I'm working on a Pinot Noir kit. When I went to test the specific gravity to
see if it was OK to proceed to step 2, my reading was still a little high
(1.014 - needed to be less than 1.010)
So, I left the wine in the fermentor...then I accidentally broke my
hydrometer that same day.
4 days later, I received my new hydrometer today, checked the specific
gravity reading (.994) and then racked the wine into the Carboy where it is
supposed to sit for 10 days (until the sp. gr. reading is .996 or less)

My wine is already at .994 when I racked it...I plan to conform this
reading again tomorrow. But, assuming it is the same, should I wait the
whole 10 days or can I just jump into step 3 and stabilize the wine now?

Thanks!
-Steve

The 10 days is to let fermentation finish. At what SG is it finished? Well
that is not the right question. It will finish at the SG it stops at. It
might be finished at 0.998 or it might go all the way down to 0.990 or maybe
even a little lower. If it finishes down around 0.996 or less, then you
typically do not have to worry about it starting to ferment in the bottle
later.

Ok, now back to your real issue. What to do about this particular wine? Is
the airlock still bubbling at all. That is the real test of whether it is
finished. If it is below 0.996 AND the airlock does not bubble for several
days, then you can be pretty sure it is finished.

My advise is to leave it in the carboy for a week or so and watch it. If
you do not see any sign of airlock activity in that time, then assume it is
finished and continue with your instructions. If you are doing any testing
at this point, be sure that it is kept topped up. Even if it is not
finished, it is going to be fermenting very slowly and there will not be
enough CO2 coming out to purge a significant head space.

As a comment. SG readings are only approximate indicators of when to do
things to your wine. When you got the reading of 1.015, that was close
enough to the 1.010 to go ahead and rack it without waiting.

Ray

"Steve Margita" > wrote in message
news:j23ne.10466$zb.2441@trndny01...
> I'm working on a Pinot Noir kit. When I went to test the specific gravity
> to
> see if it was OK to proceed to step 2, my reading was still a little high
> (1.014 - needed to be less than 1.010)
> So, I left the wine in the fermentor...then I accidentally broke my
> hydrometer that same day.
> 4 days later, I received my new hydrometer today, checked the specific
> gravity reading (.994) and then racked the wine into the Carboy where it
> is
> supposed to sit for 10 days (until the sp. gr. reading is .996 or less)
>
> My wine is already at .994 when I racked it...I plan to conform this
> reading again tomorrow. But, assuming it is the same, should I wait the
> whole 10 days or can I just jump into step 3 and stabilize the wine now?
>
> Thanks!
> -Steve
>
>

There is no harm in waiting, I would let it sit as Ray recommended.
Keep in mind that hydrometers are sensitive to temperature variations
and you may not know if either hyrdrometer read 1.000 at 68 F. A few
points mean a lot more at 0.994 than at 1.085.

Another way to confirm complete fermentation is to use clinitest
tablets. If they indicate more than 0.2% residual sugar you may not
have fermented to dry and Pinot Noir is usually made bone dry.

Joe

Just one more comment - buy another hydrometer. For some strange cosmic
reason if you only have one, they break all of the time. If you have
two, they never break.

Andy

Good catch, I missed that and it's true....

Joe