Hydrometer readings beer/wine

[Andyhull]

Just a quick one. . . .
Why does beer only ferment down to 1004 ish but wine ferments down to 0.990 ish

Andy

 

[RobWalker]

beer is made from complex sugars in the malt and not all of them are fermentable - there's sweetness left over in there.

wine comes out completely dry because it's just made from a straightforward sugar which ferments all the way out.

 

[Andyhull]

Thank you Rob.

I will sleep better now :thumb:

 

[Chlorate]

It also has a lot to do with the alcohol content too.
Water has a specific gravity (density) of 1 at standard conditions. Alcohol has a density that is less than water, so if the alcohol content gets sufficiently high (like it does in wine), then the density of the booze once all the sugars have been used up can drop below that of water.

I could probably explain this better, but I'm 1.5 sheets to the wind...

-Alex