More help, please?

[Shakeyourfoodie]

Hello folks... I have a question about something else that's perplexing me. I started a batch of dandelion wine on May 6th. Today is May 29th. I just transferred my wine using a sterilized siphoning tube into other fermentation vessels (leaving behind the sediment- may be an obvious thing to do, but I'm stating what I did in detail in case I did something really wrong so someone can correct me

I then used my Triple Scale Beer and Wine Hydrometer to test the specific gravity and it tested the same as water. This has me confused, because I tasted the must, too, and it tasted alcohol-y to me. It is still fermenting (I see little bubbles running up through it.)

My thought is to put it back in my nice cool, dark closet and let it keep having at it. My kitchen is about 74F. The thing is, the temp here fluctuates as I do a great deal of cooking daily (professional baker, plus 3 meals a day and snacks for my kids and hubby.) My kitchen is also rather bright. Am I right in assuming I should not have it in here?

Any advice, pretty please?

 

[Sacalait]

Your hydrometer is based on water. What exactly was your starting SG reading and what is it now?

 

[cpfan]

OK Shake...thats a common question among newbies. Some version of...theres no alcohol in my wine cause the sg is the same as water.

What the hydrometer measures (simplistically) is sugars in the liquid. When the sugars are all (or mostly) gone then it measures 1.000 or lower. The must should have started at a higher number (eg 1.080) representing sugars in the must.

Hope this helps, Steve

 

[Luc]

Shakeyourfoodie,

Listen to Steve

Must wil start at a higher SG like 1080 and while the yeast eat the sugars
the SG will lower as alcohol appears and sugar and CO2 disappears.
The two will mix until the end SG will even be a bit lower as 1000 and
then you have a dry wine.

I presume the wine is not bubbling anymore ??
So fermentation has ended.

The light does not introduces a big problem as
dandelion wine is a white wine. Temperature fluctuations
are a bit worse.

Best temperature to age the wine is around 12 degrees celsius.
But in my house temperature will never drop below 16 or 17.

Seasonal adjustments in temperature are all right but
quick fluctuations like night-day are bad for your wine.

Luc

 

[Shakeyourfoodie]

Thank you for your help!

Thank you! It's always nice to have someone else's experience to prop yourself up on I knew my tastebuds wouldn't fool me THAT much!

It's pretty dry and I'm going to bottle it pretty soon to let it age. Yippee!