jalgayer

Recipes 

All -
I see many that talk about taking hydro readings over and over until you have 2-3 days of unchanged readings.

My concerns:

[1] Opening and closing and extracting samples 3-4-5-6 times can be a little risky for infection (not panicking, but chance >0% --- kinda like why people dont rack to secondary - risk of oxidation and contamination etc)

[2] Waste - I know it is not a lot but again, 3-4-5-6 readings at 6-8 oz a pop can get up to 48 oz (4 beers)... Again, I know that it is important to know that fermentation is done...

What I have been doing is waiting the primary out ~2 weeks then checking. If I am at the targeted FG, I rack to secondary. If I am only using a primary, I just wait the ~2 weeks and check, then wait another 1-2 weeks then bottle.

So, if I know that my approximate FG is 1.013 and I check at 2 weeks and I am at 1.011... I dont check it again until just before I bottle.

Thoughts?

__________________
Regards,
Jason

BOTTLED / DRINKING
Mad-Elf Inspiration, Graff

SECONDARY
Flander's Sour Red {1 Year Old on July 28, 2011}

PRIMARY
Vanilla-Almond Pumpkin Ale, Surly Furious, Triple Karmelite Clone


ON DECK
Double White

Yooper

Recipes 

I take an OG when I brew, and when I go to bottle (or keg) it. That's it. I don't see the point of taking SG readings more often. You can't rush the yeast, and you don't want to rush to bottle it anyway. So, I just wait until I'm ready to package it.

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Zen_Brew

Recipes 

If you are giving the beer a sufficient amount of time in the primary, like a couple weeks, you get pretty good at just knowing that it is done. Now this wouldn't apply for a very big beer, or if you have something like certain Belgians, or bugs in the batch that are notorius for dragging out the ferment.

It's always good to check the OG when you think it is done, but there is usually no cause to be in there 4,5, or 6 times checking it. RDWHAHB and let the yeast do their work.

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jalgayer

Recipes 

Yeah...
Even though I have only done 6 or so batches... I am already able to get an idea from the temp drop, the clarity of the beer, the kraussen, etc.

I just keep seeing alot of people say to "look for 2-3 days of no change in OG". Which like I said could equate to 4-5-6 readings if you dont have a steady gravity the first time or two.

__________________
Regards,
Jason

BOTTLED / DRINKING
Mad-Elf Inspiration, Graff

SECONDARY
Flander's Sour Red {1 Year Old on July 28, 2011}

PRIMARY
Vanilla-Almond Pumpkin Ale, Surly Furious, Triple Karmelite Clone


ON DECK
Double White