sportscrazed2
Well-Known Member
Is it a bad idea to do primary in the bottling bucket so you can use spigot to get sg readings?
All that will do is make your hydrometer tube shorter. It won't mean you'll need any less beer to take a reading.
Most likely this will make the tube shorter than the hydrometer and you won't be able to use it at all, at least not for any readings above the top of the tube.
I think the OP is talking about this type of test tube : http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/economy-test-jar.html
it's 14.5 inches long, unfortunately hydrometers are much shorter, meaning you have to fill the tube with more wort just so the hydrometer sticks out for spinning, retrieval and such.
Chopping it shorter means you can use less wort and still access your hydrometer.
I have no idea why they make them so tall, the extra width is nice, but the height is a waste.
In that case cutting it shorter would help.
I have one that's pretty wide (my hydrometer in the tube it came in can fit inside it with room to spare), but it's about the same height as my hydrometer. I would use the tube it came in but I dropped it and it cracked on the bottom, so it leaks.
Some people do primary fermentation in a bucket with a spigot. You just have to make sure that you get the spigot throughly cleaned and sanitized due to the fact that it may contain some old sticky wort that can harbor bacteria.
Not advisable though, to bottle directly from the spigot if you primary ferment in such bucket. You'll get a lot of trub in the bottles.
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