Hydro sample too carb'd?

'ho,

I've a question about taking hydro samples during primary. The airlock is bubbling about 12 x min. I wanted to see how close it was to finishing so I took a reading last night. Came out to about 1.040 in a beer thats been fermenting since Saturday morning. Forgot to throw away the sample and looked at it again this evening. It was at 1.030. Temp was the same. It seemed pretty carb'd up last night, and had lots o' foam when I shook it. Am I not shaking it enough, or did I take it too early or what? I've never shaken a hydro sample before, yesterday it looked way to bubble so I did. Have all my prior readings been off since I didn't shake them?

Thanks,

There were probably some bubbles clinging to the hydrometer, causing it to read high. A quick twist usually knocks them off.

I wouldn't be taking readings so early, with 12 bubbles a minute primary fermentation is clearly nowhere near complete. Wait until you're pretty confident it's finished.

The less I mess with my beer, the better it turns out. I generally leave it in primary for at least two weeks, and sometimes up to four.

yeah, I thought of the bubbles clinging to it. I did spin it as well. The bubbles looked like cab bubbles to me. I know the primary has a ways to go, and I took it early. Just never used ESB yeast before, I know it craps out though, so just testing.