Do spices alter specific gravity

mikechartier

I started a 5G primary fermentation today and it’s my first time really working with the numbers and a hydrometer. Prior to this I just used to kinda wing it.
I put 3/4 lb of brown sugar (.007) into the 5 g of apple juice (1.046) to give me 1.053 sg . I also added 10 sticks of cinnamon but I can’t seem to find anything pertaining to gravity points for them.
Should I be making further adjustments to my SG for the cinnamon? For future, Do other spices or teas have to be considered? Any input is appreciated. Also, I’m still quite new to this so any pointers on gravity points in general would be great!

HBO_Staff

Hi mikechartier, using a hydrometer can be a really useful way of both checking when a brew has finished fermenting and also the strength of it too. Any form of sugar used in the brew will add to the gravity reading, so if you were to add fruit, or honey, etc, that contain sugars this will increase the strength. Adding other things for flavour such as cinnamon, oak chips or spices etc, will not add any sugars to the brew so wont affect the strength. The hydrometer is just measuring sugars in the brew.

Once you have added all the ingredients at the start of the fermentation and mixed well so everything has fully dissolved, you can take a starting gravity reading, this reading can then be used with the final gravity reading once the fermentation is complete to calculate the alcohol strength.

There is a little more info here on this link if you scroll to the top:

https://homebrewonline.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/81/how-to-use-your-hydrometer#latest