S.G. Surprise

[Wiz]

Honest to God, I hadn't had a drop to drink. I was adding some potassium bicarbonate to a batch of blackberry wine made with not quite ripe berries. I thought to myself before I added anything that I never checked the final S.G. I took it and it read 1.040. I had to think about this a minute and what I was going to do. Then I went to my notes and read that I transferred to the secondary at 1.023. Ponder-Ponder! I went ahead and added the PB and stirred. Checked the S.G. again and it was .998. Any idea what gives?

 

[Runningwolf]

Wiz take another reading in a vial if you can. Shake it up first and make sure there is no gas in it. Just some trouble shooting of taking a second test in a different vessal and ruling out gas.

 

[Wade E]

Possibly a gas pocket.

 

[grapeman]

I suspect that you had a lot of C02 in the wine when checked at 1.023. Then when you added the potassium bicarbonate, it caused a rather violent gassy reaction which probably cleaned out the C02 and gave you a true reading at that point. I would just wait a while and check again and go by that reading. If your starting SG was only 1.040 and you didn't chaptalize at all (add sugar), you will have a very low alcohol wine that won't be able to age at all. Did you raise the SG at all?

 

[Wiz]

I think Wade's comment may be the culprit. My final ABV is 13.4%.

 

[Runningwolf]

Try some Beno then!

 

[sly22guy]

Had a very similar issue with my apple wine. i now give my hydrometer a spin when im using it. its supposed to help with CO2 bubbles and give a more accurate reading. works good for me.