Help reading Hydrometer!

Hello everyone,

I brewed my first beer 6 days ago and have learned a lot about the process, however I want to make sure I am reading my hydrometer correctly.

Just now I pulled the top off to take a reading since my instructions say my Hefeweizen should ferment from 5-10 days. Sooo, I sanitized everything very carefully, took my sample, dropped my hydrometer in the sample, and looked at my readings.

Below are pictures, but TO ME it looks like I have a gravity reading of 1.2 and an alcohol content of roughly 2.5%. Now, I'm not really sure where to go from here. My instructions do not indicate a final gravity rating, however it does say it should be 5.5% ABV. I'm reading this as "my gravity is high, which means there is more sugar that needs to ferment, which explains why the ABV is so low right now." Is this correct, or did I mess up somewhere?


I did taste the sample afterwards. Yum, it was good. It did a taste a little sweet though...

Thanks!


EDIT: I also wanted to add that this has been fermenting between 62-65 for the past 6 days, maybe up near 66-67 during the intense fermentation process after I pitched.

You're at 1.020, not 1.2 and it's most likely not done yet. What temperature is the beer at? FYI, most hydrometer measurements need to be adjusted down or up to their calibration temp.

I would try warming the beer up to closer to 68-70 and see if it starts fermenting again.

Your reading is 1.020. The alcohol readings/ticks mean very little. It represents potential alcohol of an original gravity reading, not a final reading.

The easiest way to find your alcohol by volume is find the difference between your original gravity and final gravity. Multiply by 129. Or... Search for an online calculator. Other methods, if you did not get an OG, include weighing a known volume of your beer. I'm sure someone around here has the formula.

Yeah, still has a way to go ... Give it at least 14 days ... As for reading the hydrometer, you'll notice the liquid "curls" up on to the glass ... Read at the top of that "curl". A typical final gravity is 1.010 +/- 0.005.

Yes your hydrometer seems to show 1.020. No, you did not make 2.5% beer. The hydrometer reading that shows alcohol percentage shows what the potential alcohol left in the beer. You can't ferment this out with your ale yeast because it contains sugar that the yeast can't break down. Your beer is likely to be about 5% alcohol. If you had the original hydrometer reading (original gravity or OG) you can calculate the amount of alcohol produced.

Dang, I need to take a speed typing course.

The 1.000 is 1.000
The 10, 20, 30 ... is 1.010, 1.020, 1.030 etc so your current gravity is about 1.020
Ignore the alcohol % scale. It doesn't mean anything. If you want to know the alcohol % (bu volume) use the formula (OG - FG) * 131. It isn't completely accurate, but it's pretty close.

Hope this helps,

-a.

sudsmcgee said:

You're at 1.020, not 1.2 and it's most likely not done yet. What temperature is the beer at? FYI, most hydrometer measurements need to be adjusted down or up to their calibration temp.

I would try warming the beer up to closer to 68-70 and see if it starts fermenting again.

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What he said. Does it look like the yeast are still active, or have they settled to the bottom? I would gently swirl the yeast back into suspension and move the fermenter to a warmer location and see if fermentation kicks back in.

It does look like there is still a little bit of yeast still active (specks on material floating). Are you saying to stir up everything from the bottom again? I know it will re-settle, but I want to be sure.

I'm having trouble getting the temperature to raise. I have had trouble for a few days bc I wanted it around 65, but it settled in at 62-63. Would it be safe to set on or near a heat vent in our home? I'm thinking ON the vent might get it too hot but only NEAR it would not distribute it evenly.

I don't have a heating pad but do have a ceramic heater that I will using once my Ranco arrives to control in a freezer.

You might want to gently spin the hydrometer too since when it lays on the side of the tube like that it can affect the reading quite a bit.

You can put it near a heat vent and it will be fine. It takes a lot of heat to warm up 5 gals of beer.

Don't open it to stir. I use Better-Bottles so I can place it on a tennis ball under it and that allows me to gently swirl the fermenter if I need to. What's the temp in the main part of your house? If it's like 70-72˚F you could move the fermenter there and see if fermentation kicks back in. 62-62˚F is a little on the low side for an ale.

