I don't take gravity readings anymore

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gtpro

gtpro

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When I was a new brewer, all it did was unnecessarily freak me out, (hence my hilarious sig.) Now that I'm a more experienced brewer, I look at my grain bill, make sure I hit my mash temp and just go with it.

If you take your OG on brew day, and its too low then you just stressed yourself out and there's nothing you can really do about it. If its too high you might hastily splash some water in there in hopes to balance it out, but thats never gonna be right.

As far as FG, maybe I have too much faith but the yeast always seem to do their job, and a few points one way or the other isn't gonna make a difference.

A lot of hydrometers are based on a really low temp (55F I think), so their readings must be scaled, thats a pain.

Plus you gotta waste like half a beer to do all this!

Am I justified or is this taking a major step backwards in my quest to brew awesome beer?
 
Yanno... I effing HATE my hydrometer, and I'm pretty sure it hates me. I still check gravity and make accurate notes, but I always tell my friends that my beer is like 5.5%.

:)
 
I've only taken an OG reading twice, and I've never taken a FG reading!!!

Why did I spend $8 on a hydrometer? Because everyone was doing it. I knew I should've listened to mom, don't do it just because everyone else is!
 
I always take readings,but then I am one of those people who also measure out their grains and hops. It doesn't really matter, it all makes "beer".
 
Start with a cage containing five monkeys.
Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it.
Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana.
As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the monkeys with cold water.
After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result - all the monkeys are sprayed with cold water.
Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it.
Now, turn off the cold water.
Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one.
The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs.
To his surprise and horror, all of the other monkeys attack him.
After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted.
Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one.
The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked.
The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm.
Again, replace a third original monkey with a new one.
The new one makes it to the stairs and is attacked as well.
Two of the four monkeys that beat him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs, or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.
After replacing the fourth and fifth original monkeys, all the monkeys that have been sprayed with cold water have been replaced.
Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs.
Why not?
Because as far as they know that's the way it's always been around here.


And that's why we always take gravity readings.
 
I could see brewing that way for extract... But not for All Grain. You say there isn't anything you can do about it anyway... you can learn, and adapt your techniques for the next batch.

How are you going to know that your process is on track if you have no idea what your efficiency or attenuation numbers are?
 
I never took readings at first but the more I learned the more I did. My beer got better and the results more repeatable. Now I always take readings because it makes my beer better. And I don't care what the rest of you do this monkey will keep taking readings.
 
I take pre-boil gravity readings so that I KNOW what my starting gravity will be.

I just boil off the specific amount of water necessary to be @ 1.25 gallons of water higher than the final volume required for my Target gravity.

This is why taking gravity readings is very important to me.

I want make sure my brew comes out the way it is intended. I'd rather sacrifice volume for correct gravity.
 
If you suspect a stuck fermentation, it can help you confirm whether it's stuck or just slow. That's about the only reason I can see for using one. If my numbers are off pre-fermentation, I'm not going to mess with anything to fix it. I'll drink it even if it is stronger or weaker than planned.
 
seabass07 said:
If you suspect a stuck fermentation, it can help you confirm whether it's stuck or just slow. That's about the only reason I can see for using one. If my numbers are off pre-fermentation, I'm not going to mess with anything to fix it. I'll drink it even if it is stronger or weaker than planned.
Click to expand...

As I just mentioned, It's the pre-boil gravity reading that is very important.

Yes, it's only important to take an SG reading pre-fermentation if you are interested in ABV, notes, potential gravity correction, consistency, etc
 
Haputanlas said:
As I just mentioned, It's the pre-boil gravity reading that is very important.

Yes, it's only important to take an SG reading pre-fermentation if you are interested in ABV, notes, potential gravity correction, consistency, etc
Click to expand...

I like to check preboil gravity (I use a refractomer) in case I got super high or super low efficiency and have to adjust my hops, but it's so rare that I hit something different that I rarely do it any more.

I always check OG if I didn't check preboil gravity. Then I always check FG. Why? Not because it really matters, but that I want to know if there are any issues. I mashed an amber with lots of crystal at 151 once- and it finished at 1.006! I'm glad I knew that, and the next time I mashed it higher and got to 1.012 (where I wanted it for balance). It's not that I care so much that "this beer has X number of calories, the ABV is Y", etc. It's for repeatability and to make decisions based on those readings.
 
Yooper said:
I like to check preboil gravity (I use a refractomer) in case I got super high or super low efficiency and have to adjust my hops, but it's so rare that I hit something different that I rarely do it any more.

I always check OG if I didn't check preboil gravity. Then I always check FG. Why? Not because it really matters, but that I want to know if there are any issues. I mashed an amber with lots of crystal at 151 once- and it finished at 1.006! I'm glad I knew that, and the next time I mashed it higher and got to 1.012 (where I wanted it for balance). It's not that I care so much that "this beer has X number of calories, the ABV is Y", etc. It's for repeatability and to make decisions based on those readings.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Consistency/repeatability for me is key.
 
