proper way to measure SG

how's it going guys (and gals)? so, my roommate and i brewed up our first batch of irish stout. and, the next day decided to go ahead brew our 2nd batch of brown ale. one problem we encountered was how to take a measurement with our hydrometer. is it necessary to take a sample and put it in the tube or can we just drop the hydrometer into the bucket? at the time, we didn't have anything to transfer the liquid into the measuring tube and didn't want to dunk the tube into the bucket for fear of contaminating it with our heads. is it best to get a turkey baster or something?

i am sorry in advance at how basic this question is.

Although a newb myself, I have read that you can sanitize a turkey baster to extract your nectar into the measuring vial, or if your fermenter has a spigot, you can run some out the tap. Either way, sanitize. I imagine you could just put the hydrometer in the pail after sanitizing it, but you risk breakage. I have read a few sad stories with broken glass and little steel or lead pellets in the wort as a result. I would take it out.

I took my sample out ...... because then I get to taste along the way

Good luck!!

Siphon it out with a tube. if you use a turkey baster, sanitize it like crazy. I just fill up a tube and put my finger on the other end and slowly fill the tube like that.

I use a wine thief but a sanitized turkey baster works fine too.

The problem with taking a measurement directly into the bucket is that if your hydrometer breaks (they do that a lot), you have ruined your entire batch.

All good advice.

If you go the route of placing your hrdromet in the primary bucket make sure you have all but the last inch of it in the wort. This will minimize the weigth dropping down to the bottom. Another thing to think about is any bubbles on top. They tend to make it hard to read.

I will recommend an autosyphon though over the method explained above.

A wine thief is by far the easiest way I've found.

I second ChshreCat's motion. A wine thief is a very wise (and very reasonable) purchase. Especially if you want to take several readings during fermentation.

I don't understand how you break a hydrometer by measuring in the fermenter? Are you throwing it into the wort? Just set it in there, and it will float.