Samples - How to take

Getting ready to start second batch and working on adding a few pieces of equipment.

I am trying to figure out what is used to get samples of the beer once it is in the primary?

Wasn't able to test the batch when i put it in because i didn't have the glass tube to float hydrometer in. I do now, but would like to be able to test as the process moves along.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

JR

wine thief.

This is one of my favorite pieces of equipment I own...http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_67_363&products_id=1227

I use a new sanitized turkey baster. $1 at the Dollar Store.

On my first brew i used a sanitized racking cane and dipped it in, put my thumb over the end and pulled it out. Took a while to fill my sample jar but it worked. i will eventually pick up a thief.

http://brewballstore.com/brewball_photos.html


If you got a clear primary , I'd recommend these brewballs. It's nice watching the progress of the gravity dropping without any possible contamination. The only downside is you can't see them clearly until the krausen drops.

Bob

I use a 12-inch piece of siphon hose.

Sanitize it, stick one end in the bucket/carboy, hold thumb over the other end, and remove sample.

Works the same way a wine thief works.

This is what I use, and it works with both buckets and carboys. I replaced the plastic one a year ago with an extra long stainless baster from a kitchen ware store and it is awesome. But the plastic one from any grocery store works fine.



And



Here's what I do....

1) With a spray bottle filled with starsan I spray the lid of my bucket, or the mouth of the carboy, including the bung. Then I spray my turkey baster inside and out with sanitize (or dunking it in a container of sanitizer).

2) Open fermenter.

3) Draw Sample

4) fill sample jar (usualy 2-3 turky baster draws

5)Spray bung or lid with sanitizer again

6) Close lid or bung

6) add hydrometer and take reading

It is less than 30 seconds from the time the lid is removed until it is closed again. More like 15 if you ask me.

Probably less if you have help. And unless a bird flies in your place and lets go with some poop, you should be okay.

Definitely the wine thief. It's cheap and can hold a hydrometer. And you can taste your samples afterward - unlike the brew balls above.

W/ the wine thief are you worried about letting O2 into the bucket/carboy?

No more than any of the other methods. The thief functions by allowing a small, linear piece of plastic with a disc on the top end to be displced from the bottom of the tube by the pressure of the wort/beer in which it is placed. Displacing the piece allows wort/beer to flow into the tube up to the level that the thief is placed in the fermenter. If you put your hydrometer in before you take the sample, you can just allow it to settle after you remove the thief and then you're ready to taste the sample.

muse435 said:

W/ the wine thief are you worried about letting O2 into the bucket/carboy?

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How would you get the beer out of the bucket without opening the top? A baster you have to open the top too. You are barely moving the beer around to shake any O2 into it and there should be enough CO2 on top to keep O2 out for the time you have the top open

Install a spigot

I'm not trying to hijack you thread, I just have similar questions.

nilo said:

Install a spigot

Click to expand...

Does anyone use a bottling bucket to ferment?

muse435 said:

W/ the wine thief are you worried about letting O2 into the bucket/carboy?

Click to expand...

O2 is not like the bubonic plague to your beer. It's everywhere. Unless you are somehow churning up a froth the exposure and effects are minimal and insignificant. This is talked about and worried about way to much, IMO.

Ever thought how much O2 the beer is going to be exposed to when you bottle or keg it? Way more then having the fermenter open for 30 seconds.

How are you planning on avoiding that? (you're not)

nilo said:

Install a spigot

Click to expand...

I would assume most people use a thief or baster.

Thinking about it, having a spigot does sound much easier. You have nothing to sanitize.

The only con I can think of is you would have to move the bucket to a higher location when you want to take beer from it. That isn't much of a problem as long as you don't shake it too much.

I may actually have to try this lol I would think the spigot needs to be higher than the trub so you get beer and not beer and trub.

SKMO said:

How are you planning on avoiding that? (you're not)

Click to expand...

Magic?

I just use a sanitized turkey baster I got at target.

+ 1 for the wine thief, guy at my LHBS recommended I get one after my first batch, makes samples quick and easy. Just don't forget to sanitize every first.

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