Wine Original Gravity Reading Methods

[MarkA]

I have been wine making for about 5 years and have made gallons of the stuff, but I have never once taken a hydrometer reading of any of them. Partly, this is due to laziness and plain forgetting.

The other problem is confusion

I have never made a wine that was made up to the full gallon at the start. If I had, it was be easy to take a reading. I ferment in 1 gallon demijohns and always leave a head space for the first week or so until the PF has subsided, then I top up, fit an airlock, and ferment out.

The other method is fermenting on the pulp. Bung all the fruit in a bucket, (sometimes with sugar, sometimes without), leave to ferment for a week, strain off into demijohn (adding sugar if not done already) and top up with water.

When is the best time to take a reading using the above methods? I guess, using the first method, an accurate reading could be achieved if it was made up to the gallon at the start, then keep some of the liquid in a bottle which could be used for topping up the demijohn.

What about the second method? The yeast is already working on the fruit sugars so a reading will be useless a week down the line when it all gets strained off into a demijohn and topped up.

Maybe I should carry on as normal, being blissfully unaware and hoping for the best?

Beer I get: make it up to X gallons, take reading, it is what it is

[DeadFall]

I use a refractometer. No messing about with trial jars, trying to filter out seeds and fibre. Just a sanitised pipette and a bright light.

[MarkA]

I haven't used a refractometer yet, looks like it could be a handy bit of kit though.

If you take a reading of the must/pulp, how do you work out what the OG will be once water is added to make it up to a gallon (or whatever other quantity you're going for?) Is there a formula for working it out?

Cheers

[bobsbeer]

The only way you can get a reasonably accurate estimation of the SG will be to calculate it manually from the sugars in the fruit and additions. You won't get an accurate reading with the hydrometer and if you had a refractometer, the reading would be the same. Both would show a higher than true reading. I use this site HERE The USDA site is good to get the fruit sugar contents HERE

[MarkA]

Thanks bobsbeer, that's exactly what I was looking for