How to CORRECTLY read Specific Gravity in Mead and Wine Making
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- Опубліковано 24 чер 2024
- Specific Gravity readings.... love them or hate them, they are essential to knowing how your brew is doing. We see a lot of mistakes (and we do some too!) on reading them. It's a very simple thing, but, it's numbers, so a lot of people are getting it wrong. Let's fix that.
How To Read a Hydrometer: • How to Read a Hydromet...
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This is an excellent reminder. And there is NO DOUBT that you are the most responsive and helpful channel on any topic on YT. But one picky comment - you want to see the full gravity reading, the whole number and three decimal places, not four. We know what you mean but saying 4 decimal places might confuse someone. Again, I'm just being technical.
One before and three after...
Yup. Digits would have been more correct 👍
@@CitySteadingBrews You lose exactly 0.000 style points. Decimal points and digits aside, the video is 100% useful and valuable!! Rock on Bri!!
Thank you!
I find that using the actual whole numbers, tenths, hundredths and thousandths eliminates any confusion.
I try to shoot for 1.080 - 1.100 initial gravity. Funny enough, I measure gravity at every stage of a mead, and yet I've never once calculated how much alcohol I have. I just like tracking everything.
Right on Brian! I’m a science geek and already knew this from your other videos. Basic college level biology/microbiology, chemistry, physics and military training as an analyst of submarine sound sources-what was i saying-oh yeah-I’m a NEERRD! Geek to the core! You teach good science! The hands on brand!
Helpful video. Makes not only the person brewings life easier but also makes it easier for people who are trying to help.
Absolutely.
Definitely! 😃 😉
Just wanted to throw in the mix that I learned how to read a hydrometer and do the math from your channel and I watch every video, so thanks!
Happy we could help!
Yep! right on!. I love helping if I can but more info is sometimes needed to help solve an issue.
So true!
so talking numbers.. here goes :
cherry mead OG at 1.100 stalled at 1.020 making a batch of 1.080 cherry mead , and stepfeed the stalled to the 1.080
the 1.080 has a champagne 18% resistant yeast and some nutrient , the stalled one used 14% mead yeast .
fight of the strongest i hope it works
My hydrometer actually has only straight numers from 1 to 150 without any digits. It mesures in degrees Iechsele whitch means that 10 Oechsele is 1.010 gravity.
Greeting from germany❤
Lol. Thank you so much!
I think i just added a .1 where it Sudbury belong. Was 1.096 not 1.196.
You guys rock and helped push me over the edge from thinking to actually doing.
Happy to help!
Duly noted, a Hydrometer is the brewer's best friend.
Agreed.
Got a tilt hydrometer for Christmas. Allow me to tell you that it is one of the more cool and useful things in my homebrewing.
I would need 10 and... I have zero need for 24/7 monitoring of a brew, lol.
@@user-zr9hu3tf1y With chill music in the background, yeah, that would be cool.
Good info as always... 👍
Yep great stuff, details matter, same at the end of the ferment, can go below 0, so give it time to really ferment out 😃👍
Great point. I've done it as well!
Yeah, I catch myself all the time.
I have a refractometer, unopened for years...
Afraid to learn a new way before...
Time to do an unboxing ✨️
Just remember you need some calculations once alcohol is present. We did a video.
@CitySteadingBrews yeah, isn't there an app that can do it all for me?
I thought you used one a few times
Fermcalc
@@CitySteadingBrews THANK YOU!!!!
I’ll be honest and say I have not watched the video yet but I saw the title and went “very probably”.
Lol.
To be fair I attempted your beginner mead recipe (substituted with mead yeast) last month and your 2023 ginger beer recipe last week. Neither have been racked yet so I have only done like 3 readings. Turns out I was not doing them incorrectly however. Thanks for putting up fantastic content.
Yup, it's not complicated, but consistency in readings is really helpful!
I know i'm new to the technical side, but I think that only enforces how it's easier to just use all the digits to not make mistakes. when people throw around points of gravity or worse, talk in brix, my brain shuts down.
Unrelated question: I see just about every spice making an appearance in wine and mead recipes, but never truffle. Is it just that bougie or does the flavor not work with anything?
Truffle isn't a spice. It's a fungus, like a mushroom. I suppose you could use it, if you wanted that flavor.
Stand by for some very earthy notes in your brew! I truly wonder how the two fungus cousins would interact?
@@CitySteadingBrews fair, I just figured i'd see someone out there declaring why it works or doesnt, but all i find are wine pairings xD
I don't think it would taste very good personally.
