Coopers Final gravity

My Coopers wheat beer has been fermenting for 7 days. OG was 1.040 todays reading is 1.018, previous readings were 1.017 and 1.018. temperature varys from 17c to 26c. I know to readings are pretty close to call but it does seem to be higher than the previous day. also its beginning to clear, top third is pretty clear and cloudy below. not sure if it has stopped fermenting, should I bottle or wait? The gravity seems a bit high to bottle.

Thanks in advance for any words of wisdom

triskelion said:

My Coopers wheat beer has been fermenting for 7 days. OG was 1.040 todays reading is 1.018, previous readings were 1.017 and 1.018. temperature varys from 17c to 26c. I know to readings are pretty close to call but it does seem to be higher than the previous day. also its beginning to clear, top third is pretty clear and cloudy below. not sure if it has stopped fermenting, should I bottle or wait? The gravity seems a bit high to bottle.

Thanks in advance for any words of wisdom

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Give it a good 2 weeks in the fermenter. It will be clearer and you will have less sediment in your bottles once they have carbonated. There will always be sediment if you carbonate in the bottles but it will be a lot less if you bottle once the beer has cleared up in the fermenter.

bosco

will I get a higher hydrometer reading by letting it clear up? I am tapping it off from the spigot at the bottom. If all the sediment settles to near the bottom I'd have thought that the sample would come out with a much higher than average amount of sediment, making it denser and giving me a higher reading.

Due to the design of the Coopers fermenter a little trub (sediment) gets into it. It comes out in the first ounce or two when taking a sample. After drawing off your sample spray the spigot out with some no rinse sanitizer or alcohol (whisky) to keep anything from growing in it.

If you are using the Coopers PLASTIC hydrometer it is real crappy. I use a glass hydrometer. When using the hydrometer give it a spin to shake off any CO2 bubbles that tend to cling to it, as this will give you a higher reading. A little trub in the sample doesn't seem to bother the readings.

bosco