# The Egg Test?



## cimbaliw (Jul 11, 2013)

It's a long story but we have some wonderful Hungarian neighbors that are also wine makers. In talking last night, for SG measurements, they drop a raw egg (uncracked) into the must and add sugar until it floats. 

Has anyone heard of this? They were repatraioted to Romania. As you can imagine, living under Ceaușescu communism they are pretty resourceful people.

BC


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## jamesngalveston (Jul 11, 2013)

in the old days people would drop a boiled are raw egg in fermented wine, then eat them after a week..was suppose to be good for the body...I dunno...I dont like eggs cooked in any fashion.


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## robie (Jul 11, 2013)

Sounds like they are using the raw egg as a standard for measuring specific gravity. I don't know if the SP of eggs varies from egg to egg, but it seems it would. I guess that is OK as long as one likes that specific amount of sweetness.


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## JohnT (Jul 12, 2013)

Got to love those Hungarians! 

I have family that still run the family vineyard in Hungary. Actually, a plan is in the works to go there next year. 

I have never heard of using an egg this way. Also, I never knew any Hungarian that added sugar to their must. Sugar way WAY hard to come by under comunism (unless you were a high ranking member of the polit-bureau). When communism ended (thank God), hydrometers and basic equipment became readily available. I can't speak for all Hungarians, just the ones I know.

I will need to ask some of the old timers about it. Sounds rather creative.


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## Arne (Jul 12, 2013)

I imagine it would work just fine to give you an approximate amount of sugar to bring the abv. up to where you want it. Same as using the hydrometer, just the hydrometer mite get you a bit more accurate on the next try. Today, got ready to start the cherry wine. 45 lbs of cherries in a bag, been soaking in the k-meta, pectic enzime, water bath for a day. Bag been on the bottom. Mixed in 10 lbs of sugar and the bag popped to the surface. Bout the same as using the egg, the water gets denser and things float that wouldn't before. Arne.


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## BernardSmith (Jul 12, 2013)

Cimbaliw, I believe that in the 17th Century (and probably much later) people in Britain would float raw eggs in their shells to determine whether their mead contained the quantity of sugar they wanted. I have never tried this but if a specific sized hens egg will float when the must is at a specific gravity and will float so that a certain height will be above the surface of the must at a specific gravity, then should your hydrometer break on a Sunday at 4.00 PM (not sure who used that example on this forum a few days ago) then you could use an egg to gain a fairly good approximation to the SG.


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## Deezil (Jul 12, 2013)

I've heard this a few times.. Both with some Europeans and with those old-timers hiding in the Appalachia - just trickles of "ol johnny used 'ta", havent ever ran across anyone saying, "oh yeah, i just did that yesterday"


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## BernardSmith (Jul 12, 2013)

Here's an article published in 2004 that discusses the specific gravity of eggs based on size and shell thickness so even if wine producers today rely on hydrometers you can see how eggs could reasonably be used to help assess the starting gravity of a wine . 
http://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/livestock/nutrition/bza24s01.html


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## Arne (Jul 13, 2013)

Make sure you wash the egg carefully. You just wouldn't believe where that egg came from.  Arne.


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