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I took known values of a ferment so that I was absolutlly sure of the alcohol and tested it with the vinometer then added sugar then tested with the vino meter to see what happens to the reading as the sugar goes up and it did the opposite of what I thoought it would here are the results of the test. It was with my red Pinot Noir- 4 cans of concentrate for 6 gal.

SG--------- Brix-------- Alcohol% Calc---------- Vino Meter alcohol%
1.111------ 26.13---------------15.2
0.994-------------------------------------------------15-------checked it
0.994-------------------------------------------------15-------Double checked it
1.020-------------------------------------------------16-------after adding sugar
1.032-------------------------------------------------18-------after adding more sugar




Tags: vinometer accuracy, Vino-O-Meter

Wonder if the sugar got totally dissolved. The hydrometer only measures sugar to 1.000 then kind of measures a combination of sugar and alcohol from 1.000 down to 0.792 so I can see measurement problems. I never made a test like that though.

Wonder if the sugar got totally dissolved. The hydrometer only measures sugar to 1.000 then kind of measures a combination of sugar and alcohol from 1.000 down to 0.792 so I can see measurement problems.
Wyo, please explain a little further how the sugar dissolving applies to the topic of Vinometer accuracy. Are you referring to the initial sugar in the must ? or the sugar added in the end for the test? You’re a hundred times smarter then me and I might learn something more from you. (you practically trained me how to make wine, I’m indebted to you )

I use the vino meter. I have heard some complaints from others that very small particles in the wine can cause errors in the vino meter readings. I wasn't suggesting that the actual acohol level may have changed. That tube is very, very small. I never take readings until my final wine product and don't add anything with particles, like sugar, so I haven't noticed that with my alcohol readings. wyo wino

Thats correct. annother helpfull item: the liquid air in a can with the long tiney plastic tube on the end for dusting competer parts,,, I use it to blow out the water, after rinsing with pure water, just in case I have particles in there.

If you are worried about sugar or other stuff in your sample affecting your vinometer readings just dilute your samples. Read your vinometer at full strength. Then dilute it by half, then by a quarter then by an eight and so on. Each time the reading should be halved. And with each dilution the sugar and other stuff affecting the capillary action with the glass will decrease. I tested water a water and sugar mix with an SG of around 1.095 (enough to make around 12% or 13% alcohol (around 249g of sugar/liter) the starting SG of wine) and even this high concentration of sugar only threw the vinometer off by a couple of marks on the vinometer.

Welcome to the forum.

Excellent idea about using the vinometer. I have just used my vinometer in final stages before bottling and never had a problem.

Thanks for the welcome to the forum. I see that everybody else has been around since 2008. I have just bought a new smaller hydrometer that I floated in the beer I was making as it was fermenting. I am new to this great hobby so it was nice to be able to see how the fermentation is progressing. I just need to figure out a way to more easily read the hydrometer through the little bit of foam around the hydrometer were it exits the water. I know that beer ferments for only like a 4 or 5 days so the hydrometer will be better for high alcohol content ferments because they seem to take forever to finish.

I put some wine in fridge before it was finished fermented to slow down the yeast to prevent bubbles in the unfinished wine from screwing up the vinometer reading. Will the colder temperature of the unfinished wine affect the vinometer reading? I want to try associate the readings between MY hydrometers and MY vinometer.