Hydrometer readings

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Rally101

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Hi im new to this and I set up my first brew on saturday 8/6/2011and I was just wondering how soon I should bee taking hydrometer readings (if not already) and how often.
Any advice much appreciated :D
 
I that start before you add yeast.

Then at the end to clarify fermentation has finished. (final gravity around or below 1.000)
If it is a little high at the end leave it a couple of days do another test, If it is the same number then fermentation has stopped.
If it is low but still not low enough, leave for a couple more days.
And so forth :)
 
Rule of thumb is after airlock activity stops, start taking hydrometer readings every three days or so until you hit your recipe FG.
 
1st of all,airlock activity has no bearing whatsoever on fermentation activity. 2nd,if your fermenting beer got down to 1.000,you'd have alcohol & water. An average gravity beer should finish between 1.006-1.012 on average. Don't even bother taking an FG measurement till the end of the second week. Wait 2nd to 3rd day,& check again. If the hydrometer reading is the same,it's done fermenting.
Then leave it for a 3rd week to clean up it's by products (the yeast,namely). Then you're good to bottle,dry hop,etc.
 
I take my reading in my primary at day 5,6,7. Then on in my secondary I start at the 6 day mark. If your recipe doesn't tell you what your FG should be then go ahead and look around online you can find a chart with the average listed for all types of styles. You will find a lot of different opinions out there, figure out what will work best for you. Best of luck.
 
it depends how long you plan on leaving it in primary

i take a reading before i pitch the yeast and then I generally check at week 1, week 3 and then around week 4 right before i rack to bottling bucket

you want to have 2-3 consistent readings a few days apart before you consider bottling or racking to secondary (if you even choose to do that)

easiest way to check is with a sanitized turkey baster or wine thief to fill the hydrometer tube, some people also use a sanitized ladle
 
I check my O.G before pitching the yeast and then I take a gravity reading 3-4 weeks from then, and shortly after that I keg/bottle.
 
A good point to mention from all the responses is not to check too often. I did that on my 1st brew,& lost a significant amount of beer to over-anilizing. No need to check it every day for 3-4 days,especially after 1 week. Even the 1st one I did,a cooper's OS lager kit,took 12 days to reach FG.
 
Are you from the future? If so, please tell me who is leading the National League East.

By the way, you should not get a final gravity of 1.000 or below. probably more like 1.010 - 1.015.

No I am not from the future (I know for sure because I´m not rich :D)
I use another form of date signature date/month/year :D
 

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