Fermentation : Please help me, I am going mad !

karofin

I am using the 30 bottle kit I bought from this site via eBay, but with the current wine, I have put it in a 5 ltr Demijohn.  I have never done this before and bought a wine "kit" from the Wilkinsons store on the spur of the moment which may or may not be any use...

I am sure this has not finished as this is day 9 of a listed 7 day process when kept at 20c and my wine has been at about 17c all the time.  It is all still slightly bubbling.... Still I want to be a bit more technical on the ability to know if fermentation is complete, as I understand some might not bubble noticeably through the whole process.

So how do I use the hydrometer ?  I have a test jar but have been trying to do this in the demijohn with a sterilized hydrometer to save disturbing the wine a lot or wasting it.  Is this wise ?  What do folks recommend for ease ?

The wine should be about 12% abv when complete although I did not check before it started the starter value, so what sort of reading should I also expect to see on the Hydrometer ?  Seeing either 980 or 1050 would equally be no surprise to me as I do not understand what I am looking for.

Lastly, the kit suggests 12% and the instructions in the Hydrometer state this means I would expect to see a value of around 1090 from the instruction table in the hydrometer? whereas the instructions in the wine "kit" state

'Fermentation has stopped if the reading is constant over a 2 day period and in the range of 998-995.  If the 2nd reading is lower than the 1st reading, it needs to be left to complete, if it is the same as the 1st reading but higher than 995, it has stuck and needs a restart'

Ffrankly the wine might be stuck, but I definitely am, not least as 998 is the ideal region it states and anythig over 995 is stuck, which 998 is ?? 

Help lol - I know I am wrong, I just do not know how I am wrong !

Mreddster

Generally the rule is to wait until fermentation is finished. If your still getting bubbles then i would wait.
But I have not tried that kit so maybe someone on here will say different in this case.

HBO_Staff

Agreed, bubbles still rising is a sure sign it has not quite finished, but it sounds like it is getting there. The lower temperature you are brewing at will increase he fermentation time, so we recommend giving it another couple of days and then taking the hydrometer reading again, it should be a little lower, and once all the bubbles have stopped this is a good sign it is ready to move onto the next stage. You want the reading to be as low as it will go and stay the same for a couple of days which shows it has finished fermenting. 

You can either take a sample of wine out and take the reading, or you can put the sterilised hydrometer into your fermenting vessel, whichever you prefer, but make sure it is clean. Unfortunately without the first hydrometer reading from before it fermented you can't work out the alcohol content with a hydrometer as you need the first number, but wine kits tend to all work out around what the manufacturers say they will if you make to the recommended volume and use the recommended amount of sugar.

Another couple of days and this will more than likely have finished fermenting