Drastic drop in SG

[skyfire322]

My Riesling kit (used RHST yeast with addition of GoFerm) started at 1.100 five days ago. On day three, fermentation had started where I added 3g of F-K and stirred (SG was at 1.076).

I checked the temperature last night, and it was at 79 degrees, which is pretty much the threshold for that yeast, so I decided to use the swamp cooler method to bring it down. Fast forward to today, the wine temperature is down to 69 degrees, but the SG has dropped all the way down to 1.020. I used three different hydrometers just to make sure I wasn't going crazy, either. Is that something to be concerned about? Could the sudden temperature change influence that in any way?

 

[dralarms]

Nope, sounds about right to me, fermenting speeds up with higher Temps.

 

[Scooter68]

Only issue is the heat may have blown out some of the volitile elements (Flavors and aroma) of the wine. That's not unusual for white wines - that's one reason it's suggested to ferment white wines at lower temps.

 

[Redbird1]

Agree with the others. I put my whites in a swamp cooler at first sign of fermentation. Slow and steady wins the race for whites.

 

[skyfire322]

I did notice a slight loss of aroma. Going to leave it in the swamp cooler for the rest of it Now I know what I need to do for my next white! Thanks all!

 

[Scooter68]

PS - My very first ferment, a blueberry wine finished completely (From SG of 1.090 to SG .990) in less than 5 days it was scary fast. Weather was warm and being a dark/red wine that didn't cause any problems that I was aware of. Just mind the temps in the room. Most of us seem to have the opposite problem this time of year. Getting a ferment started in very cool temps can take a while or some temporary warming of the room/container to get it going.

 

[wxtrendsguy]

If you cool it down just make sure you are still progressing...you'd hate to get a stuck ferment unless you don't mind some residual sugar.

 

[Scooter68]

My one and only stuck ferment worked out great. 3 gallons of Black Currant that was going to be a high ABV (about 17-18%) stopped short at an SG of 1.005. Turned out great. If it had fermented all the way dry I was going to have to back-sweeten anyway and at about 16% ABV it was still a potent dessert wine. No complaints by anyone except the wife. She wanted to be able to drink more of it at a time without getting snockered.

 

[Ron0126]

I'm impressed that you have three different hydrometers ...

 

[Stressbaby]

I'm impressed that you have three different hydrometers ...

Actually there are many different types of hydrometer which vary by scale. I think most of us are used to the $10 or less 0-35 brix type. But there are "narrow-scale" hydrometers which measure SG in ranges such as 0-8, 8-16, 16-24 brix. Stretching the scale out is supposed to make them easier to read. A strong case can be made for having a -5 to +5 brix narrow scale hydrometer so that you can precisely know when fermentation is done. Presque Isle has these they run $17-28.

 

[skyfire322]

I think things are starting to slow down. SG is at 1.000, so I'm going to give it a few more days. The main thing I was concerned with was it spoiling.

I'm impressed that you have three different hydrometers ...

The minute that I broke my first hydrometer a few months ago, I immediately bought three because I had a feeling I might break more

 

[Scooter68]

I broke my first hydrometer about 2-3 weeks after I started my first batch. Bought two more and (knock knock) haven't broken another since. Have also broken 2 wine thieves and one SG plastic test tube 2 1/2 years now. So spares of some things are a wise investment.