Sugar Content & Malolactic Fermentation: Wine Wizard

QI have been making wines for more than 20 years, but I have a problem with initial sugar determinations, added sugar requirements and subsequent alcohol content. Hydrometer readings on the initial crushed fruit may be way off, depending on how well the crush goes. Much could still be locked up in the uncrushed portion, especially on plums, cherries, and other hard to crush fruit. Would destoning, say one pound, and running the pulp through a blender and checking the specific gravity on the strained juice give a fairly accurate sugar content? Should I deduct a certain percentage for non-sugar solids? Ray RuthenbergGalena, IL AYou’ve hit the nail on he head — a hydrometer reading does depend on the amount of suspended solids in the juice that you’re measuring. As sugar is more dense than water, the more sugar (the riper your fruit is) in the juice the higher up the hydrometer will float in your sample. It’s easy to see that if you’ve got lots of little bits of suspended pulp helping the hydrometer to float well above what would