Hydrometer question

[Alien77721]

So, my must has been going for 4 days.

Day 1- 1.076
Day 2- 1.060
Day 3 - 1.043
Day 4- 1.041 ???

I checked it 5 times. Is this normal?

And what exactly does the hydrometer measure in this case?

 

[dcbrown73]

It measures the gravity of the must. (basically how much sugar is in it)

Are you stirring it daily? Is this a kit? There could be a few things going on.

 

[Johnd]

Hydrometer readings usually decrease steadily once your fermentation gets going, much like you see the first few days, and should do as til you get down close to 1.000. Furnish all of the particulars about your wine and maybe we can figure out why it's slowing down. What you're making, recipe, nutrients, temps, yeast strain, etc. may help figure it out. Did anything change between day 4 and 4?

 

[Alien77721]

Hydrometer readings usually decrease steadily once your fermentation gets going, much like you see the first few days, and should do as til you get down close to 1.000. Furnish all of the particulars about your wine and maybe we can figure out why it's slowing down. What you're making, recipe, nutrients, temps, yeast strain, etc. may help figure it out. Did anything change between day 4 and 4?

I'm doing the Dragon Blood recipe with blueberries only with the lemon juice. All of the nutrients on the recipe I found on here. Temperatures 68-73. Yeast is Lalvin k1-v1116

 

[Alien77721]

Hydrometer readings usually decrease steadily once your fermentation gets going, much like you see the first few days, and should do as til you get down close to 1.000. Furnish all of the particulars about your wine and maybe we can figure out why it's slowing down. What you're making, recipe, nutrients, temps, yeast strain, etc. may help figure it out. Did anything change between day 4 and 4?

I'm doing the Dragon Blood recipe with blueberries only with the lemon juice. All of the nutrients on the recipe I found on here. Temperatures 68-73. Yeast is Lalvin k1-v1116. No real big changes in past couple days. This is the first day the change has decreased. Water locks not bubbling like it did a few days ago

 

[mennyg19]

Water locks not bubbling like it did a few days ago

You mention an airlock. Are you using a carboy? Dave says to use a covered unsealed fermenting bucket for the primary fermentation stage. You might be starving the yeast from its much needed oxygen

 

[Johnd]

I'm doing the Dragon Blood recipe with blueberries only with the lemon juice. All of the nutrients on the recipe I found on here. Temperatures 68-73. Yeast is Lalvin k1-v1116. No real big changes in past couple days. This is the first day the change has decreased. Water locks not bubbling like it did a few days ago

Ok, so you're air locked in primary, I'd discontinue that and just leave the lid sitting loosely on top, or cover with a towel, let the must breathe a little. Stir / punch the fruit down a few times a day, and see if you can keep the temps on the higher side of your range, mid 70's.

The DB recipe should have enough nutrients, so I'd doubt that's the problem. Your selected yeast should be ok as well. Keep us posted with your progress, let's see if the above does the trick for you.

 

[Alien77721]

Awesome. Will do. Thanks

 

[heatherd]

Awesome. Will do. Thanks

It's normal for the bubbling to be more vigorous at the beginning and less as the DB ferments. However, your hydrometer is the best judge of fermentation, not the bubbles. It's great that you are recording your daily specific gravity to see the progress of fermentation.

Note that some folks on the forum have seen complete fermentation in a 2-4 days and others see fermentation take a month. Just depends on lots of factors.

Good luck!

 

[wineforfun]

I'm doing the Dragon Blood recipe with blueberries only with the lemon juice. All of the nutrients on the recipe I found on here. Temperatures 68-73. Yeast is Lalvin k1-v1116. No real big changes in past couple days. This is the first day the change has decreased. Water locks not bubbling like it did a few days ago

Stir it twice daily also.

 

[Alien77721]

I got a reading of 1.034 tonight. We're about 8.6%. Need a little more

 

[Johnd]

I got a reading of 1.034 tonight. We're about 8.6%. Need a little more

Well, you're back on a steady progression downward, that's good!

 

[BernardSmith]

Fermentation is a living organic process so the yeast might be creating an environment that increases the acidity which might reduce the colony's ability to reproduce at the same rate. The yeast as a colony may be increasing the temperature of the liquor and that in turn may speed up or slow down their ability to produce alcohol (and so remove sugar and so decrease the density of the liquid (it's specific gravity)). The yeast's production of alcohol will itself kill some of the cells whose tolerance for alcohol may be less than the tolerance of other yeast cells... So I guess what I am saying is that you are not likely to see a steady or straight line decline in the specific gravity and monitoring the fermentation will provide you information about what is happening inside the fermenter...

