Hi from Colorado!

[CCWineMaker]

I am making my first batch of wine (dandelion). I am looking for some assistance to a possible problem.

I checked the alcohol content after the secondary fementation and it is zero. Is that normal?

I had good fermentation at the beginning with an alcohol content of 12% and up all was good until the last week of the secondary fermentation. The 'wine' has an alcohol smell and taste, but the hydrometer does not lift off the bottom of the tube leading me to believe it doesn't have any alcohol content.

I am wondering if I just rack it and wait for 90 days or is it a lost cause?

Suggestions??

 

[Minnesotamaker]

I wonder if you're reading your hydrometer wrong? If your hydrometer has an alcohol reading on the side expressed in percentages, it usually is a measure of alcohol potential. So for instance, when you started your batch and it read 12%, what this means is that there was enough sugar in solution so that if it ferments fully and the scale moves all the way down to zero, you'd have a wine of about 12% alcohol. In other words, if it started at 12% and you later took a reading and it was at 2%, you could estimate that your wine is currently at about 10% alcohol at that time.

 

[ibglowin]

Welcome aboard WMT!

Agree it does sound like your reading your Hydrometer incorrectly. Most all of us us the Specific Gravity markings on the side. You need start and finish to calculate your ABV.

 

[winemaker_3352]

Welcome aboard!!

Test your hydrometer in water - it should read 1.000.

 

[Julie]

Or are you saying you started with a reading of say 1.080 and it is now reading 1.000?

 

[Runningwolf]

Welcome aboard.

 

[robie]

Welcome to the forum!

Like the others wrote, use the SG scale on the hydrometer. If it started with a potential of 12% on the alcohol scale, but now the hydrometer won't float off the bottom, you have converted much of the sugar to alcohol, so you have a lot of alcohol in the wine. However, the fermentation may not yet be finished.

Start using the SG scale. Check the SG reading today and record it. If the SG reading doesn't drop anymore for the next three days, your fermentation is done. If it continues to drop, keep checking until it doesn't for 3 days in a row. If done, move on to the next step in your instructions.

If your hydrometer won't come off the bottom of the container, get a deeper container, like a tube; just be sure to clean and sanitize it. You really do have to have a reliable reading and don't guess.

 

[Flem]

Welcome to the best forum on the "net".