add sugar or no?

[thelittleolive83]

Step 14 1.092 12% pot. 22 balling. Step 18 1.062 8% pot 15 balling step 22 1.052 6.5 pot and 13 balling. Question is... Should I add more sugar my gravity is dropping as it should be... But also does my pot alcohol. Already down to 6.5 and that is pretty close to the gravity calculations used to determine.. Should I add more sugar.. When I test I drink what is in the tube and it is very sweet... I can taste some alcohol and it does smell like alcohol... Where do I go from here for a higher alch. Wine or should I let things ride out. By AlL rights it seems as if the number will only get lower.

 

[menerdari]

Potential acohol is only taken from your original gravity, if you are reading pot. alc as it ferments that is really only the additional potential on top of what is already in there.
You can easily calculate about how much alcohol you will have just knowing the original gravity and your target finishing gravity.
Starting at 1.092 and finishing at 0.995 (about an average dryness) will give you an ABV of 12.7 %
unless you want higher than that don't add any more sugar.

 

[DoctorCAD]

1.092 is considered the perfect starting gravity by many winemakers.

 

[sour_grapes]

Menerdari just about said this, but let me be a little more explicit. The key word in "potential alcohol" is "potential." At any given time, the sugars remaining in the must have the potential to turn into alcohol.

To find the actual alcohol content of your must at any time, the formula is (starting SG - current SG)*131 = ABV.