Opening the bucket during primary fermentation?

I've got my second batch of beer in primary fermentation right now, and I want to take a gravity reading and also to taste it and see how it's coming along. Is it okay to open it during fermentation, or does it have to stay sealed until it's done?

It's Ok to open. Just take care to keep everything as clean as possible.

Make sure to sanitize anything that will come into contact with your brew as well!!! I usually use a coffee mug that was soak in sanitizer (bleach water) for 30 min. it has a handle to keep hands out of contact with the beer. Or you could use a turkey baster. Otherwise, yeah its ok to do just don't do it too many times, risk contamination.

Yeah, it's fine. I use a sanitized turkey baster and put my sample right into the hydrometer sample tube. I usually do a FG 2-3 days before bottling and then again on bottling day to make sure it's done. Seal it back up and good to go! Just don't sneeze in it

.why would you want to disturb fermentation? your exicted but you have a long way to a fininshed beer. Why?Curiosity could cause contamination, a risky choice out of impatinet curiosity. Let it do its thing and taste it at botteling. drink another homebrew or good craft brew,then drink yours when its finished.

jonmohno said:

such bad advice .why would you want to disturb fermentation? your exicted but you have a long way to a fininshed beer. Why?Curiosity could cause contamination, a risky choice out of impatinet curiosity. Let it do its thing and taste it at botteling. drink another homebrew or good craft brew,then drink yours when its finished.

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How do you know it is finished with out taking a SG which requires opening the bucket.

3 weeks,no sooner.there is an army of people on this website that will back this.
Your post stated during fermentation, making it sound like your disrupting the middle of fermentation and if its before 1 week you are. after a week when it is likely finished you dont want to bottle yet so the yeast can clean up and condition.Its not finished when the gravity halts.Basically it has to ripen and round out and its going to do it faster in primary than a bottle.

jonmohno said:

3 weeks,no sooner.there is an army of people on this website that will back this.
Your post stated during fermentation, making it sound like your disrupting the middle of fermentation and if its before 1 week you are.

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Sorry, but what if you have a lager going and need to check the gravity to determine if it's ready for diacetyl rest? Can't do it without opening the fermentor. Also, and this is especially true during vigorous fermentation, there is a blanket of Co2 covering the beer as the yeast continually push it up and out.

The bottom line, and veterans feel free to correct me here, is it's Ok and even necessary at times to open the fermentor to take a SG reading, just be vigilant with your sanitary practices and you'll be fine. RDWHAHB!

jonmohno said:

3 weeks,no sooner.there is an army of people on this website that will back this.
Your post stated during fermentation, making it sound like your disrupting the middle of fermentation and if its before 1 week you are. after a week when it is likely finished you dont want to bottle yet so the yeast can clean up and condition.Its not finished when the gravity halts.Basically it has to ripen and round out and its going to do it faster in primary than a bottle.

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The OP asked if it is safe to open the lid of the fermentor. The simple answer is it is perfectly safe as long as you sanitize anything touching the beer. That remains true even if the beer is still fermenting. You will do absolutely no harm to an actively fermenting beer if you sanitize and pull a sample. Whether you need to or not is not relevant to the question.

its irrevelant to open it then. whether its relevant to the question or not.Its like opening up christmas gifts then rewrapping them and waiting till christmas to open them back up again.

That's the beautiful thing about making your own beer; You can do things like pull samples whenever you want to see how the beer tastes or see how the gravity changes throughout the process. The question was "does it have to stay sealed until it's done." The answer is no, period. You won't know it's done if you don't check it.

New guy to homebrewing here, bringing this thread back from a 1yr hiatus... I've been reading up preparing for my first batch (Brewers Best RIS) and wondering about this exact question. I'll be transferring to a secondary, and wanted to check SG a few days apart in the primary to see where it stands after a week or so.

I was thinking that adding a hole (1-2" dia), with a sanitized plug in the lid of the primary bucket would make it easier to take samples for SG readings with a baster or siphon. Wouldn't have to pry off the whole lid and expose everything... although I guess the plug would have to be a good fit, maybe taped or held down to make sure it doesn't blow out. This may be more trouble than it's worth, but seems like it would cut down on risk of contamination when sampling.

I just brewed my 3rd batch ever, so I'm not very knowledgeable, but I personally wouldn't go to that trouble, replacement.

It wouldn't really save you any time and I don't think it would cut down on the risk of contamination either. If you don't get a great seal on the hole/plug, you'd open yourself up to more problems too.

If you just sanitize what's going into the brew, you'll be fine. Personally, I use a wine thief and find that to be much easier than anything I'd tried.

Then again, I'm pretty sure I'll never take a SG reading while fermenting ever again. I did alot with my first 2 batches though.

my bucket has a spigot and I just drain a sample into hydro jar.

If you need to take a reading just pop the lid and take a sample. Simple as that. I always spray a bit of starsan around my lid and sanatize my wine thief then go at it. I've opened up numerous primary buckets several times during fermentation for various reasons and have yet to get an infection. As long as you are half decent with your sterilization process there shouldn't be any worries.

If you sanitize and aren't opening your bucket in the draft from the window, the heat vent or the A/C, you'll be fine.

I don't even put my bucket lid on tight, just place it on top. And I just put a piece on tinfoil over the airlock hole, and no airlock. If I was worried about insects, maybe I'd change it up. But bacteria and other foreign debris? Not to worried, and have had no problems.

Cool, I'm convinced the "sampling hole" in the lid would be way more trouble than it's worth. I have some starsan on the way so I'll keep it handy to spray/wipe around the lid when opening.