House thermostat is set at 65 - but just bumped up to 68 and moved the fermenter right next to the register.

roxy35 said:

House thermostat is set at 65 - but just bumped up to 68 and moved the fermenter right next to the register.

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Wow, I must be a wimp up here in yankee country. I can't keep my t-stat any lower than 71˚F, LOL!

LOL.

I've decided to place the fermenter directly on the register for the next hour or so to speed up the heating process. Once it is back in the 65-66 range, I will take it off and just leave it next to the register. Hopefully this works.

roxy35 said:

LOL.

I've decided to place the fermenter directly on the register for the next hour or so to speed up the heating process. Once it is back in the 65-66 range, I will take it off and just leave it next to the register. Hopefully this works.

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I'm sure it will. If not, and you suspect a stuck fermentation, you could always pitch a pack of dry ale yeast to attempt to get it going again. Too early for that though. Give it some time, now that you're warming it up a little and I'll bet you'll be fine. Good luck and keep us informed.

Well, I got the wort back into the 70-72 range (although my weird stick on thermometer also has 78 lighting up, not sure is going on. 70 and 72 are lit up, nothing on 74 and 76 then 78 is lit). Anyhow, I have put it back in the dark closet wrapped in a blacket hoping to retain some of this heat. House thermostat is still at 66.

HOPEFULLY, fermentation kicks back in with this heat jump, but maybe it was too sudden of a jump. 62 to 72 in about 12 hours. Regardless, with the blanket it shouldn't get much lower than 69-70 now.

Thanks!

dutchoven said:

Yeah, still has a way to go ... Give it at least 14 days ... As for reading the hydrometer, you'll notice the liquid "curls" up on to the glass ... Read at the top of that "curl". A typical final gravity is 1.010 +/- 0.005.

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Sorry, the correct way to read a hydrometer is to read it at the bottom of the meniscus. Not only does the specific gravity change, but the surface tension of the wort changes, changing the height of the meniscus.

Hydrometers are (usually) calibrated at 60F. You add 1 gravity point for 70F; subtract 1/2 gravity point for 50F. The temperature corrections aren't linear, but if your sample was at 66F, then adding 1/2 gravity point will get you within a half gravity point, and that's more precise than we usually worry about.

Ignore the "Alcohol %" scale. It's calibrated to give an estimated potential alcohol percent for wine must, which is almost entirely sucrose and fructose.

Captain Damage said:

Hydrometers are (usually) calibrated at 60F. You add 1 gravity point for 70F; subtract 1/2 gravity point for 50F. The temperature corrections aren't linear, but if your sample was at 66F, then adding 1/2 gravity point will get you within a half gravity point, and that's more precise than we usually worry about.

Ignore the "Alcohol %" scale. It's calibrated to give an estimated potential alcohol percent for wine must, which is almost entirely sucrose and fructose.

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Temp was at 62 - would this make much of a difference? Am I right to assume (according to the picture) I am currently at 1.02 - and being at 62 degrees would ADD a little bit to that. Maybe something like 1.022?

ChuckO said:

Sorry, the correct way to read a hydrometer is to read it at the bottom of the meniscus. Not only does the specific gravity change, but the surface tension of the wort changes, changing the height of the meniscus.

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Not meaning to highjack the thread but this is most definitely a case of "it depends".

Some hydrometers are calibrated to be read from the top of the meniscus and others calibrated to be read from the bottom. It will sometimes say in the instructions whether to read one way or the other but it is not a case of always read from the bottom.

Temp was at 62 - would this make much of a difference? Am I right to assume (according to the picture) I am currently at 1.02 - and being at 62 degrees would ADD a little bit to that. Maybe something like 1.022?

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First off, we read to three decimal places. So rather than referring to the beer as "1.02," we say "1.020." When we say "one gravity point," we're referring to the third decimal place. So adding one gravity point to a 1.020 reading would yield 1.021. So "adding a little" to correct for 62F vs 60F would get you 1.0202, not 1.022.

