What's my OGR window?

I brewed my second batch last night. And as I did the first time, I forgot to take an original gravity reading. It has been in my fermenter for 24 hours now and is nicely bubbling away. Should I open it now to take a reading, or should I wait for the fermentation to stop and take it before I transfer it into my secondary (in about 6 days)?

Is it extract?

It's a Munton's Heavy Highland Ale kit.

Ok, well I risked it and cracked my fermenter open and took a GR. It was a 1.040 (or maybe a little lower), the foam was collecting around it.

You could probably plug the ingredients you used into a program like Beersmith and get an estimated OG reading and go with that.

Thanks, I'll give it a try.

I think there isn't really a need to take a OG. After a few weeks, take the FG for 3 days and see whether there is any changes. If not, then you are ready to bottle.

Don't you need to take an OG and an FG in order to figure out the alcohol content?

Ok, well my beer has been in my primary for a week now and I transfered it into my secondary. Before I did, though, I took another reading and it was at 1.020. According to the chart on John Palmer's site, with a OG of 1.040 and a FG of 1.020, my beer will only be 2.5% alcohol.... what the heck? Did I mess something up? Unless ofcourse, it will continue to drop while it sits in my secondary for two weeks. I'll take another reading in two weeks and see if it's changed.

Well, you don't really know your original gravity- as it was 1.040 after fermentation started, for all you know it was 1.060 or so. The best way to figure OG is to add up all the gravity points provided by the extract and other fermentables- that will give you the OG within a couple of points.

You shouldn't transfer to the clearing tank ("secondary") until the beer is done, and you are at FG, but it might drop a couple more points after the racking.

YooperBrew said:

Well, you don't really know your original gravity- as it was 1.040 after fermentation started, for all you know it was 1.060 or so. The best way to figure OG is to add up all the gravity points provided by the extract and other fermentables- that will give you the OG within a couple of points.

You shouldn't transfer to the clearing tank ("secondary") until the beer is done, and you are at FG, but it might drop a couple more points after the racking.

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Good point. I have contacted the manufacturer, (as I discarded all of the packaging after my wort was in my primary) and hopefully, they can give me a general OG for the beer.

As for transfering, I was monitoring the bubbles coming out of my airlock. As I'm still a newbie to this and have much to learn, I figured that once the bubble slowed WAY down it was ok to transfer. My airlock was bubbling around every 2 mins, which was a huge difference from when it started. For future brews, I may try to rig up something so I can leave my hydrometer in my primary so I can have a constant gauge. However, I'll have to think about how to make it work... I'm sure the krausen will easily cloud over it, he he