You can make up a beer loss of 2 gravity readings [one OG(wort) and one FG before botteling] with your water and priming sugar right before botteling.Its usually good to know how much yeast to pitch with your og although you could use a brew calc to figure a rough estimate.Pretty important to know your finish also in the small chance it bunked out or accidentally went dormant with temps.Its just safer if your botteling to know its finished and where the gravity should be.
 
i hear you. i typically do partials and i'll check the og and let it ferment for like 4-5 weeks and toss it in secondary for like 3 or so and i do a fg at that bottle time to get an idea of what kind of alch % i hit. I could probably make better beer doing it more often and as i should but i'm always happy with what i get.
 
I check mine so if I brew something awesome, I'll know that the brewday went sideways and I'll need to make adjustments to recreate it. I'm pretty anal about consistency though.
 
stupid question... But how do you take a PREBOIL reading, perhaps I am missing a joke or something... :) I take a reading after the ort has chilled and then before kegging.... what else am I missing
 
Firebat138 said:
stupid question... But how do you take a PREBOIL reading, perhaps I am missing a joke or something... :) I take a reading after the ort has chilled and then before kegging.... what else am I missing
Click to expand...

It's not a joke. It was the best thing I did for consistency.

In all-grain, after you've mashed and sparged, you grab a little bit of wort (enough to fill your hydrometer tube) and you cool it down to 60 degrees (F). Once you are at this temperature, you can then take an accurate reading.

After you have this reading, you should use a calculator such as the one below:
http://onebeer.net/boilcalc.shtml

This calculator will tell you what your volume needs to be AFTER the boil to hit your number. Next, you boil-off the amount of water you need before you start your hop additions.
 
By the way, this is assuming that your actual efficiency is a little less than what the recipe called for.
 
I take gravity readings because I want to know what is going on. I am interested to know my apparent attenuation so I can understand the results of what I did, not just flavor wise but from a gravity side of things. If the beer is too sweet is it because my grain bill was wrong or did I mash too high? Or something else like not having enough IBUs. If I know how far I attenuated I at least have some ideas on this kind of thing.

Also, I like to know what my ABV approximates too.

I just want to know. Besides... taking the readings is not really that time consuming or difficult. I am amazed that people find this onerous.
 
shoot... I am still doing extract, now I understand... thanx man

Haputanlas said:
It's not a joke. It was the best thing I did for consistency.

In all-grain, after you've mashed and sparged, you grab a little bit of wort (enough to fill your hydrometer tube) and you cool it down to 60 degrees (F). Once you are at this temperature, you can then take an accurate reading.

After you have this reading, you should use a calculator such as the one below:
http://onebeer.net/boilcalc.shtml

This calculator will tell you what your volume needs to be AFTER the boil to hit your number. Next, you boil-off the amount of water you need before you start your hop additions.
Click to expand...
 
OlieNH said:
Start with a cage containing five monkeys.
Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it.
Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana.
As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the monkeys with cold water.
After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result - all the monkeys are sprayed with cold water.
Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it.
Now, turn off the cold water.
Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one.
The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs.
To his surprise and horror, all of the other monkeys attack him.
After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted.
Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one.
The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked.
The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm.
Again, replace a third original monkey with a new one.
The new one makes it to the stairs and is attacked as well.
Two of the four monkeys that beat him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs, or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.
After replacing the fourth and fifth original monkeys, all the monkeys that have been sprayed with cold water have been replaced.
Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs.
Why not?
Because as far as they know that's the way it's always been around here.


And that's why we always take gravity readings.
Click to expand...


Hmmm... I thought this was going to be a metaphor for why people insult one another on internet forums...

I'm disappointed.
 
Firebat138 said:
shoot... I am still doing extract, now I understand... thanx man
Click to expand...

For extract it's probably not as important since your extract should get you precisely to the gravity you were expecting.

If you really want to be certain though, you could take a pre-boil reading right after the extract has been added and diluted.

The reason it's so important for All-Grain is that your mash efficiency will vary all the time (Maybe not by much, but possibly enough to warrant the verification).
 
OlieNH said:
Start with a cage containing five monkeys.
Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it.
Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana.
As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the monkeys with cold water.
After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result - all the monkeys are sprayed with cold water.
Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it.
Now, turn off the cold water.
Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one.
The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs.
To his surprise and horror, all of the other monkeys attack him.
After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted.
Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one.
The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked.
The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm.
Again, replace a third original monkey with a new one.
The new one makes it to the stairs and is attacked as well.
Two of the four monkeys that beat him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs, or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.
After replacing the fourth and fifth original monkeys, all the monkeys that have been sprayed with cold water have been replaced.
Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs.
Why not?
Because as far as they know that's the way it's always been around here.


And that's why people drink BMC.
Click to expand...

Fixed
 
Zamial said:
Fixed
Click to expand...