 

[wineforfun]

Water locks not bubbling like it did a few days ago

Do you have this fermenting under airlock? If so, that could be alot of your problem. Just use a loose lid or towel and make sure it is getting stirred twice daily.
Whenever I have made DB, it is down from 1.095 to under 1.000 in 7-8 days tops.

 

[Alien77721]

Ok. I'm getting a little concerned. Since the comment about the airlock was made, I've since taken the lid off and put a towel over it. The specific gravity the past 3 days have only changed from 1.034 to 1.030. I've been diligently stirring twice a day. It's kept around 72-74 degrees. Today is day 6. Should I be worried, take a chill pill, change anything? Did I screw it up with the airlock initially?

 

[BernardSmith]

So is this a wine that is based on lemon juice? And is this a wine to which you pitched yeast rather than slurry? If the answer to both questions is yes, then I would not be overly concerned. Lemon juice has a very low pH and that raises some stress for the yeast. Using yeast rather than slurry you have harvested from another wine means that you are asking the yeast to operate in a relatively hostile environment. I would whip air into the must and I would provide the yeast with more nutrients. If you can I would check the temperature of the wine (it may be 10 degrees higher than the room) and if the temperature is close to 75 I would perhaps stand the carboy in a water bath and cloak the carboy with a wet towel. I think you want to try to get the temperature of the wine down closer towards 65 F.
Can you check the pH of the wine? If it is very close to 3.0 you may want to add some K Chloride...You really want the pH to be not much below 3.5

 

[Alien77721]

So is this a wine that is based on lemon juice? And is this a wine to which you pitched yeast rather than slurry? If the answer to both questions is yes, then I would not be overly concerned. Lemon juice has a very low pH and that raises some stress for the yeast. Using yeast rather than slurry you have harvested from another wine means that you are asking the yeast to operate in a relatively hostile environment. I would whip air into the must and I would provide the yeast with more nutrients. If you can I would check the temperature of the wine (it may be 10 degrees higher than the room) and if the temperature is close to 75 I would perhaps stand the carboy in a water bath and cloak the carboy with a wet towel. I think you want to try to get the temperature of the wine down closer towards 65 F.
Can you check the pH of the wine? If it is very close to 3.0 you may want to add some K Chloride...You really want the pH to be not much below 3.5

So LOWER the temp? Add yeast nutrient? How much? I don't have ability to check pH. What do I need to do that?

 

[Johnd]

So LOWER the temp? Add yeast nutrient? How much? I don't have ability to check pH. What do I need to do that?

I don't disagree that more nutrients could be needed, even though your yeast is very good for low nutrient musts, nor that you could be on the acidic side if you used all of the lemon juice in the DB recipe, which can make fermentation temperamental. Lowering the temperature of your must, down from the mid 70's to the mid 60's will only serve to slow the fermentation. K1-V116 works well in the 60-85 F range, you're solidly in the range at 73 F. Unless I'm totally missing something here, I wouldn't lower the temps of the must.

 

[Alien77721]

I don't disagree that more nutrients could be needed, even though your yeast is very good for low nutrient musts, nor that you could be on the acidic side if you used all of the lemon juice in the DB recipe, which can make fermentation temperamental. Lowering the temperature of your must, down from the mid 70's to the mid 60's will only serve to slow the fermentation. K1-V116 works well in the 60-85 F range, you're solidly in the range at 73 F. Unless I'm totally missing something here, I wouldn't lower the temps of the must.

Ok. I'll give it a couple more days. I know it's still fermenting. I see it bubbling

 

[wineforfun]

Ok. I'm getting a little concerned. Since the comment about the airlock was made, I've since taken the lid off and put a towel over it. The specific gravity the past 3 days have only changed from 1.034 to 1.030. I've been diligently stirring twice a day. It's kept around 72-74 degrees. Today is day 6. Should I be worried, take a chill pill, change anything? Did I screw it up with the airlock initially?

No need to get concerned. You are just making DB so you have to really try to mess it up.

Just keep stirring it twice daily and keep an eye on it.

In the future, don't put it under airlock until done fermenting. Also, (although I have never had to with DB) you may want to "step" nutrient into it. So let's say you are going to use a total of 2 tsp., put 1 tsp. in at beginning(starting SG 1.090) , 1/2 tsp. around 1.070 and 1/2 tsp. around 1.050.