Hydrometer reading

Hello Again,

2 Questions:

When pouring the wort into the carboy, do you have to strain the hops and other misc ingredients out of the wort? I did, and that proved to be the messiest part of the whole process!

Also, I took a sample with the beer thief. How much should go into the tube to get an OG reading? I have the hydrometer sitting in the tube (which i filled about 1/2 way and what next?? Your help is appreciated!!!

mayday1019 said:

Hello Again,

2 Questions:

When pouring the wort into the carboy, do you have to strain the hops and other misc ingredients out of the wort? I did, and that proved to be the messiest part of the whole process!

Also, I took a sample with the beer thief. How much should go into the tube to get an OG reading? I have the hydrometer sitting in the tube (which i filled about 1/2 way and what next?? Your help is appreciated!!!

Click to expand...

I have been told you don't have to, but it makes for a cleaner brew (I always strain).. for an OG reading you just need enough to float the hydrometer as long as it isn't touching the bottom of the vial it should be OK.. also keep in mind it is probably calibrated at 60degrees so you need to do the temp conversion if you want to be that accurate (I never bother unless it seems way off)

I used to fill the tube the hydro came in. about two inches down from the top was perfect to float the hydro and leave about 1/2 inch below the rim.

Then I knocked it over, spilled my sample everywhere, and broke my hydro.

At the LHBS, buying a new hydro, I noticed they had hydro test stands for about $3. So I bought one of those also. It doesn't tip unless you really try.

There are very few absolute rights and wrongs in home brewing.

Both straining and hydrometer readings are somewhat optional. I never do either. Time, Irish Moss and careful siphoning (or just time and careful siphoning) will get you nice clear beers. SG readings are nice to know if you want to know how much alcohol you have in your beer, and more important if you are trying to minimize brew time by racking or bottling when fermentation stops, but if you allow your brews a few extra days to finish fermenting, settle and clear by themselves, they will be fine.

I used a hydrometer on my first batch. I realized that my readings were not reliable with the instrument and technique I had so I put it away and have not used it since. As for straining, if you use hops pellets, they will dissolve and pass through most strainers anyway, and as you note, it can be messy. I am also leery of adding steps to the process early on, when sanitizing is most critical - it is more opportunity for contamination if you are not careful.

My last batch was the only one that I did strain the hop pellets out when racking to the primary. I did not notice a difference at all. I get my clarity from cold conditioning in the keg. All my beers on tap now come out as clear as any beer that has been filtered.

I don't strain, but I dump my wort into my botling bucket and let it sit for 2-3 hours before transferring to my fermenting vessel. Much of the larger particulate matter will settle down to below the spigot an will hence stay out of my fermenter.

Just a thought.

I use a nylon grain/hops bag and I avoid the mess of having hops and grain particlesin the wort. Some people don't agree. It's the same to me as using a tea bag as opposed to dumping tea in boiling water and then having to strain out the tea leaves.

You only need enough beer or wort to float the hydrometer.

I just place a nylon net over my bucket and catch it all there. Then I sparge whatevers in the net.

As for the hydrometer reading, get one of those hydrometer holder/tubes and a wine thief. Place the hydrometer in the tube, the thief in the fermenter and remove enough wort to get the hydrometer to float. Do not return any extra wort to the fermenter.

You don't want to place too many things in your wort.