First brew, Taking FG reading, Glass Carboy

So I am on my first brew (an english brown ale) and it is currently on its 13th day in the secondary fermentor (glass carboy). The directions that came with the kit say to let the beer sit in the secondary fermentor for 14 days, however after reading the forum some I've come to the conclusion this should be based on a consistent final gravity over 2 or 3 days? I'd like to use this method but I'm unsure how to go about it, I was told you want as little oxygen in the secondary fermentor as possible... so opening it up seems counter productive. Any tips?

No harm in opening it up for a quick sample. Use a sanitized turkey baster. It should be done by now, but no harm waiting longer.

Awesome, but now I have another question the hydrometer I have is pretty big.. say 12 inches... so the sample I'd need to take is rather substantial. Are there any other ways of testing my FG without the hydrometer, or even smaller hydrometers available so I don't have as much "waste" (don't worry I don't plan on tossing it)

EDIT: I don't have any real tall and narrow cylinders to do the test in :/ so I'm not sure I'll be able to do this at all... until it is in my bottling bucket of course

Takes 3-4 ounces to fill the tube for a sample. I just drink it... it doesn't go to waste.

ScrewedBrew said:

Takes 3-4 ounces to fill the tube for a sample. I just drink it... it doesn't go to waste.

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+1 I use the tube the hydrometer came in and always drink the samples for quality control.

It sounds like you don't have one of these.



You should be able to pick one up at your LHBS for less than $5.

bad67z said:

It sounds like you don't have one of these.



You should be able to pick one up at your LHBS for less than $5.

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Yep, they're cheap.

Also, I wouldn't bother taking a reading until after 3 weeks had passed.

Rick

Bad67z you are right I don't have one of those so gonna be picking one up tomorrow.

F250 why do you recommend 3 weeks? Its my understanding once you have a consistent fg you should go ahead and bottle?

The extra time allows the yeasties to clean up and can. Help clear up the beer a bit. I've done 4 batches and have yet to secondary. No real need to unless adding hops or fruit etc.

An alternative to taking a sample with a turkey baster is a wine thief. The wine thief will reach the bottom of 5, 6, and 7.5 gallon carboys. I still don't know why they are not sold as a wine/beer thief.

Ya just let it sit the 14 days. Secondary is just for conditioning. If you were going to bottle sooner there is no need for secondary and many people would argue the need for secondary at all. The theory I assume your beer is going on would be that you don't want autolysis from the beer sitting on the yeast cake for too long in primary.

Well than I think I'm going to go on and bottle tomorrow as the directions suggest, Thanks for all the advice.