Fermentation Readings

Today is day 5 of my primary fermentation for an Amber Ale. When should I take the first reading to find out if fermentation is done?

Also, what's the best way to take the readings? Sanitize the hydrometer and just plop it in the fermenter, or take a sample in a tube and do the reading? I don't have a fermtech thief.

Give it another 9 days or so. I usually wait 2 weeks before I start taking samples.

Do you have a turkey baster? Sanitize that guy, then suck up a sample and use that for your sample tube. Dumping your hydrometer into the carboy is a good way to break your hydrometer.

I have a little cylinder that I can take a sample oit of that I use to measure, but have been known to dump the whole hydrometer in there too (just be sure you can get it out). If you are planning on racking to secondary, take the first measurement then, if you are skipping secondary, wait another week or two.

You have more patience than I did. I must have dipped my mits into my first beer every 45 minutes over the first three days. You'd have thought I was curing cancer or something.

At 5 days I'd say you can start taking 24 hour readings to gauge the beer. It's something to learn from.

I use a small (very small) SS sauce pot to dip out just enough beer to pour into the hydro tube...then of course...you have to drink the sample. :cross:

llazy_llama said:

Give it another 9 days or so. I usually wait 2 weeks before I start taking samples.

Click to expand...

I'm going to move it to secondary. Should I still wait this long to leave it in the primary? Isn't sitting on the dead yeast bad for the beer?

Parker36 said:

I have a little cylinder that I can take a sample oit of that I use to measure, but have been known to dump the whole hydrometer in there too (just be sure you can get it out). ...

Click to expand...

Why not just leave it in there? Sanitize it once and then you can check the gravity as needed. (note: I don't do this, but I might start now that I've thought of it)

PatMac said:

I'm going to move it to secondary. Should I still wait this long to leave it in the primary? Isn't sitting on the dead yeast bad for the beer?

Click to expand...

Technically, yes, but we'd have to be talking about a really long primary before you start noticing off flavors. Many people don't use a secondary at all, instead preferring to leave it in primary for about a month to let it clear out. I actually have an IPA I'm doing that with now.

JLem said:

Why not just leave it in there? Sanitize it once and then you can check the gravity as needed. (note: I don't do this, but I might start now that I've thought of it)

Click to expand...

A) Your hydrometer could become covered in krauzen, making it unreadable.
B) You can't use that hydrometer on other batches you have fermenting.
C) If it breaks inside the fermenter you have bits of broken glass in your beer, as well as whatever sort of metal your counterweight is made of. Some are steel, some are lead.
D) If you don't use a thief/baster, you no longer have hydro samples to drink.
Or E) all of the above.

I'm going with E.

llazy_llama said:

A) Your hydrometer could become covered in krauzen, making it unreadable.
B) You can't use that hydrometer on other batches you have fermenting.
C) If it breaks inside the fermenter you have bits of broken glass in your beer, as well as whatever sort of metal your counterweight is made of. Some are steel, some are lead.
D) If you don't use a thief/baster, you no longer have hydro samples to drink.
Or E) all of the above.

I'm going with E.

Click to expand...

A) you could/should wait for the krausen to drop
B) True - but if you only brew one at a time...
C) Probably minimal risk
D) Good point!

JLem said:

A) you could/should wait for the krausen to drop

Click to expand...

If you use pellet hops in your boil, it will be coated with the stuff. It just loves to settle out at the top for some reason.

JLem said:

B) True - but if you only brew one at a time...

Click to expand...

Then you need to step up your game.

JLem said:

C) Probably minimal risk

Click to expand...

You're probably right, but those things are crazy-fragile. It's just one less thing to have to worry about, and one less potential "OMG IS MY BEER RUINED???" thread.

JLem said:

D) Good point!

Click to expand...

Glad we agree on something.

F) Any floating object in a fermentation vessel is going to accumulate CO2 bubbles and cause that object to float artificially high. You'd have to figure a way to get in there and bounce that hydrometer up and down to knock off the CO2 bubbles, and to rinse the hydro from the effects of item A) mentioned earlier.

General consensus is it's not practical.

Alright, I'll be taking a sample tonight then! I see that some recipes have given numbers, but my recipe doesn't. What's a general hydrometer reading for an amber ale?

PatMac said:

Alright, I'll be taking a sample tonight then! I see that some recipes have given numbers, but my recipe doesn't. What's a general hydrometer reading for an amber ale?

Click to expand...

1.045 - 1.060 is the BJCP range for original gravity.

1.010 - 1.015 for the final gravity.

Next time take an initial reading so you can calculate the ABV%.

I did...or attempted to. It came out somewhere around 1.042 but there was some foam in the top of my test tube that wouldn't go down so I was trying to guesstimate what it actually was.

I'll definitely be more accurate about it next time though.

PatMac said:

I did...or attempted to. It came out somewhere around 1.042 but there was some foam in the top of my test tube that wouldn't go down so I was trying to guesstimate what it actually was.

I'll definitely be more accurate about it next time though.

Click to expand...

Next time, fill the tube up first. Then slowly submerge the hydro, as the tube overflows, give the surface a quick blow to knock the scum off and continue submerging. This will give you a nice clean surface.

BierMuncher said:

Next time, fill the tube up first. Then slowly submerge the hydro, as the tube overflows, give the surface a quick blow to knock the scum off and continue submerging. This will give you a nice clean surface.

Click to expand...

Good tip, I'll have to try that.

Get yourself a Fermtech Wine Thief. When you dip it in the beer it automatically fills up. Then after you withdraw it and replace the airlock, you simply put the hydrometer into the thief, roll the thief between your fingers so the hydro won't stick to the sides and the foam at the top of the column (if present) settles down, and read your gravity. The pin at the bottom, when depressed - by the bottom of a glass for example, empties the thief, and presto you have a small sample to taste. Much easier to handle than a turkey baster, and it's longer than most basters. Cost = 7.95 at Midwest

Took a reading this morning and it came out right at 1.014. Smelled like beer! Tasted like beer! I think I might be drinking some decent beer soon!