WineXpert finished gravity ???????????`

[markb1983]

Hello All!

I was just doing some wine maintaince and noticed that some of my wine has a finished gravity of 1.000 or slightly less. Nonetheless, the wine still has a good amount of alcohol. My wines that have a 1.000 or slightly less finished gravity are:

Amarone

Chateau Du Pays

Eclipse Pinot Noir.


What is the norm? All have cleared fine and I swear when I added the clarifiers and stabilizers it was .996 or less

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

What is your question, very hard to tell from your post. Do you want to know why your wines have a good amount of alcohol when they reach 1.000, its because that is how it works, are you looking at the potential alcohol scale and it says 0, that is because there is no more potential alcohol to make, you have reached the potential, now you have actual alcohol. Do your stabalizers have sweeteners in them that could raise the sg level? THat little miniscus on the edge of the hydrometer can make the reading vary depending on how you look at it. How does your amarone taste, we havent done one of those yet and I keep thinking it sounds like something we would want to make very much. WVMJ

 

[markb1983]

my Amarone is kinda sweet up front and tart in the end. I have it in a barrel at the moment.

My question is, how is it that when i added the stabilizers it was .996 or .998 now its around a 1.000. I guess what is aged wine normally at?

 

[Boatboy24]

Could be due to a number of things. Two immediately come to mind: 1) temp change and 2) concentration due to barrel time.

I don't have any scientific studies to link to, but it wouldn't shock me to learn that adding oak cubes, etc might cause slight changes as well.

 

[Floandgary]

My experience with the several dozen or so buckets that I've done is that allowing maximum fermentation (under controlled conditions) usually results in sg's of .990-.993. If fermentation is stopped before that level, likely there is still some sugars left which could bump the numbers. I bulk age in carboys and have added various oaks which has changed the numbers a couple of points. And, as Boatboy said, life in a barrel may be sweet for some wines!

 

[markb1983]

That's so interesting. Thank you =)

 

[BernardSmith]

Temperature affects the density of liquids. Your hydrometer is calibrated to measure liquid (wine) at a specific temperature (usually 60 F) if you measured the wine and the temperature was 70 F then the wine will be less dense (a lower gravity) If you measured the same wine when it was at 55 F then the wine will be more dense (and have a higher gravity). Hydrometers are useful tools but they are not very reliable or accurate without taking temperature into account.

 

[markb1983]

Wow thank you so much! Makes total sense

 

[djrockinsteve]

If you add a yeast energizer at 1.000 your wines should end just below .990. Yes there is still sugar at .990 but a hydrometer can't read below that just be past .990. Only a refraction enter can correctly indicate 0 sugar.

If you leave wine with some sugar it may continue fermenting during clearing causing a build up of CO2 you may not notice until you open a bottle or sample.

Just FYI

 

[markb1983]

It's too late isn't it? I added all the sorbate and finishers. It's been bulk aging for a while. 8 months or so.

 

[djrockinsteve]

When you go to bottle just sample it. See if it needs degassed. You'll be fine.