Gravity reading

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Kass_Brauhaus

Kass_Brauhaus

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OK, this is probably on here somewhere but I couldn't find it. (At least I tried)

My wife bottled a brew while I was out of town and forgot to take a FG. If I take an FG out of a bottle, is there some quantitative correction I can apply? I understand that it won't be all that accurate, but I would like within a few percent.

Are there techniques I can use (like letting the beer go flat or something)?

Thanks.
 
What was your og of the batch.... and what did it read when you just tested it. How long has the beer been bottled? It most likely will not be carbed if it has not been too long but I am guessing only a point or so would be added from the bottling sugar.
 
The closest you will get is to measure FG after the bottles are carbonated. Doesn't make any difference now, does it? I'd just wait until the bottles are ready and measure FG in your first glass. If you measure now, the unfermented sugar could add points to the gravity, and I dont know how much. If fermented out, the difference to true FG should be negligible.
 
OK, I'll try to shake any sticky CO2 off of the hydrometer, but is there any feeling on how much that will throw things off?

It's been bottled for almost 3 weeks--I work as a merchant mariner so I'm out of town for lengthy periods.
 
Oh, and my OG was huge. I don't even want to tell you because I made a mistake in the calculations while designing the recipe.
 
Kass_Brauhaus said:
OK, I'll try to shake any sticky CO2 off of the hydrometer, but is there any feeling on how much that will throw things off?

It's been bottled for almost 3 weeks--I work as a merchant mariner so I'm out of town for lengthy periods.
Click to expand...

Not sure I follow your concept of sticky CO2. What we're talking about is the effect of bottling sugar on the density of the beer. More sugar equals higher density or gravity measured by your hydrometer. Once your sugar has been consumed by yeast (bottle conditioning) the gravity should be pretty close to your gravity before adding the bottling sugar, which is the FG you wanted to know.
 
OH! Duh! I didn't think about carbonation. I'm so used to measuring gravities on flat beer.

Absolutely wait for the beer to go flat. Leave overnight gets my vote.
 
Trencher said:
You definitely want the beer warm and flat... for the first and only time.
Click to expand...

Never heard those words together before.

Yeah, I was just thinking that the CO2 bubbles sticking to the hydrometer would add buoyancy. Alrighty, well I'll let you all know how it turns out--though I have nothing to compare results with. I'll pretend I'm on the Mythbusters and draw conclusions from insufficient data.
 
After your beer is carbonated, just pour it into a blender and let 'er rip, or pour the beer between a couple of glasses several times until the carbonation goes away. Then take a gravity reading along with the temperature, and adjust your reading based on the temp.
 

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