The wine meter (sugar meter, hydrometer) is an important part of the control and measuring equipment used by winemakers and brewers. The device, as a rule, is made of a sealed glass tube with a loaded and enlarged bottom and a long narrow rod. Used in combination with a tall, thin measuring cylinder filled with liquid. When immersed in wine, the design of the device allows it to swim with a thickened end pointing down. The readings of the wine gauge are taken at the point of contact of the scale deposited on the rod with the surface of the liquid.
What is the hydrometer actually doing?
To find the specific gravity, i.e., the ratio of the density of the wort or wine to the density of water, you should use a household wine meter (sugar meter). How to use the device? The device measures the amount of natural sugar. This allows you to evaluate and adjust the recipe for the preparation of the drink depending on the readings. The winemaker can also monitor the progress of fermentation and, if necessary, immediately make adjustments.
Anyone who makes wine knows that there is a direct correlation between the amount of sugar present in grapes (or other berries and fruits) and the percentage of alcohol after fermentation.
Why do we need a hydrometer?
The purposes for which the wine meter is used are as follows:
- measurement of specific gravity of a liquid;
- conducting accurate calculations with an artificial increase in the percentage of alcohol;
- measuring the amount of natural sugar present in wine or wort;
- determination of the potential percentage of alcohol during the addition of sugar and yeast;
- assessment of the progress of fermentation;
- determination of the percentage of alcohol conversion during fermentation using the readings "before" and "after";
- determining when fermentation is complete or at what stage it should be stopped.
How to use a wine meter (instructions for the buyer)
When buying a hydrometer, you need to pay attention to the following:
- The range of the scale (maximum and minimum) must be appropriate for the specific situation. The standard measurement range for home winemakers ranges from 0.990 to 1,120. For example, in order to achieve an alcohol content of 12% in wine, fermentation with a specific gravity of 1,090 should be started.
- What liquids is the wine gauge intended for? How to use the device is indicated in the attached instructions.
- Some hydrometers can only measure specific gravity, but most also measure the potential percentage of alcohol and sugar content.
- The temperature at which the wine gauge is calibrated must be indicated, how to use the specific gravity conversion formulas based on the sample temperature (the most common calibration temperature is +15 ° C).
- Does the size of the device correspond to the dimensions of the measuring cylinder.
- Is there a protective case (hydrometers are very fragile).
Sampling
How to use a wine meter-sugar meter? A sample of the wort is poured into a graduated cylinder. The hydrometer is carefully lowered into the fluid with a slight rotating motion. The float will sink and float a bit until it stops at the level of fluid density.
The more the wine meter pops up, the more sugar in the sample. The more the device sinks, the lower the density of the liquid. This may mean that sugar at this stage almost completely converted to alcohol or that it is very small in the sample.
When lowering the hydrometer into the measuring cylinder, you should be careful that the device does not hit the bottom and does not crash.
How to use a wine meter-sugar meter? Instructions for taking measurements
The following few simple steps will take you to read the device:
- sterilize the hydrometer, wine sampler and measuring cylinder with sodium metabisulfate or another similar sterilizer;
- set the measuring cup on a flat surface;
- sampler to take a wort or wine sample that does not contain sediment or solid particles, as this will affect the readings of the device;
- Fill a measuring cup with a sufficient amount of liquid so that the wine meter can float (usually 80%);
- carefully lower the hydrometer into the measuring cylinder (during immersion, it should be rotated so that the bubbles do not stick to the bottom of the float, which may affect its readings);
- making sure that the device does not touch the walls of the measuring cylinder and floats freely, take readings on the bottom of the meniscus.
A meniscus is a curve formed by the upper surface of a liquid in contact with another object due to the surface tension force . Indications should be taken completely, writing down a number from one to thousandths, and not be limited to the last digits, as this can cause confusion in the future.
The hydrometer, measuring cylinder and any other used containers should always be thoroughly washed.
