When to take gravity reading?

So i brewed my first batch about 5 days ago now, and i'm seeing a slowing in activity at the airlock. I've read to NOT go solely on what the airlock is saying but instead take gravity readings and ensure its the same 2-3 days later. My question is when should i take a gravity reading? My OG was 1.040 and it is a Scottish Ale.

Can i take a reading now and check again in a few days? or should i wait for that 7 day mark like the directions say and just rack it anyway?

Thanks in advance

You can take gravity readings as often as you want. Generally speaking:
When you rack to fermenter
Pitch +7 days or so
A couple days later
Repeat if the last 2 don't match

I find that most (emphasis on most) fermentations are complete within 7 days. I will usually take a reading on day 8, then day 11. If the same, no more readings, but I will let it sit in the fermenter for another couple weeks.

I see, im only curious because my ferm bucket is ~6 gal and i want to rack it to my 5 gal plastic carboy so i can do another brew this weekend. Guess i'll have to wait longer for brew day.....

By all means take a reading if you want. Just make sure it's stable before bottling/racking

Don't push the brew day. With that brewing setup I would rack it to the secondary and take a measurement in the processes, because you aren't going to need the head space for the remainder of fermentation. You could even use the slury for your yeast if you want. Mr. Malty has a calculator for that.

wait for your brew day. Let it sit for a couple weeks to a month. Then bottle. This will ensure it is completely done. The extra time will give the yeast time to clean up after themselves and make for a tastier brew.

Toga said:

wait for your brew day. Let it sit for a couple weeks to a month. Then bottle. This will ensure it is completely done. The extra time will give the yeast time to clean up after themselves and make for a tastier brew.

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+1 ^^ : my $.02

I'd plan to leave it about 14 days from the day you pitched, you can check the gravity at day 11 and then day 14. If there's no change, and there shouldn't be, rack and bottle. I'd leave it at least a week to carb up at around 70 deg F. Then, I'd plan on at least another week of conditioning - the temp for conditioning can be colder and the fridge, space permitting, is a good place. I'd verify carbonation before moving a bunch into the fridge tho. I usually leave my carbonating bottles for 14 days and throw one into the fridge for a day and check the carbonation. If it's good, I'll move 10-12 to the fridge to condition and keep replacing them as I drink a few. Instead of always racking to a secondary JUST to free up a bucket, go buy a $14 second 6 gallon bucket - I wouldn't risk aeration racking to secondary just to utilize a bucket I already have. Use the secondary bucket for dry hopping or fruit additions.

If you rack now the yeast will still be able to clean up and the beer will age. No need to push your brew day out. As long as you are sanitary with your methods, you are not compromising quality in the least. There will be plenty of yeast to do it's thing in the secondary. The conditioning will get done without being rushed just simply in another vessel.

J187 said:

Use the secondary bucket for dry hopping or fruit additions.

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explain dry hopping please....

RIC0 said:

explain dry hopping please....

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From the Wiki here:

Dry hopping
The term refers to the practice of adding unboiled hops to the wort/beer at any point after it has been cooled. It is more akin to steeping than anything else. Since this method involves no heat, it extracts no bitterness; it is solely for the purpose of adding more hop aromas and flavors to the beer. Though this is the conventional wisdom among brewers, some bitterness from dry hopping may be possible in some situations. Alpha acid is not soluble in water at room temperature, but it is in ethanol. A strong beer that has already fermented may be able to take on more bitterness. A few brewers have reported good results, but more research is needed on this topic.
For home brewers; dry hopping is often used to fix a batch that went wrong. If after primary fermentation; there is a lack of hoppieness or a flavor of tannins that needs covering, dry hopping can save or at lest improve the final beer.
The standard dry-hopping method is to add hops to the beer once it has finished fermenting, and has been transferred off of the yeast (racking). When hopping takes place after the fermentation, none of the aroma will be lost with escaping CO2. The amount of time a beer spends dry-hopping varies depending on the beer style, but 1-2 weeks is typically adequate. The quantity of hops added is generally similar to that of finishing hops in a boil, but this depends on the desired results. Though not common practices; some people add the hops when bottling. Some brewers steam the hops before adding them to the beer to avoid any possibility of contamination, though this is a very unlikely problem, due to the properties of hops.

Schlomo said:

So i brewed my first batch about 5 days ago now, and i'm seeing a slowing in activity at the airlock. I've read to NOT go solely on what the airlock is saying but instead take gravity readings and ensure its the same 2-3 days later. My question is when should i take a gravity reading? My OG was 1.040 and it is a Scottish Ale.

