When making dry wine, you want a very low level of residual sugar.
Making wine at home lets wine enthusiasts make the type of wine that they enjoy. With a little experimentation, home winemakers can create a wine that will have just the right amount of sweetness or dryness to suit their taste. The amount of residual sugar in the wine is the primary factor in how dry or sweet a wine tastes, so it is important to know measure this in each batch you make. Add this to my Recipe Box.
Instructions
1. Clean and sterilize your hydrometer, wine thief and tube. As with all wine-making practices, ensure all tools are clean before they come into contact with your wine, otherwise you risk contaminating the product.
2. Draw a sample of wine with your wine thief. Try to disturb the wine as little as possible.
3. Run the wine sample through a coffee filter or similar filter. This helps eliminate solid particles that will throw off the level you read on the hydrometer.
4. Pour the wine sample into the hydrometer cylinder. You can do this with the hydrometer already in the cylinder or you can lower it in gently afterward. You should fill the cylinder about 80 percent of the way to the top.
5. Dip a thermometer into the wine to check the temperature. A standard hydrometer will produce the most accurate reading when the wine is 59 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit. If your wine is a different temperature, warm or cool it to the correct temperature or use a specific gravity chart that adjusts based on temperature.
6. Read the level that the wine reaches on the hydrometer. Make sure that the hydrometer floats freely to get an accurate reading.
7. Compare the reading you got with the target level for specific gravity in the type of wine you are making. The acceptable amount of residual sugar will depend on whether you are trying to make a sweet or a dry wine. If you measure a specific gravity of less than 0.995, the sugar level is appropriate for a dry wine. A higher reading than that suggests there is an acceptable amount of sugar for a sweeter wine, such as an ice wine. Some winemakers prefer to continue fermentation until the level reaches 0.995 even in a sweet wine, and then add sugar for flavor.
Tags: residual sugar, specific gravity, sweet wine, your wine, acceptable amount, accurate reading