You should make it a habit to record everything that the wine gauge measures. How to use his testimony is described further in the article. In addition, in the future there will certainly be a need to refer to them.
Types of wine gauges
There are many different types of hydrometers: some have only one scale, others two and three. The three measurements that a winemaker needs to obtain are:
- specific gravity;
- sugar content;
- potential proportion of alcohol.
The density scale usually starts at 0,990 and ends at 1,120. For water, its value is equal to unity, therefore, if the device floats in water, its surface should coincide with the mark of 1,000. If sugar is dissolved in it, then the hydrometer will rise higher.
Some notes
User reviews recommend always checking measurements and calculations twice for accuracy. Obtaining the correct measurements for home winemaking may not be critical, but it is a good habit to avoid too high or too low levels of alcohol due to incorrect measurements.
For example, 125 g of sugar dissolved in one liter of water will give a specific gravity of 1.046.
Factors Affecting Indications
As a rule, bubbles of carbon dioxide produced by yeast rise and scatter in the air. At the beginning of fermentation, when their release is noticeable, they are attached to the float and cause the wine gauge to float. How to use it in this case, so that his testimony is correct? When immersed in a liquid, user reviews recommend turning the hydrometer. After the active fermentation period is over, the vesicles are usually no longer a problem.
There is one more question that the winemaker asks using a household wine meter. How to use the device when the temperature of the sample differs from the temperature of its calibration? Usually it is 20 ° C, but to be sure, check with the manufacturer's instructions. Higher temperatures cause underreporting. Therefore, the result should be adjusted.
The most important factor influencing how to use the sugar meter is the presence of alcohol. Its density is less than that of water, and the float drops lower. For the hydrometer, this has the following consequences: since the sugar float raises, the presence of these two components in the wine has a mutual influence on each other. A sugar level scale is accurate only before fermentation begins, when no alcohol is present in the liquid. Wine that has been fermented dry will have negative values on this scale.
Fortunately, the effect of alcohol on the hydrometer is predictable and can be taken into account when deriving the mathematical formulas used to calculate the alcohol content and the residual percentage of sugar. That's where there is the advantage of using specific gravity - for dry wine, it will be below 0.999, which can be used in the calculations.
Measurement Interpretation
Another problem that arises when using a wine meter-sugar meter household is how to use the readings of the device? User reviews recommend keeping a log of all measurement results obtained for a particular wine. According to the data, some conclusions can be drawn even without any calculations.
The first readings taken before fermentation begins will tell if there is enough sugar to produce the required amount of alcohol. For wine stability, the alcohol content in it should be at least 10%, which means that the initial specific gravity should be at least 1,080 (the value of the Brix scale should be at least 20). If the sugar level is too low, it must be adjusted and then another measurement taken. The new indicator will be the "first".
Any data obtained after the start of fermentation can be compared with the previous ones and the overall course of fermentation can be traced. A decrease in density indicates a decrease in sugar level and an increase in alcohol content. If the readings of the wine gauge remain stable between the two measurements, then this is one of the signs that the fermentation is complete.
If the density of the wine increases, and this was not due to the addition of sugar or another element to it, the cause is probably carbon dioxide, especially if bubbles are visible. If this happens near the end of the fermentation period, then you can get rid of the gas by intensively mixing the wine after decanting it.
If the readings remain stable with a specific gravity above 0.996 (or on a Brix scale of zero or less) and the desired amount of alcohol is present, fermentation is completed with the presence of residual sugar. But if the measurement results do not change at a density that is significantly higher than 0.996 (or on the Brix scale above zero), and the alcohol level is much lower than the recommended minimum, then fermentation most likely stopped and should be resumed.
After the specific gravity drops to about 0.996 and below (on the Brix scale - slightly below zero), the wine fermented to dryness.
To calculate the actual amount of alcohol or sugar, the current reading should be compared with the first, which was taken before the start of fermentation. The percentage of alcohol is found by multiplying the difference between the initial and final specific gravity by 132.