now reading 1.016 and 1.014

after some reading of C.J.J Berry "first steps in wine making" (published 1975 :lol:) my ferment has well and truly "stuck". I have taken the following steps to try to kick them back into life.
1) removed air lock and removed some CO2 and then slightly aireated the brews by thrashing the top a bit.
2) thrown in another Tsp of yeast and nutrient.

Fingers crossed chaps as the missus is loosing faith and patience :whistle:

 

[Chippy_Tea]

What juice did you use?

How much total sugar including what was in the cartons was there in each?

Was there any preservative in any of the juices?

 

[MrWoolf]

What juice did you use?

How much total sugar including what was in the cartons was there in each?

Was there any preservative in any of the juices?

1st one 2 Ltr morrisons mixed juice from concentrate, 1/2 Ltr pineappe juice from concentrate + 900g sugar in 500ml of water.

2nd one - 2.3 Ltr WGJ (crushed squeezed) + 860G sugar in 1 Ltr water

3rd - 2.7 Ltr WGJ ( as above) + 800G sugar in 800ml of water.

None of the juices state they contain perseratives,

after adding more yeast, No's 1 and 3 are now shoing more airlock activity and active bubbles in the DJ

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I may be reading this wrong but what do you mean by 500ml, 800ml and 1 litre of water?

 

[Tau]

Basically what's happened is abv tolerance has been reached in 3.5lts, you will find it almost impossible to restart this, unless you split and dilute the batch so you end up with an abv' of 7% before using a restart. You should have topped up to 4.54 or a little more within the first 14 days.

 

[MrWoolf]

Basically what's happened is abv tolerance has been reached in 3.5lts, you will find it almost impossible to restart this, unless you split and dilute the batch so you end up with an abv' of 7% before using a restart. You should have topped up to 4.54 or a little more within the first 14 days.

Hi Tau - I thought as much...........did add more water and then more yeast to try to re-start it but guess these may end up down the sink. I dont think th high temps helped either


CT - i mean i disolved X grams of sugar in X ml's of water. - Sorry about the over lapping treads

Trial and error

 

[Chippy_Tea]

The standard juice wine is made up of 1100g of sugar total and water to the begining of the DJ shoulder these rarely fail. :thumb:

 

[MrWoolf]

Final update - Nothing has managed to get the ferment going again so I have stabalised, racked off, degassed, cleared and topped up to 4.5L

Results - slightly sweet but drinkable and the Missis quite likes it even if its is slightly weaker then it should be possibly around 10%

Must remember to top up earlier in future

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Topping up is not the issue i don't top up until i have racked as space is needed for degassing, you need to start with the level at the shoulder i aim for about half way up the curve as my wines rarely ferment furiously.

 

[MrWoolf]

Topping up is not the issue i don't top up until i have racked as space is needed for degassing, you need to start with the level at the shoulder i aim for about half way up the curve as my wines rarely ferment furiously.

I think mine was left at 3.5L far too long, I will make sure more water is used when kicking them off, Like you say up to the shoulder. :thumb:
As long as the Mrs is happy to drink it then all is good in the world.

 

[Tau]

I think mine was left at 3.5L far too long, I will make sure more water is used when kicking them off, Like you say up to the shoulder. :thumb:
As long as the Mrs is happy to drink it then all is good in the world.

As long as it's drunk that's the important thing :drunk:

 

[Chazmcfc]

Ive just bottled my 1st batch of cider.wats the best place to keep them for the 7days it says.😯

 

[Chazmcfc]

Also.i mistakenly put 4priming drops in one bottle will this result in explosion of cider.