testing gravity in primary?

so i have an amber in my primary, and i know you should check to make sure the gravity has stopped moving before going to secondary or bottles. but how do i check it without letting all that awful room air in? do i really just pull the lid off the bucket and drop in the hydrometer?

You can, yes. CO2 is heavier than O2, so your blanket of CO2 in the headspace will stay there if you're careful. I've done the same thing many times and never had a problem. I think investing in a wine thief is a good idea though. Much easier and seems safer to me.

i finally bought a glass wine theif for like $6 at northern brewer a few months ago. too scared to use it yet...

do you use a wine thief thru the airlock hole? or open the lid?

You'll need to open the lid. I wouldn't worry too much about contamination/oxidation/whatever. Just make sure you sanitize your hands and your wine thief.

thanks! wine thief it is =)

if you can get a wine theif through the oring for the airlock, it would take 50 times to fill the test jar vs twice.

If there were such a risk with takiing a hydromter reading then why do you think every book, video, and forum advocates using your hydrometer?

You know, there is so much telling brewers, what not to do do you actually think folks would be saying to use your hydrometer so much? Is it a vast conspiracy to ruin millions of new brewer's batches, so that they flee the hobby and give it a bad rap?

Using basic sanitization, taking a hydrometer reading is no risk at all.

This is what I use, and it works with both buckets and carboys



And



Here's what I do....

1) With a spray bottle filled with starsan I spray the lid of my bucket, or the mouth of the carboy, including the bung. Then I spray my turkey baster inside and out with sanitize (or dunking it in a container of sanitizer).

2) Open fermenter.

3) Draw Sample

4) fill sample jar (usualy 2-3 turky baster draws

5)Spray bung or lid with sanitizer again

6) Close lid or bung

6) take reading

It is less than 30 seconds from the time the lid is removed until it is closed again.

Probably less if you have help.

And unless a bird swoops down and poops in your fermenter, you wont have any trouble.

or sure, it's not as daunting as breeding yeasties for long term. i just avoid opening the fermenter it i absolutely don't have to. so i check the gravity whenever i rack since im already in there gettin my feet wet.

mordantly said:

if you can get a wine theif through the oring for the airlock, it would take 50 times to fill the test jar vs twice.

Click to expand...

Some lids also have the larger opening (no Oring) for the airlock which works just as well as opening the lid if you use a baster or thief.

revvy, yeah it's the "don't" statements that had me cautious of opening the fermenter. so i figured i would ask before i went opening the bucket. i really apprecaite your step by step, it makes a lot of sense!

i do also like yambor's idea of a bigger opening. perhaps i'll go buy a nice big drillbit and a stopper and convert one of my lids to a theif sized opening instead of an o-ring...