what will % be?

[mozzy]

started some more fuit tea bag wines following Moleys method.. i have a ready done 2 and the hydro reading were spot on, (and tasted lovely!) BUT, i am now trying the strawberry,raspberry & logenberry one, using same method BUT when i took hydro it was just under 1.120.. it is to the bottom of shoulder of my DJ (ROUGHLY) and in a few days i will top up to a gallon but what will the overall % be?

2lb sugar..
2x 1L red grape juice
20 bags

 

[Mark1964]

Divide the total gravity lost by 7.45 to get your percentage

 

[Runwell-Steve]

Your Starting Gravity is 1120, lets assume it stops at 0.990

Then your % would be (1120 - 0990)/7.45 = 17.2

You could just use the calculator here

calculators.php?#ABV

Of course thats not correct though as you are going to dilute it in a few days, so you need to know exactly how much liquid you add to the DJ to make it up to the gallon. To work out how much is currently in the DJ.

Lets assume it's 7 pints in there now.

Then you need to take the 17.2%, multiply it by the current volume in the DJ, then divide it by the new volume of 8 pints.

17.2 x 7 = 120.4
120.4/8 = 15.05

So your final ABV would be 15.05%

Hope this makes sense.

 

[evanvine]

it is to the bottom of shoulder of my DJ (ROUGHLY)

Doesn't give much of a fighting chance for ABV calcs!

 

[mozzy]

I will be fermenting it to dry (0.990) it will be topped up to a gallon , which I presume is 4.54???

there is a total of 1.2kg of sugar (from sugar AND red grape juice)

reading of 1.120.. but will be topped up and fermented right out.. Hmmm 15% abit strong :wha: how can I lesson it to about 13-14%?

 

[Alan Clark]

If you're topping up while it is still fermenting then you could take an SG reading immediately before you top up, then do another immediately after you top it up. You can then use the change in the SG to adjust the OG to OG(approx).

You can top it up once you rack off the sediment (there will be losses) which will further reduce the ABV to more useful levels. Though 15% isn't too bad, nice shared between a few friends.

 

[Runwell-Steve]

I'm guessing 15% without knowing the volume you currently have in your demijohn. Once you have an accurate measurement then we will be able to work it out.

If you only have 6 pints in there at the moment then your final gravity will be 12.8%

I don't know enough about wine making to calculate it from the amount of sugar you.put in.

 

[Moley]

Assuming the sugar in the grape juice is around 160g/carton, you've put in about 1225g of sugar.

To get a reading of 1.120 you only had 3.7 litres / 6.5 pints in your DJ.

If you top that up to 1 gallon, your actual OG would have been about 1.098.

This assumes your DJ is actually 1 gallon, I've measured a few of mine and they've been anywhere betwwen 4.6 and 4.9 litres.

Then if you top up after racking your alcohol content will be reduced even further.

I reckon your final abv will be 13.5 - 14%.

 

[oldbloke]

Possibly easier than trying to re-calc the SG after topping up, just work on total sugar / total (final) volume.
1225g sugar (as per Moley) in 4.5l is 272g/l which gives 13 to 14 %abv, depending which column you like from http://www.brsquared.org/wine/CalcInfo/HydSugAl.htm

If your demi is bigger than 4.5l (=6 wine bottles) and/or you want it a bit stronger and/or to allow for wastage when racking etc, add some more sugar when you top up.