Hygrometer reading

[Grappa-Gringo]

I've been fermenting some apples and sugar for about a week now.... I used a wine/beer hygrometer to see what kind of reading I get.
It came out 1.2 which is off the chart-- the chart being the little script of paper that came with the hygrometer. If I'm reading this correctly, I should have a potential alcohol (%/volume) of over 25% which I think is wrong.
When tasting the mash, it still tastes a bit sweet...So I know somethings up???
Ideas, or comments appreciated.

gg

[jb-texshine]

How clear was your sample?
What was the recipe?
The apples crushed and pressed(juice) or was there pulp in it? Pounds of apples? Pounds of sugar?was water added? If so how much?

[Grappa-Gringo]

it was kinda pulpy....not a clear sample by any means.... I used about 25 pound of apples, 7 pounds sugar... and topped it off at 5 gallons. 1 pkg yeast...
I could filter it again-- if need be...strain it out....

[jb-texshine]

Not nearly enough sugar to read that high... try getting a sample to clear up by filtering or maybe put in the fridge to settle out. Sounds like the solids are throwing off the hydrometer

[BoomTown]

your sugars may be of a more complex molecule structure than your yeast can handle. You might toss in some bean-o, and give it another week.

Boom

[Bushman]

Sugar maybe throwing off your reading you need a refractometer (about $26.00). You can get one that just reads brix or one that reads both brix and SG. I believe in the glossary under Brix is a formula for the conversion that's not exact but close enough for our purposes.

[Grappa-Gringo]

Bushman...the hygrometer I have reads Brix too... Potential Alcohol, and SP.GR all at 60 degrees F.
I'll head out in the morning and buy some Bean O too.....

[Mikey-moo]

Bushman...the hygrometer I have reads Brix too... Potential Alcohol, and SP.GR all at 60 degrees F.
I'll head out in the morning and buy some Bean O too.....

Hygrometers measure moisture content. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygrometer

You have a hydrometer. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrometer

I'm feeling pedantic today.

[Grappa-Gringo]

Mikey-moo....you are correct...it's a hydrometer...lol....
update-- I filtered off my mush with some painting bags.... had my boy hold them open just in case. Poured back the liquid into the primary and it's still bubbling away.... I guess I jumped the gun a bit. But on a side note, the HYDROMETER triple scale says on the paper it came with, its only good for Beer and Wine.... Could we still use it for our purposes???
gg

[jb-texshine]

Well... you are making either a sugar wine with grain for taste(sugar heads like ujssm and SF) or distillers beer( unhunhopped all grain no sugar) or wine( from fruit and the juice there of), so, if you are using it to set a wash,mash,must at a specific Og. Or to take an Og and fg reading to calculate alcohol content of your wash,mash,must or even using it just to tell you when your w,m,m is finished fermenting then it is the correct tool. If you are trying to proof distilled spirits with it,then no.

[Grappa-Gringo]

thanks jb...

below is my rye.... I think she's ready

[HDNB]

apples are a bit rarer commodity on this side of the mountains, i only ever did one batch at 1.05 juice only, no sugar. that ferment ran cool, for over a month.

the rye does look good... did you do beta glucan rest with it or use SEBflo? looks reasonably clear for rye in that small photo.
Curious as i'm setting off a big rye ferment (tomorrow hopefully) after repairing my mill today, i'm hoping the repair and modifications hold up!

[cranky]

OK lets see if I get this right, You started with 25 #s of apples and ground them up giving you roughly 2.5 gallons of apple pulp with approximately 1.5 gallons of juice in it with a potential alcohol of roughly 7% (12is brix) possibly higher if you used sweet apples. Then you added 7 #s of sugar and roughly 1.5 to 2 gallons of water to bring the whole thing up to 5 gallons. So by my calculations you have a total of maybe 3.5 gallons of liquid which by my calculations should put your SG right about where you originally measured it, off the charts. Now correct me if I misunderstand anything here but I think that sums up what I have just read.

[Grappa-Gringo]

Cranky-- sound like you've got the just of it... I softened up the apples by boiling them down in a big o pot....I used a drill with the "shredding" attachment on it to crush/mash up the apples when they got soft. I added the
sugar...and let it go for a bit...I had fermenter with cool water in it...about 2 gallons...and then transferred the mash into it...I didn't want the fermenter to melt or anything.... hate it when that happens...lol.... Anyhow...
gave it a bit more water....let it sit. Felt it with my fingers several hours later...cool enough to pitch the yeast. Covered it and let it be. Next morning I could hear the bubbling underneath the cap of apple pieces. Gave it another
day or so and then filtered off the biggest chunks that were floating around.... that brings us up to yesterday, used the paint strainer bags to finish off the filtering...but I've got over 5 gallons of wash.... just checked it and
its bubbling away nicely.... I'll post updates.....
It's an experiment, so to speak....I've never done apples.... I've got another 2 fermenters full of whole apples in the yard...waiting their turn...lol Any decent "formal" recipe to follow would be great!

gg

[cranky]

OK just wanted to be sure I understood. My method of doing apples is chop them, press them and ferment the juice, If I were to do it the way you did it I would cut down on the sugar. A 5 gallon bucket of apples will produce anywhere between 1 and 2 gallons of juice so fermenting on the pulp might actually be the best way to do it if you only have a few buckets, or add store bought juice and no sugar. The problem with sugar and apples is the flavor is hard to find to begin with without watering it down with added sugar. Apple juice usually takes a while to ferment as well, I let mine ferment at least a month, usually more because I like to let it rest for at least another month after that.

Your around Seattle aren't you? I'm between Seattle and Tacoma. There are lots of free apples around me, maybe you have the same, I'm a little reluctant to put this out there for fear I will be overwhelmed with requests, but my chopper and press spend most of their time sitting idle, even when I pick heavy I agreed with my wife to work apples no more than one day every 2 weeks so I don't mind loaning them out to any of the regulars in the area for a few days, or even a week but something like 3 buckets of apples is the minimum for a single pressing on the big press. 300 LBS of apples (13 buckets) is just about right for a days pressing for me. I get around 20 gallons of juice from that in one day. So if you have a source of apples and a way to transport my equipment you could come get mine and use it for a bit and make some proper brandy

[Kareltje]

Bushman...the hygrometer I have reads Brix too... Potential Alcohol, and SP.GR all at 60 degrees F.
I'll head out in the morning and buy some Bean O too.....

Hygrometers measure moisture content. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygrometer

You have a hydrometer. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrometer

I'm feeling pedantic today.

I was about to say the same thing.
You (we) are not pedantic, we are just well trained in language.
I am not a native user of English and I am sometimes shocked by the bad English here. Not even dialect or slang, but just bad English.
But then again I must admit: the accordance between the spelling and the speaking of English words is very strange.

[Tater]

Bushman...the hygrometer I have reads Brix too... Potential Alcohol, and SP.GR all at 60 degrees F.
I'll head out in the morning and buy some Bean O too.....

Hygrometers measure moisture content. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygrometer

You have a hydrometer. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrometer

I'm feeling pedantic today.

I was about to say the same thing.
You (we) are not pedantic, we are just well trained in language.
I am not a native user of English and I am sometimes shocked by the bad English here. Not even dialect or slang, but just bad English.
But then again I must admit: the accordance between the spelling and the speaking of English words is very strange.

Could also be taking as being snobbish.Hope that wasn't the case .Rule 2 was put there for a reason

[Grappa-Gringo]

As I mentioned in my other thread, "Apple mash" I've been mis reading my hydrometer. It is 1.010. Not 1.100.sorry...