Embarassing gravity question

OK, not my smoothest brewing weekend. I made a pumpkin ale. Everything went well up to the end of the boil. My refractometer suggested a gravity of 1.060. Then I got called in to work just as I started my immersion cooler.


The cooler ran for about 45 minutes while I took care of stuff at work. By the time I got home I was behind schedule cooking for my mother-in-law's birthday. Anyway, I quickly drained the beer into my carboy. Then I grabbed the last of the pot for my gravity reading. I rolled my carboy around to oxygenate pitched the yeast and ran to cook.


When I got around to checking, the gravity reading from the "bottom of the pot" was 1.018. I took a little of the beer from the carboy and the gravity reading was 1.060. Which is closer?

I'm shocked that there would be that much difference between the "top and the bottom". I can believe that particulates settle out but this seems like a huge difference in density over relatively short time periods. Any ideas out there? I'm going to let it ferment away and hope for the best but I've never seen this before.

Sounds like some mistake or abberation. There is no way you could actually get a dicrepancy like this in a situation where the wort had stratified by density. If you are really worried, shake up the carboy, take a sample, and satisfy your mind. Otherwise, don't worry.

Gravity is a measure of liquid density relative to water. To have a proper reading, you need to stir/shake the everliving crap out of your wort to make the density uniform throughout the entire solution. Oxygen is necessary for good yeast health, so shake away on every batch (only pre fermentation!!), get a turkey baster or wine thief to get a good sample from under the froth, and you'll always have reliable OG readings.