@@dr.froghopper6711 I'd probably want to use fresh truffle if I ever tried it, and that's a little spicy for hobby tier, but my favorite traditional wine is cabernet franc blends with at least 15-25%, because franc brings out amazing earthy flavors
Funny you should bring this up as i had an odd thought for a video for y'all today. Equipment vs ChatGPT lol. Because yknow, fads 😊 My hydrometer arrived broken but i was anxious to start my first non hootch brew with readings and a sense of OG - FG = ABV. Soooo, i aske the AI overlords how to calculate an OG by the sugar content in juice. I was using Simply Peach which has 25g per 8oz, which according to ChatGPT, the OG factored out to be 1.015. Long story short, i prompted until i got a recipe that would give me a peach cider with an abv of 8%. I am now extremely curious to watch you pros compare and contrast something simular. Something like, "this is what the overlords say this particular juice's OG is, and here is what it actually is." and "here is what we ended up making" 😂 Would also be equally entertaining to just watch y'all make whatever it tells you. Side note, ChatGPT is a trending keyword you just know the YT algorithm would love 😁
Chat GPT is far too inconsistent on such things to even really properly test it. I know it's trendy to use it, but, meh, I don't consider it a reliable source of information so I don't really want to promote it on our channel. We have looked into things like that though.
Have you ever had a brew come out with a higher abv than you wanted? I have a ginger beer that is, could I just add some water before I go to carbonate?
Sure, happens often. If you wanted it lower, you can dilute with water, certainly.
I started at roughly 1.110 as my honey was crystallised and I don't use heat in any way. My gravity is now 1.020 after 4 weeks which is my slowest ferment ever using nutrients for the first time. It's very cold here in Australia at the moment. Do I just be patient or can I speed it up? 😂
A warmer temp will speed fermentation.
This is off target. If I back sweeten a mead with honey from .096 to 1.014 and pasteurized. Then added 1tsp sugar and a small amount of yeast to the bottles. I have basically made a bottle bomb ?
Yup. The yeast died from pasteurizing but then you added more so the honey and sugar will both ferment and could overpressurize.
@@CitySteadingBrews thank you. I'll count this as a learning experience. Looking forward to the next video.
At what SPGR do you use the 132.25? I think that's it.
131.25, and usually below 8% ABV, so if your OG is 0ver 1.060, use 135, below use 131.25. It's still an approximation and always just a guide.
@@CitySteadingBrews of course, and thanks much. It's just my abv don't always hit y'all's. So understanding this when I can start creating my own recipes will be awesome. Thanks again.
I guess if in doubt.. take a photo and send a picture?
That's not the point... it's use all four digits in the readings.
@@CitySteadingBrews I know that's not the point, but if someone is having a hard time reading it a photo might help to them to get a proper reading.. that is all
Fair enough.
Is this because of my comment the other day 😂 I'm just kidding. I started home brew in university circa 2016 because of microbiology and it still took me years to understand not only how to read it properly but the proper meanings behind it too.
It's because of hundreds of comments, lol.
@CitySteadingBrews I joke, I know really as said hard thing to do. Doesn't make it easier that my hydrometer has 3 readings on, specific gravity, alcohol potential and possibly plato? I don't know I don't use the other one at all
We just use sg 😀
Significant digits, are in fact, Significant
If I had one, probably yes.
I recommend hydrometers for anyone interested in brewing.
Should mine have been 5.883?
Lol. Figured you haven’t had that asked yet. 😂
That exact number? No, but numbers like that we have! No, it should not be 😜
@@CitySteadingBrews lol yeah just came up with a ridiculous number that’s not even a a hydrometer.
@@anthonylauderdale1250 I'm fairly certain the hydrometer would float so high that it would fall over in something that dense. LOL
@@LawlissLanterns lol me too. But the alcohol % would be 660% if it went dry. Be some Mean stuff!!!
instructions unclear measured 100.0 specific gravity and now I'm on Mars.
Just kidding, this video is great and well dictated. Thanks!!
Minor nerdy nit pick... 1.123 is 3 decimal places, not 4 🤓. The term "decimal places" refers to the number of digits to the right of the decimal mark. (Which in some non-USA parts of the world isn't a"." it's a","[just for extra fun and confusion!]) Still, love the show and the brews! I've got a few batches of traditionals going and about to start a batch of your Carrot Cake Mead and see how that one goes!
You're correct. I should have said three decimal places and four digits.
I don't see a reason to check that it's either going to work or not work by the time I come home it's all finished fermenting
Final checks tell if it stalled, etc.
I'm new to mead making. 😅
Once the mead has finished fermenting and you have your FG reading, do you take additional readings in secondary if you want to add fruit or spices? Does this become the new FG? What about when you back-sweeten? I've read there is more math involved. 🥲
If it doesn't ferment, it doesn't change the FG.
@@user-zr9hu3tf1yYes, fruit just for flavouring, good to know it won't change! With back-sweetening, my only concern is trying to work out the correct ABV% once I add something like honey or a fruit juice etc. (as it dilutes the mead somewhat?). Maybe the change would be negligible, I don't know. 😅
I'll check out the video re: the fruit, thanks for your reply! 😊
While it might dilute is slightly, it's not enough to really worry about, but if you really want to know, we did a video on fortification and this is really just de-fortification: ua-cam.com/video/ERX7scF37Uo/v-deo.htmlsi=ErAPCeEgV3a48naZ
Unless you add a LOT, it's rather trivial really. In addition, all ABV checking is just an estimate unless you get a lab to analyze it. Within 1-2% is good enough for me.
@@CitySteadingBrews Great, thank you! ☺