Measuring FG before or after adding Priming Sugar?

What kind of reading would you get if you measured the FG after adding the priming surgar vs. measuring it before the sugar?

I use a glass carboy for primary and secondary fermentation so I can't measure the gravity in either of those with my float-type hydrometer. I measure the SG before I transfer to the carboy and usually just wait til the bubbling has stopped for a few days to transfer to secondary. (Any suggestions on this issue as well?)

When I rack to a bottling bucket, I can take the FG, but I usually add the priming sugar to the bucket first then siphon so it mixes well. Could I add the priming sugar in the bucket last and just mix it up? Isn't there more of a chance for contamination?

Use a wine theif or turkey baster and pull enough beer for a sample. Put this into a separate test tube, which are available for pretty cheap from any of the online providers.

If you measure the gravity after adding priming sugar, your measurement will come out higher than it actually is and thus give you an inaccurate ABV.

Adding the priming sugar last is in theory possible, however you will likely not have it mixed properly. One possible work around would be to rack just enough beer to get your measurement, then ad your sugar and rack the rest of the beer on top of it, trying to mix is up as much as possible. Not sure how effective this will be, but it might be worth a try if you can't wait for the test tube.

And as far as contamination goes - realistically there is a chance of contamination in ANY process you do, and so the more processes that your beer undergoes, the more chances of contamination. That being said, as long as you have proper sanitation, there is no reason not to do this, or do any other step that often stirs up fear (racking to secondary/dry hopping/etc).

That's not a bad idea to just rack half the beer, then take the reading, then add the sugar and the rest of the beer. I think it would mix just fine doing it that way?

Is there any formula or any way to figure out what the FG would have been even after I measured it with the priming sugar? I would think there might be since you know exactly how much priming sugar you are adding?

Putting your hydrometer into your beer directly in a bucket or carboy, is not how most of us do things....it's nearly impossible to see anything...

This is what I use, and it works with both buckets and carboys



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)r.

2) remove lid

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) take reading

It is less than 30 seconds from the time the lid is removed until it is closed again.

Probably less if you have help.

You can also use a wine theif, and some folks put the hydrometer into the wine theif rather than drain it to a sample tube.

I outline my entire bottling process, including hydro readings here; https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/revvys-tips-bottler-first-time-otherwise-94812/

That seems like a pretty simple idea. Thanks for the pics. I just have to pick up a turkey baster and a test tube now!

I use a wine thief to get my samples, but wish I had just used Revvy's method. Simple, cheap, same results.

Richabt said:

I use a wine thief to get my samples, but wish I had just used Revvy's method. Simple, cheap, same results.

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I started with a theif, and put the hydrometer right in it after drawing a sample. But I just had a hard time reading it in there. Usually there was too much foam on the top line.

I seem to get less foam when drawing with my baster. I just got an awesome SS baster to use, instead of the plastic one I've been using.

Picture this... with the racking cane in one hand as my beer is coming out of my elevated primary and quickly siphoning into my bottling bucket with priming sugar in the bottom, I have a measuring cup nearby which I grab, I bend over and bite the siphon tube to pull it up out of the bottling bucket (it's still siphoning of course) and I put my cup under the tube and get a cup of 'un-primed' beer for my FG... of course if someone is around I forgo the teeth thing and just ask them to hold the cup for me and I use my free hand to pull the tube out of the bottling bucket and hold it over the cup... That's the easy way but someone has to be around (means the wife can't be mad at me...)

And yes you should always take the FG w/out the priming sugar cause sugar will add to it .

Netflyer said:

Picture this... with the racking cane in one hand as my beer is coming out of my elevated primary and quickly siphoning into my bottling bucket with priming sugar in the bottom, I have a measuring cup nearby which I grab, I bend over and bite the siphon tube to pull it up out of the bottling bucket (it's still siphoning of course) and I put my cup under the tube and get a cup of 'un-primed' beer for my FG... of course if someone is around I forgo the teeth thing and just ask them to hold the cup for me and I use my free hand to pull the tube out of the bottling bucket and hold it over the cup... That's the easy way but someone has to be around (means the wife can't be mad at me...)

And yes you should always take the FG w/out the priming sugar cause sugar will add to it .

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That sounds like my technique

Netflyer said:

And yes you should always take the FG w/out the priming sugar cause sugar will add to it .

Click to expand...

OK, newbie error time: I just did this, forgetting to measure FG before racking from carboy onto priming sugar (4 oz corn sugar + 2 cups water) solution I had put into my bottling bucket. I measured the SG a week ago, and it was about 1.013, and I expected it to fall to its FG of 1.010 this weekend, when I planned to bottle it.

But surprisingly, the gravity of the beer (5 gal) + sugar solution was closer to 1.018. Could that corn sugar solution raise the FG that much?!

4 ounces of corn sugar will raise your gravity .002 in a 5 gallon batch. Did you need to adjust for temperature or have lots of bubbles clinging to the hydrometer?

btw... the whole point of checking the FG is to see if it's ready to bottle. You shouldn't even be getting bottles ready until you've reached your FG.

ChshreCat said:

4 ounces of corn sugar will raise your gravity .002 in a 5 gallon batch. Did you need to adjust for temperature or have lots of bubbles clinging to the hydrometer?

btw... the whole point of checking the FG is to see if it's ready to bottle. You shouldn't even be getting bottles ready until you've reached your FG.

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Thanks, yes, that's why I'm flummoxed. It was 1.012 or thereabouts, then magically went up to 1.018 a week later, after sugar solution added, and I twirled the hydrometer many times to remove bubbles, then checked calibration after that (dead on 1.000). The sugar simply shouldn't have raised the gravity that much. Sigh.

Oh well, it's bottled up, I will just hope to not have any leaks or explosions.