When should i take my first reading?

It's day 5 soon to be 6 my IPA went into primary it still bubbles once every min. When should I start taking my readings? I'm racking into a secondary once my fg is met. (dry hopping whole leaf)

Technically, you could take one now. Everybody has different opinions but the Idea is to get three readings that show no change.

I am still new to this so I let mine sit in the primary for at least 2-3 weeks before bothering it.

You can dry hop right in the primary and avoid racking. You can take a reading now, but it will be more crucial when you bottle or keg. Like the previous poster said, consistent readings over several days.

PIGMAN said:

You can dry hop right in the primary and avoid racking. You can take a reading now, but it will be more crucial when you bottle or keg. Like the previous poster said, consistent readings over several days.

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I'm bottling and was hoping that syphoning would cut the excess of sediment down to a minimum. Thoughts.

I transferred to 2nd on my 1st dry-hop, and lost a ton of volume between the 2 trubs. It did end up nice and clear, but don't think I ended up with much less sediment by transferring it. Next time I will just save myself the time & effort and do what PigMan said.

Also depends on how good you are at siphoning. I did it because I was new and figured that would give me a 2nd shot at not cramming my auto siphon into my trub.

jonnyp1980 said:

I'm bottling and was hoping that syphoning would cut the excess of sediment down to a minimum. Thoughts.

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The sediment will settle into a cake in primary as well. By leaving it in primary, you avoid potential oxidation and sanitation issues. On the other hand, plenty of people rack to secondary with good results. I just never saw the need to.

Don't move it to a bright tank (2ndary vessel) until it is at or near FG; it is still actively fermenting by your description-- so you are wasting beer and time by checking gravity now. Come back in 3-5 days and look to move it then.
edit: if you don't want to transfer, then it needs to sit for 2-3 weeks to get all yeast to drop out. ymmv

My second beer was an IPA that I racked to secondary after 2 1/2 weeks. I dry hopped in secondary for about 10 days. Its been bottle conditioning for 3+ weeks and has a strong soapy flavor. My LHBS (which also runs a nice brew pub) says that the soap flavor was due to a combination of soft water and length of time dry hopping. The brewer that I talked to suggested 3-4 days tops for dry hop and using gypsum in the boil.

PIGMAN said:

The sediment will settle into a cake in primary as well. By leaving it in primary, you avoid potential oxidation and sanitation issues. On the other hand, plenty of people rack to secondary with good results. I just never saw the need to.

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Oxidizing was one of my worries. But if you have to open and take a reading x 2 or 3 and people have no issues I can't see why syphoning into a secondary would harm it. Unless you agitate it during the process??

PIGMAN said:

The sediment will settle into a cake in primary as well. By leaving it in primary, you avoid potential oxidation and sanitation issues. On the other hand, plenty of people rack to secondary with good results. I just never saw the need to.

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Makes sense. Tried gathering enough info and majority states secondary for additions and a clearer beer. I from my own conclusions that syphoning from primary to secondary equals less sediment then to bottling would cut down even more. Also. My FG. Do I take before sugar or after?

midfielder5 said:

Don't move it to a bright tank (2ndary vessel) until it is at or near FG; it is still actively fermenting by your description-- so you are wasting beer and time by checking gravity now. Come back in 3-5 days and look to move it then.
edit: if you don't want to transfer, then it needs to sit for 2-3 weeks to get all yeast to drop out. ymmv

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Was thinking I should wait at least a week and change to take first reading.. Thanks

wherestheyeast said:

My second beer was an IPA that I racked to secondary after 2 1/2 weeks. I dry hopped in secondary for about 10 days. Its been bottle conditioning for 3+ weeks and has a strong soapy flavor. My LHBS (which also runs a nice brew pub) says that the soap flavor was due to a combination of soft water and length of time dry hopping. The brewer that I talked to suggested 3-4 days tops for dry hop and using gypsum in the boil.

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My plan was to dry hop for a week then syphon to bottle

jonnyp1980 said:

.....Also. My FG. Do I take before sugar or after?

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Before, you shouldn't be adding sugar until you are at FG (consistent reading over a 3-4 day period).

helibrewer said:

Before, you shouldn't be adding sugar until you are at FG (consistent reading over a 3-4 day period).

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Understood I know that the sugar only comes during bottling. Ok so fg before I add sugar. Ty