Can i take a reading now and check again in a few days? or should i wait for that 7 day mark like the directions say and just rack it anyway?

Thanks in advance

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Yes, no activity in the airlock is not an absolute indicator that fermentation is complete. Conversely though, any airlock activity is a very good indicator that fermentation is not complete.

So, if your point is to begin establishing when fermentation is complete, there is no reason to that point to check gravity while there is any hint of activity in the airlock.

I wait at least 2 weeks before any readings, but usually longer than that - unless I think there's a problem with fermentation and I need to check

What's the most sanitary way to check for gravity?

More experienced than I hopefully will chime in, but I'd think the most sanitary way would be some sort of drain on the fermenter where you can just open a valve to let out a sample. The outflow, I'd think, would preclude ingressed contamination.

My method I think is pretty good. I just pull the airlock out of the grommet, opening only the small hole it is, then inserting a sanitized thin tube though that hole and pulling out a sample with a 60cc syringe. That's enough sample to float the hydrometer in the tube it came in.

If you're using a thief, wet it with your sanitizer. Then drop the hydro in to the thief . if you don't have a thief, you can dunk the hydro directly into the sanitizer, then into the beer. Start san is my favorite because it's no rinse. I would go with the thief.

whoaru99 said:

any airlock activity is a very good indicator that fermentation is not complete.

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I'm not sure that is always the case.

It could be 1) CO2 coming out of solution. Just like when you pour yourself a Coke bubbles come out of solution, and will continue to come out of solution for quite some time even though it has been exposed to 1 ATM of pressure for a long period of time. When yeast is fermenting it is producing CO2 in solution. Over time that will all come out of solution just like a coke going flat. If you filled a fermentor with 5 gallons of coke, I bet you would see it bubbling away for days, maybe a week or two.

It could also be 2) an infection. Some wild yeasts ferment very slowly. While the fermentation of the yeast you pitched is complete these could continue on for quite some time. If you want to save the beer you probably want to get it in bottles and finish drinking it before the wild flavors that are slowly introduced take over.

Thank you for all the quick responses. I plan to stop by my LHBS today and pick up a few things i forgot with my NB order. I wanted to grab another ferm bucket but wanted to see what you guys suggested between a Ale Pale or a Better Bottle 6gal for fermentation? Im leaning toward a better bottle right now.

Also, my gf requested a pumpkin beer so i went with the Smashin Pumpkin Ale from NB, has anyone brewed this? I've been throwing around the idea of just brewing it without the extra additions and seeing how it comes out, but if someone can say its much better with it i'll try it out.

Cheers

Sure, few things are absolute when you're trying to give a general guideline. There is always an exception to any generality but I tend to operate with the norm in mind, not the worst case scenarios, when trying to provide that general guideline.

Everybody has their recommendations, here's mine.

Take gravity readings when you want to know the gravity. When I first started brewing, I took readings every 3-5 days throughout fermentation. Now I take an OG before I pitch the yeast, and a FG when I bottle. The yeast knows what to do without any help from me. When I was taking intemediate gravity readings I would spray starsan on the inside and outside of a turkey baster and remove wort from the top of the brew bucket. It goes into a test jar and the hydrometer settles into the jar. The jar contents is also called a sample. Now I just leave each batch 4 weeks in primary and bottle. No under-attenuated batches and no bottle bombs thus far.

whoaru99 said:

...My method I think is pretty good. I just pull the airlock out of the grommet, opening only the small hole it is, then inserting a sanitized thin tube though that hole and pulling out a sample with a 60cc syringe. That's enough sample to float the hydrometer in the tube it came in.

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Thanks for your response. I'm new to this so please bear with me: the tube is long enough to reach the sample, and putting the shorter syringe in the tube creates enough reverse pressure to draw the sample up the tube and into the syringe. Is that correct?

Best,

Steve

lhommedieu said:

Thanks for your response. I'm new to this so please bear with me: the tube is long enough to reach the sample, and putting the shorter syringe in the tube creates enough reverse pressure to draw the sample up the tube and into the syringe. Is that correct?

