I take my hydrometer readings in my wine thief, but I have noticed that anything besides cooled wort leaves foam at surface of the liquid. This foam makes it rather (or extremely) difficult to read the hydrometer.
Saturday I rolled up and inserted a paper towl to wick up the foam, and that worked alright, but I was wondering if anyone else had good techniques for either measuring gravity through the foam, or reducing the foam for easy gravity reading.
and I already know I need to get a refractometer, but I have other priorities first (like more carboys!)
You can wait a bit for the foam to disapate, if it's only there because of the splashing into the test jar. Or, you can overfill the test jar a bit, so when you drop the hydrometer into it, the foam is displaced. That's what I've done.
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Giving beer a leg to stand on since 2006
My sample jar is only a little bigger around than the hydrometer, so no spoon I have would fit in it. If I have too much foam I just blow into it and that helps clear it out.
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"Science + beer = good!"
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Let it overflow out the top of whatever you're testing in.
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"We brewers don’t make beer, we just get all the ingredients together and the beer makes itself."
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Bottled: AHS Red Stripe Lager clone; AHS American Amber Ale; Apfelwein/Cyser, Coffee Stout In Primary: Nut Brown Ale, Apfelwein On Deck: Anchor Steam clone
Hydrometer readings and foam
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