So I started a traditional with tiny twist last week. It started at 1.130, which was after I did a 50/50 mix of water and honey. When I first measured the density, the hydrometer was floating almost to the neck of the thick part and completely off the measurements. I added water until it was sitting at 1.130.
Anyway, after a few days of stirring and stuff with the yeasties happily eating away I dropped the hydrometer back in to see how far it had gone. Now I've known slow ferments but...it actually increased to almost 1.140. Now unless I'm mistaken this should be impossible.
My first theory is that the stirred lees and other sediment (I also pitched some raisins) might be artificially increasing the gravity. I'll have a look again later but if it's something serious which requires my immediate attention I'd better know of it as soon as possible as well; hence my visit
Here's my recipe (metrics);
7500ml of flower honey
7500ml of water
125gr. of raisins
I washed the raisins to get rid of the oil they put on it. I also simmered the must for 5 minutes on 80 degrees Celsius. This obviously evaporated some of the water. When I put it in the bucket, the hydrometer was off the scaled, so I added 2 liters of water additionally to bring it down to 1.130 (which is ridiculously high for me).
I added 10gr. of tannin, 10gr. of nutrients, 10gr. of yeast activators. These were all according to the packages specifications for the amount of must I have.
Yeast used is Kitzinger trocken.
We're now at day 3.
Anyway, after a few days of stirring and stuff with the yeasties happily eating away I dropped the hydrometer back in to see how far it had gone. Now I've known slow ferments but...it actually increased to almost 1.140. Now unless I'm mistaken this should be impossible.
My first theory is that the stirred lees and other sediment (I also pitched some raisins) might be artificially increasing the gravity. I'll have a look again later but if it's something serious which requires my immediate attention I'd better know of it as soon as possible as well; hence my visit
Here's my recipe (metrics);
7500ml of flower honey
7500ml of water
125gr. of raisins
I washed the raisins to get rid of the oil they put on it. I also simmered the must for 5 minutes on 80 degrees Celsius. This obviously evaporated some of the water. When I put it in the bucket, the hydrometer was off the scaled, so I added 2 liters of water additionally to bring it down to 1.130 (which is ridiculously high for me).
I added 10gr. of tannin, 10gr. of nutrients, 10gr. of yeast activators. These were all according to the packages specifications for the amount of must I have.
Yeast used is Kitzinger trocken.
We're now at day 3.