I'm happy

I have beer!

I tasted what I have in primary today and I actually like the taste of it now. I honestly thought it would taste horrible at this stage, but it's good.

I took the S.G. and I swear my hydrometer says 1.000/1.010 tops. The O.G. was only around 1.030, which worried me (I posted about this and I have some possible explanations).

The hydrometer was a freebie off a friend who had a few, but it measures water at 1.000 so it must be right, eh?

There was previously about 1 bubble per minute in primary after 4 days, so I decided to take the S.G. to see if it's done. What do you guys think I should do now - wait 24 hours and see if I get the same reading, or rack to secondary now seeing as the reading is so low?

Cheers

There is quite a difference between 1.000 and 1.010... 10 gravity points is quite a bit.

What kind of beer did you make that it was only 1.030 OG. You'll have some 3% ABV beer it appears...

Rack to secondary!

In my previous post (lift off!) I give a few reasons I thought the gravity may have been that low - all just guesses really. Its a bitter kit - I ran through the process on that thread too.

The lines seperating 1.000 and 1.010 on my hydrometer are about 2mm apart, so it's hard to tell. Don't know if I can/should buy a better hydrometer - I thought they were all the same...?

Secondaries are being sterilised as we speak!!!

Cheers

Are you certain?



Usually, a difference of 1mm on a hydrometer is marked by a line that measures a difference of 0.002 in terms of specific gravity, and in this image, they seperate only 0.001. Are you sure you don't mean 1.000/1.001?

Thank you.

It is obvious that I'm an amateur! Ha!

That would be 1.001, not 1.010. Its hovering between the first line below 1.000 - and there are only five lines between each increment (.10, .20 etc..) so I figure it is 1.001.

Incidentally, it's definately had a second wind at the mo as it's back up to 2 bubbles per minute - do you think that's from displacing some of the water when taking the reading?

Cheers

It's possible you stirred it up a bit when taking the reading, which released some of the trapped CO2. If you moved it to a warmer area, that could slightly increase the activity. It's only been four days since you brewed it, right? There is quite possibly some more fermentation unfinished. And since you used sugar, you could very well end up with a SG reading below 1.000.

Normally, you want to wait at least a week before racking, just to be safe. Racking early won't have any positive benefits. Just check the reading Sunday or Monday, and see if it has changed much more. If it's stabilized, rack it.

Nice one

I think I will take your advice and wait a while. Maybe tomorrow night, if the S.G. has remained the same, I will rack it.

Cheers guys