Best,

Steve

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Get yourself a turkey baster or a wine thief - a loner wine thief is probably better for carboys so you can get a sample from the relative middle, I use a baster in my bucket. Even if you don't use starsan as your everyday sanitizer, get a small bottle to make up a spray bottle to keep on hand. Star san lasts for a very long time in a spray bottle and the spray is very effective at sanitizing. Any time you need to take a sample, spray the outside of the baster/thief, and suck a little into the baster/thief and swish around. Then, draw a sample - from the middle if possible - and once you are done using the sample, throw it away or drink it, but don't put it back into the beer. It's helpful the first time you get the right amount of beer into the hydrometer tube, to take out the hydrometer and mark off the level on the tube with a marker. That way, next time you draw a sample, you'll know exactly where to fill it to.

gcdowd said:

I find that most (emphasis on most) fermentations are complete within 7 days. I will usually take a reading on day 8, then day 11. If the same, no more readings, but I will let it sit in the fermenter for another couple weeks.

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This is pretty much what I do. Sometimes I check on the 5th and 8th days. All but one of my ferments (8 in total) have been complete within 5 days. The last one is for good measure, and to ensure that you don't get bottle bombs.

Any chance of spoiling the beer by exposing the bucket to air? I suppose that this is a typical OCD newbie question...

lhommedieu said:

Any chance of spoiling the beer by exposing the bucket to air? I suppose that this is a typical OCD newbie question...

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Not in the time it takes to get your sample. Just close it when you're finished.

lhommedieu said:

Any chance of spoiling the beer by exposing the bucket to air? I suppose that this is a typical OCD newbie question...

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I took a reading on a stout a few months ago and forgot to put the lid back on. My beer was exposed to the air for 6 hours and it was totally fine. Beer really is pretty resilient.

gcdowd said:

beer really is pretty resilient.

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+1

lhommedieu said:

Any chance of spoiling the beer by exposing the bucket to air? I suppose that this is a typical OCD newbie question...

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Of course there are risks involved, but just be careful. It's better to make sure there is nothing around to fall into the beer. Take caution not to rest the cap or lid face down on anything. Don't shake the beer. Limit the time it is open if you can, etc. It's not something you should avoid doing because of risks, rather just be aware.

OK - I'll stop being so paranoid, lol...

lhommedieu said:

OK - I'll stop being so paranoid, lol...

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Paranoid: good , careless: bad

lhommedieu said:

Thanks for your response. I'm new to this so please bear with me: the tube is long enough to reach the sample, and putting the shorter syringe in the tube creates enough reverse pressure to draw the sample up the tube and into the syringe. Is that correct?

Best,

Steve

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Yes and no.

Yes, the tube is long enough to reach the brew but, no, not sure we're on the same page about the syringe.

The syringe is a 60cc veterinary syringe. Think like getting a big injection at the doctor, only in reverse.

I don't use the needle, the tubing goes over the little tip part in the center of the end. Then you just draw it out by pulling out the plunger.

The other methods described are great tried and true methods, e.g. wine thief, but this was cheap, easy, and close at hand for me.

whoaru99 said:

Yes and no.

Yes, the tube is long enough to reach the brew but, no, not sure we're on the same page about the syringe.

The syringe is a 60cc veterinary syringe. Think like getting a big injection at the doctor, only in reverse.

I don't use the needle, the tubing goes over the little tip part in the center of the end. Then you just draw it out by pulling out the plunger.

The other methods described are great tried and true methods, e.g. wine thief, but this was cheap, easy, and close at hand for me.

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Thanks for your response. I think we are on the same page: the syringe tip goes into the tubing and you draw up the liquid through the tubing and into the syringe. I am going to assume that you sanitize the tubing and syringe with something like STARsan beforehand.

I'm an elementary school science teacher and we use plastic tubing and plastic syringes to learn about air pressure, so I already have a 50 cc plastic syringe without the needle, lol. Now I just need to find the right kind of tubing to go through the small hole on the top of my Northern Brewery bucket.

Best,


Steve

Yup, I pull out the plunger and soak the whole kit in Star San, then after a couple minutes I reassemble and draw in and push out a couple syringe fulls of sanitizer. Last one I push out quite forcefully to try to purge as much as possible from the hose, then I do not draw in until the hose is in the wort.

I just got some plain old 1/8"(?) id vinyl tubing from the Fleet-Farm where I bought the syringe. Again though, if it works good for you will depend on the size of your hydrometer vessel. Mine is quite small. The syringe probably won't be enough to do even the small/medium sized graduated cylinders I've seen. I guess you could double dip but that always worries me a bit. Suppose a sprayer with Star San could be used to spritz the hose before reinserting if you had to.