Adding 0.02 points in an attempt to be more accurate is sort of a fools's errand. The hydrometer, and our ability to read it just aren't that accurate. Worry about getting to within +/- 1 point.

Temp has been holding around 70 all day near the vent. I put it back in the closet and it seemed to drop a little. It still has a blanket around it. My stick on thermometer has 68, 70, and 72 all lighting up. I assume the middle number is most accurate.

I know this also means my wort is a little warmer. I'm a little concerned about that, but many people seem to think low-mid 70s is okay too.

Low 70's is OK at this point. It's only bad during active fermentation for many ale yeasts. You're past that, so don't worry. Bottles condition at 70 all the time.

ChuckO said:

Sorry, the correct way to read a hydrometer is to read it at the bottom of the meniscus. Not only does the specific gravity change, but the surface tension of the wort changes, changing the height of the meniscus.

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Hey ChuckO ... you're right ... I just checked my instructions, here's that I found:

"Where the liquid intersects the scale is your reading. Important: The liquid will lift up a little where it touches the wall of the sample jar and the hydrometer itself. This curve in the liquid surface is called a meniscus. Do not take your reading at the top of the lifted edge. Rather, take your reading at the lowest level of the liquid surface, the bottom of the "meniscus", and project this onto the scale."

Looks like I've been reading my hydrometer incorrectly for the last two years ... thanks for the clarification ...

Ugh...I think I may need some more expert advice.

So, in case you haven't been following this thread, here's a quick summary. I checked my gravity on Saturday evening, beer was pitched 6 days ago then.

I had some difficulty reading the hydrometer, but I believe we were able to determine it was at 1.02. Still needed time. It was also suggested to warm up my fermenter, since it had been in the low 60s and there was a fear that fermentation had stalled.

The past 2 days the fermenter had been at 70 degrees, roughly. I checked the hydrometer again just now and it looks virtually unchanged.

I have posted both pictures below. The first is from Saturday (2 days ago) the second is from today (Monday).

Any advice on where to go from here? From my understanding this is far too high of a gravity reading for a simple hefeweizen.

Thanks!

it could be angle, but you read the hydrometer from the bottom of the curve.
to my eye, the reading on the right is lower than the left.

left, 1.021/2 ish...
right, 1.020...

I should also note that this was sample was taken at approx 68-70 degree temperature - therefore it should be even higher, right?

LOL, at here I thought when my airlock was bubbling away that this was a simple process! I never thought I'd be stressing.

First off, there's nothing to stress about. It's beer.

You only pitched the yeast a little over a week ago so I would totally let it go at least another week.

I agree with flushdrew42 that the two readings are different leading me to believe that you have some change going on. Let it go another week and see where your readings are.

Following that, if you're still at 1.020 then that's what you have. Regardless of whether that is high for a Hefe, it's where you ended up. You could try pitching a another hit of yeast to bring it down further but you'd also likely be fine just leaving it. Although, kegging vs bottling is another issue altogether. I've had beers finish high but I keg so the prospect of bottle bombs is non existent.

There are others more expert than myself who will have more advice.

roxy35 said:

I should also note that this was sample was taken at approx 68-70 degree temperature - therefore it should be even higher, right?

LOL, at here I thought when my airlock was bubbling away that this was a simple process! I never thought I'd be stressing.

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Not sure if this has been asked yet, but what kind of yeast did you use?

johnsma22 said:

Not sure if this has been asked yet, but what kind of yeast did you use?

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I used the White Labs Hefeweizen Ale Yeast, not sure the number since I've already pitched the vial.

roxy35 said:

I used the White Labs Hefeweizen Ale Yeast, not sure the number since I've already pitched the vial.

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It's possible that you under pitched if you just pitched the vial and didn't make a starter first. The vial may have been close to, or passed it's expiration.

I know a lot of people will say that a starter isn't necessary, but I'm of the opinion that you should always make a starter when using any kind of liquid yeast. You could always pitch in a package of dry yeast and see if fermentation kicks off again.