I noticed with my first All-grain batch that there was a lot more particulate in the wort than with a pre-bought extract wort. Doesn't the extra particulate in the wort affect the hydrometer reading? (probably inflating the value??)
All Grain/Hydrometer
- Thread starter yusupov
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
cheezydemon3
Well-Known Member
You should vorlauf until those particles are gone or damn near gone.
riverfrontbrewer
Well-Known Member
Agree w/CD on this, you def want to clear (vorlauf) your runnings before they hit the kettle and before you use it for a hydrometer reading. You will also want to use a mixed batch for your reading....for example, don't just use the 1st or 2nd runnings, they need to be combined in order to give you an actual reading. I normally take my sample from the kettle after all the runnings have been collected and mixed together.
Good Luck!
Good Luck!
samc
Well-Known Member
+1 on vorlauf - wort should be clear of grain before going to boil.
in addition the small bits of grain should not effect gravity numbers unless they are sticking to the hydrometer in which case you are throwing off the weight of the hydrometer.
in addition the small bits of grain should not effect gravity numbers unless they are sticking to the hydrometer in which case you are throwing off the weight of the hydrometer.
philrose
Well-Known Member
+1 to samc, particulate is not sugar, thus does not change the reading.
Think of it like throwing some rocks in the deep end of the pool. Doesn't change how well the little turtle keeps the kids from drowning, but tying a heavy rock to the turtle will sink that little turtle floaty. Thus drowning the child.
Wait what were we talking about? My neighbor's kid is screaming outside my window and all I can think about is how much I hate kids....is this thread beer related?
Think of it like throwing some rocks in the deep end of the pool. Doesn't change how well the little turtle keeps the kids from drowning, but tying a heavy rock to the turtle will sink that little turtle floaty. Thus drowning the child.
Wait what were we talking about? My neighbor's kid is screaming outside my window and all I can think about is how much I hate kids....is this thread beer related?
I did the Vorlauf recycling thing, and I took my reading from the carboy (using a wine thief) just before adding the yeast. I think that it is normal to have more particulate when doing an all-grain batch (of course I have been wrong before).
Rocks and turtles?? what a crazy guy. The hydrometer is reading the density of the wort. I think particulate would affect the density, the only way around that would be to centrifuge your sample or wait a very long time for the particulate to settle out.
Am I wrong?
Rocks and turtles?? what a crazy guy. The hydrometer is reading the density of the wort. I think particulate would affect the density, the only way around that would be to centrifuge your sample or wait a very long time for the particulate to settle out.
Am I wrong?
philrose
Well-Known Member
What I'm getting at is that particles are not part of your wort. They'll seperate away eventually.
Want to test this? It's easy. Take two identcal samples of wort, juice or even water, add some particles of grain husk to one and take samples side by side. Unless there's quite a bit of gunk stuck to the hydro, they'll still have identical readings.
Want to test this? It's easy. Take two identcal samples of wort, juice or even water, add some particles of grain husk to one and take samples side by side. Unless there's quite a bit of gunk stuck to the hydro, they'll still have identical readings.
philrose
Well-Known Member
Btw I was talking about those inflatable turtle floaty pool toys not an actual turtle.
I like turtles!
I like turtles!
Schwoopty
Well-Known Member
From my experience, particulate absolutely does affect your reading. I accidentally took a reading of my wort before letting all of the hops settle to the bottom of my kettle and it was way off the charts. After things settled my reading was spot on. The hydrometer has no way of telling if what's in the liquid is a sugar or not, it can only tell how dense the surrounding liquid is. Now, if the stuff settles to the bottom (your rocks) then it won't have an affect because it has dropped out. But if there is crap floating around in your test tube then it will definitely have an affect on your reading.
philrose
Well-Known Member
I don't have that experience at all and I've taken some pretty grainy gravity samples in the past that have matched up exactly when my wort had sat waiting for pitching temp, accounting for temp differences of course.