Wow, that rant totally reminded me of the episodes of Arrested Development when the dad would use his friend with a prosthetic arm to teach the kids a lesson. "And that's why you always leave a note."
 
I always take an initial gravity reading just to see if I hit my target, efficiency, and I can adjust the grain bill accordingly next time. Taking readings and keeping good notes are important, especially if you want to make brewing a career. A final reading is important but every now and then I neglect this duty. I know my yeast and can set it's fermentation time by my watch. Nevertheless, a hydrometer (I recommend a refractometer simply because you will constantly break hydrometers and a refract is more convenient) is your window into the beer. Get into the routine of good brewing practices, better beer=hell yeah
 
Haputanlas said:
For extract it's probably not as important since your extract should get you precisely to the gravity you were expecting.

If you really want to be certain though, you could take a pre-boil reading right after the extract has been added and diluted.

The reason it's so important for All-Grain is that your mash efficiency will vary all the time (Maybe not by much, but possibly enough to warrant the verification).
Click to expand...

I would agree. With extract, if you put all of the ingredients in and used the correct amount of water for the batch (usually 5 gallons into the fermenter), you can't miss the OG. I wouldn't even bother taking an OG unless I was doing a partial mash or adding something else to the beer like honey or lactose.

A FG is crucial if you're bottling though because bottle bombs are no joke.
 
I use Fermtech's "the thief" to pull my samples. Since it is properly sanitized I can take a hydrometer reading and a small taste sample, then return the sample to my carboy without fear of infection.

I haven't been brewing for too long but I have always hit my final gravity and I have never had a bottle bomb.
 
OlieNH said:
Start with a cage containing five monkeys . . .

. . .Because as far as they know that's the way it's always been around here.

And that's why we always take gravity readings.
Click to expand...
So, in other words, it's good to learn from someone else’s mistakes.

You know damn well that as soon as you venture up those steps, some a$$hole will turn the water back on.

Just like Yooper says. If you stop taking gravity readings, odds are you'll eventually have an explosion.
 
I like to know but don't stress too much - sort of in between. That said I am also perhaps too fastidious! I take a pre-boil sample, cool it, measure it with the hydrometer then calibrate my refractometer to it. After that I use the refractometer to measure the gravity immediately before transferring into the carboy. I usually dilute with 1-4 qts of very cold water to up the volume to 6 gallons and to cool the wort down quicker and so I can leave more cold break/hops sludge.

I always take a hydrometer reading before kegging so I can know the ABV, and to taste the beer before aging it. I never take a reading during fermentation - I just leave it for 3-6 weeks to do its thing, and you know it always does!
 
I drink waaay too fast so I need to know when I hit FG immediately so I can clear the beer up and keg and drink waaaay too fast.
 
Whoa... I took a gravity reading yesterday. I'm really glad five angry monkeys didn't kick my ass.

Guess I lucked out on that one. :cross:
 
stevedasleeve said:
I like to know but don't stress too much - sort of in between. That said I am also perhaps too fastidious! I take a pre-boil sample, cool it, measure it with the hydrometer then calibrate my refractometer to it.
Click to expand...

you should really instead calibrate your refractometer to zero with regular ole' water. who knows if your hydrometer isnt completely accurate. ive had one before that read 1.002 in H2O@70F. the only thing holding the paper scale in the tube is a drop of glue that some guy in some 3rd world country eyeballs in there.

as for the OP- that is fine not to take readings as long as you dont care about ever being able to replicate a beer. however if you brew something that is fantastic, its going to be difficult to do the exact same thing again if you have no idea what the first one was. you can try and shoot from the hip and just remember what you did... i dont know about you, but my memory fades quickly after a batch is consumed. :mug:

ps- if you get a low OG it can be fixed. just throw in some DME. its kind of cheating, but if you want to keep the alcohol/hop profile of the recipe, a little light or extra light DME wont change the taste too much and can get you a few extra grav points.
 
For Extract brewing, if you follow directions, there probably is no benefit to taking an original gravity, since its given to you.

Reasons to take a final gravity -
1. you get to taste the beer. Maybe it was contaminated and tastes horrible. You may still bottle it, but you will be far less likely to expect anything drinkable. Better to know that now than in 6-8 weeks.

2. if you are off, you want to be aware of that and figure out why. You can still enjoy the beer, but maybe you can improve your process.

3. avoid bottle bombs. 1.022 FG + priming sugar may be an unpleasant surprise.
 
To me, measuring gravity is one of the fundamental testing/measuring/quality control tools that a brewer has. I've always seen it a a gauge for brewing methods and practices rather than a nuisance.

I see measuring temperature along these lines as well. I don't think most brewers neglect to take a temp reading during a mash or sparge. I personally take too much pride in making my beer, especially if I'm serving it to others, to neglect such a fundamental parameter of the beer. I'm not saying you can't make consistent or good beer not measuring gravity, I just can't wrap my head around purposely not taking gravity readings. Not trying to be an EAC, just stating my POV.:mug:
 

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