Help -- broken Hygrometer

OK, the obvious answer to this is "buy a new one", but I can't as I live in the pacific and the shops are not well stocked (people get excited about potatoes here -- specialty homebrew items are not on the radar).

So my questions:

1) Are there any substitutes for a hygrometer?

2) If I have to take a punt on the initial brewing time, I would like to know whether I am better served leaving leavingt he wort shorter or longer (ie what are the risks of bottling to early against bottling too late)? By the way, I am living in a very warm place (abient temperature of around 30-32C -- 86-90F if my maths is right), which I hastens fermentation time.

Sounds like you've been blessed. The hydrometer broke, so you don't need to use the silly thing any more To answer your questions:

1 - common sense

2 - Always let your beer sit longer. It will be better. Bottle later. The risk of bottling too early is bottle grenades. There are no risks of bottling too late.

Where do you live you lucky so-and-so?

Welcome to homebrewtalk!

Hydrometers aren't required, just nice-to-have devices for measuring the progress of fermentation and alcohol content. As for breakage, you are not alone - I've gone through 2 in the past 5 months, and I know others have had issues.

A general guideline for avoiding beer bombs for beers: 1 week in the primary, two in the secondary. This would apply to medium body / alcohol beers. Heavier beers (with, for example, 8+ pounds of extract or the equivalent) might take longer.

Another general rule of thumb, assuming it was in a primary for about a week: once in the secondary, if 3-5 days pass without airlock bubbling, you should be fine to bottle.

Rules of thumb are made to be broken, so rely more on your experience. And I agree with Janx in that there is little risk of leaving beer in the secondary for a while (several weeks, for example). That plus bottle conditioning might lead to a better tasting brew.

I used the one that came with my kit for my first batch, then put it away and never took it out again. If you use a secondary, go with the one-two-three rule, and if you only have a primary, let it sit for two weeks before bottling. I have never missed mine.

Why are you on a homebrew forum wondering about measuring the relative humidity?

I once had an American Amber Ale in the fermentor for 72 days! It was outstanding.

Thanks for the help, everyone. The answer to the location question is the Solomon Islands -- this is my first foray into homebrewing as I am now fed up with SolBrew (the local drop).

I am interested to see everyone recommending a week in the primary. I am using a Coopers kit (I am Australian) and it talks about only 3-4 days in the primary before bottling. Experimentation will be the only thing for it.

Thanks again.

borblestump said:

Thanks for the help, everyone. The answer to the location question is the Solomon Islands

Click to expand...

NO SHEET?!?!?!?!?

Wow, do you dive? The Solomons is my number one, gotta get there as soon as possible detination. I'm really hoping next year.

Wow, that's just great. What an interesting location to add to the homebrewtalk map. Cheers

The best thing you can do to that Cooper's kit is to throw the instructions in the garbage. I've done a whack of them and the worst ones, though still decent, were the ones I was closer to following the directions than listening to the advice from this forum (awwww), www.howtobrew.com and Papazian's books. Read-up, ask all the questions you can think of, and finally, drink an endless river of the best beer you've ever had!
The general rule for timing around here is thus:
1 week in primary
2 weeks in secondary
3 weeks in bottles (though to tell you the truth I sometimes can't finish the entire batch in 3 weeks, especially if I have more than one on the go )

Following up on the Dude's comment - hygrometer does not equal hydrometer. Perhaps Janx and I jumped to the conclusion that you were measuring SG rather that relative humidity - it can be humid in the Solomons, I've heard.