Calculating Final Gravity in a Cyzer/ Weird Gravity Reading...

[JP Smajda]

Hey all. My goal is to make a semi sweet cyzer. I'm ok with it being sweet.

First issue is my Gravity readings. Just the apple juice, No added sugars, yeast and nutrient.
Primary: Starting Gravity 1.046;
Yeast: Wyeast Sweet Mead/Cider yeast 4184;

6 weeks later I have a gravity of below 0.980. I cant be exact because I ran out of lines on my hydrometer. According to brewers friend calculator, thats an apparent attenuation of 146% and abv of 8.6%.

Second is how to figure out my abv calculations when adding sugars to my secondaries.

I added the honey and some more apple juice after racking to my secondary. I now have a gravity of 0.992 (almost three pounds of honey and 3 more quarts of apple juice moved it only 12 or so points?)
Should I just add 12 points to my starting gravity when I plug it into the brewers friend calculator?

Any thoughts on what I could be doing wrong with my hydrometer?

 

[madscientist451]

Is there a chance your new honey settled to the bottom and didn't get mixed up real well?
What was the total volume before you added the 3 lbs honey and 2 qts apple juice?

 

[JP Smajda]

It not mixing well is a possibility. I blended the honey with the juice (warmed to about 150) before adding it. Looking at the carboy now though, I don’t see any collected at the bottom.

Volume of the primary was just under 5 gallons. I brought it up to 6 gallons for the secondary.

 

[Yooper]

You should check your hydrometer again- most don't go below .990.

 

[Maylar]

My rough calculations put you in the 1.100 range for total gravity. 1.046 cider fermented dry, plus 3 more quarts of it after primary and 3 lbs of honey in 5 gallons.

 

[JP Smajda]

Hydrometer measures below .990

• JP Smajda
• Apr 17, 2018
• hydrometer

Showing that hydrometers can measure below .990 because there are lines above it.

You should check your hydrometer again- most don't go below .990.

The hydrometer settled above the 4 lines above .990

 

[Yooper]

Hydrometer measures below .990

• JP Smajda
• Apr 17, 2018
• hydrometer

Showing that hydrometers can measure below .990 because there are lines above it.

The hydrometer settled above the 4 lines above .990

Four lines above .990 would be .982. That's much higher than your estimate, but it's not really possible for a wine/mead that isn't distilled.
Check it plain water now, and see what the water is. Then we can make sure your hydrometer is accurate.

 

[JP Smajda]

Check it plain water now, and see what the water is. Then we can make sure your hydrometer is accurate.

In plain water it is 1.0

 

[JP Smajda]

Four lines above .990 would be .982. That's much higher than your estimate, but it's not really possible for a wine/mead that isn't distilled.

Is .982 that much higher than .980? also, it settled above the line.

 

[bernardsmith]

A sidebar issue - wine makers (and I include here, mead makers and makers of cider) don't talk about attenuation. Brewers do because some of the sugars made available to the yeast are not fermentable by every strain of ale yeast to the same extent but wine makers are dealing with simple sugars (essentially glucose, fructose and sucrose) and all other things being equal, yeast has no trouble fermenting such sugars brut dry. In other words, for a wine maker a yeast is a yeast is a yeast when it comes to the sugars they ferment. All attenuation is 100%.
Where yeasts are different is in the H2S they produce, their various need for nutrients; their preferred temperature, their tolerance for alcohol, the amounts of glycerides they produce, the esters and fusels they spit out and the flavors they enhance, hide and create. There are one or two other categories - such as how well a yeast strain plays with other strains but attenuation is not a useful metric and it is always 100%.

 

[JP Smajda]

Just figured out the issue. I wrapped a tiny bit of cellophane around some dental floss in order to put the hydrometer in to and then (more importantly,) out of the carboy. (My graduated cylinder wasn't tall enough). I just did it again and found it to subtract about 6-8 points from my reading. DOH!

Thats what I get for late night racking sessions, sampling the goods, and having great ideas.

 

[Yooper]

So, you're sitting at about .990, which is to be expected then, from what it sounds like.