Late harvest cab franc

[nicklausjames]

I bought 2 gallons of late harvest cab franc. The container says it is 33 brix. I did the yeast starter and fermentation has been pretty active. I started it about 4 days ago. I measured the brix w my hydrometer at 65 degrees and the brix was 37. Was the containers brix off or is the brix raised due to co2 or some other cause?

 

[sour_grapes]

Once fermentation has started, the brix reading from a refractometer will be inaccurate due to the presence of ethanol in the must. (Ethanol has a different refractive index than water.)

People have developed work-arounds (i.e., compensation tables), which google will probably find for you.

 

[nicklausjames]

Ok but I used a hydrometer

 

[sour_grapes]

Ok but I used a hydrometer

Ooops. I could have SWORN I read "refractometer." Sorry.

Mislabeling is the simplest explanation, I s'pose. You could take a small sample and microwave it to get rid of all CO2, and recheck just to make sure you are not floating the hydrometer. (Just thinking out loud there.....)