Oh my gosh, this is stressful!

nicklawmusic said:

I've just taken a hydrometer reading of my beer and I'm worried that I've infected my beer (I've tried to keep everything as sanitised as possible but it's incredibly difficult!).

Also, It's been 8 days and it says my brew is 2.2%. I'm aiming for 4%. How long should I leave it until I do another reading?

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NEVER get stressed when making beer...that stress makes its way into the final product...there are plenty of things in this world that produce stress..brewing beer should not be one of them...RDWHAHB

jtratcliff said:

Not with all those bubbles it's not...

Wait for the bubbles to go, give the hydro a little spin to dislodge any bubbles stuck to it, then read it again. I think you'll come up with a different result.

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Very true, but I was addressing the poster who was reading the hydrometer incorrectly and adding 10 points.

The yeast, for the person who asked, was just the little pack of dried yeast you get with the kit. No details other than that I'm afraid!

nicklawmusic said:

Will having the lid off my fermenting bucket and allowing air in whilst I took readings leave me open to contamination? I'm fermenting in my cellar?

Also, I'm a little concerned that I took my sample with a sanitised turkey baster. Do I need to keep resanitising it every time I dip it into the brew to get a sample? It took about 3 goes to get enough out and it kept dripping. Am worried about contamination!

Actually, I'm probably worried that the end of the baster touched the test jar which wasn't sanitised.

Am I paranoid?!

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Yes, very. After a while you'll calm down and learn how to be vigilant about sanitation but not stressed out.

No, you don't need to resanitize the baster every time. It's a good idea to sanitize the top of the hydrometer tube, but the chances that you just infected your batch by touching it with the tip of the baster is very slim.

Think about it this way. You just made some wort, and it's down to a nice temperature, and a few dozen wild yeasts get into your wort from the air. And the wild yeasts are all, "This is AWESOME! Look at all this sugar we get to eat!"

And then A HUNDRED BILLION BEER YEASTS SHOW UP.

"Yeah, hey, how ya doin'? This is a nice bunch of sugary liquid you got here."

And the few dozen wild yeasts are all, "Well...we'd be happy to share it with you guys!"

And then the hundred billion beer yeasts are all, "That's a nice offer. Very generous. But instead of sharing it...we've decided that we are going to take it for ourselves, and you can just go over there in that corner and die quietly."

So once the beer yeasts really take off, it's even harder to infect the beer. There's a layer of CO2 that protects the beer and the alcohol helps protect it from bacteria. Yes, it's still very possible to infect a batch, but with a reasonable amount of caution, you'll be fine.

MrHadack said:

This isn't correct. See the red and the green sections on the hydrometer? Those indicate below 1.000 (red) and above 1.000 (green.) The thicker black line between the two colors is 1.000. So you can see the long line on the hydrometer UNDER the number indicates the level of that number. So Nick's reading is correct at around. 1.035

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Oh you're right. Mine is slightly different, I believe. My bad.

So the long and short of it is my brew might not make it to 4% then?

nicklawmusic said:

So the long and short of it is my brew might not make it to 4% then?

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Finding information on that kit was difficult but it appears that the OG would have been 1.040 at 23 liters, slighly more for your 21. Other brewers mentioned 4% alcohol. I find the lack of information about that kit suspicious since other kits are quite proud to put the OG right on their packaging. I also felt like this was a sup-par kit because of the amount of brown sugar added to bring up the alcohol instead of malt extract but the Brits who brewed seemed happy with it.

So why was my reading 1035? Is 005 points quite a lot by these standards?

You should be fine, give it time.

MrHadack said:

Very true, but I was addressing the poster who was reading the hydrometer incorrectly and adding 10 points.

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Yeah, that's a whole 'nother problem altogether but not OP's problem.

nicklawmusic said:

So the long and short of it is my brew might not make it to 4% then?

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It will be what it will be. It might not make it to 4%, but I've had some VERY tasty beer that was less than 4%. English Mild, session blonde, etc.

The lighter the beer in flavor, the more important your water flavor is, BTW.

Just did another reading today: 1.006 so my beer is 4.1%

Tasted good too!

Thanks for your help folks.

I have to say, i have read all six pages of comments on this thread and is by far the most entertaining one i have ever read. I remember when i first started brewing in general and remember that feeling nick was having. I belong to a lot of forums on various things and this one by far is the most helpful and VERY patient. Im glad your brew turned out good buddy . NOW DRINK IT!

Also wanted add....When you use the baster to take the sample and put it into your test jar, Over fill it a little bit. Then once your jar is full, use the baster to suck the bubbles out. You can do that a few times and get most all of them. Over filling will leave you enough to still take your reading. Also after you give the hydrometer a spin, make sure its not sticking to the side of the test jar. That has happened to me a few times causing a false reading.

Thanks for that advice. Everyone has been pretty nice to me. Just wanted to get it right. Has been a fun learning curve. Can't wait to bottle and do my next batch!

nicklawmusic said:

Thanks for that advice. Everyone has been pretty nice to me. Just wanted to get it right. Has been a fun learning curve. Can't wait to bottle and do my next batch!

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What? You're going to wait to bottle before you start your next batch?

I only drink one bottle of beer per day but I've had 6 fermenters going at once this winter.

Haven't got the room to have multiple fermenters on the go!

Just do what I do. Make something that the wife really likes so she leaves you alone and then take over the dining room table with the rest of what you like . Poof! Instant brewery !

You needn't re-sanitize the turkey baster with each dip into the wort... unless you accidentally drop it in the toilet in between each dip.