Brew just boiled over a little bit...and how do I measure OG

[ColoradoBrewMeister]

So...

My brew just boiled over a bit...not a lot...but enough that it looks like some hops just came out...should I be okay?!?!?!

Also, for checking the OG, can I just put my hydrometer right in my wort once it has cooled to check?

 

[cms]

Your beer will be fine, even if some hops fell overboard. You may lose some bitterness, but it will still be fine.

I checked by floating my hydrometer in the bucket before, but that was before I realized that I had to shake the holy hell out of it to get the wort to mix with my top-off water. Since doing that, the wort in the bucket is WAY too frothy to do that. I think you are best off drawing a sample out to test since it will either (1) take forever for that froth to die back enough to get a reading or (2) mean that you are testing unmixed wort+top-off water and will get a bad reading. My last few batches, I used a sanitized turkey-baster to suck out enough wort to test in the hydrometer jar. You can get the actual mixed wort this way, and get a good measurement.

 

[Hamada]

Don't worry about the boil-over. You probably didn't lose enough hop material to worry about.

As far as checking gravity, you should be able to check the gravity of the cooled wort in the kettle or fermenter but you'll get a better reading out of a transparent vessel like the tube the hydrometer was packaged in. If you're doing a partial boil, make sure the wort is mixed well with the top-off water before checking your gravity.

 

[B0rnFrustr8ed]

I could be wrong here, but if you are asking if you can measure the cooled wort before adding water to get to 5 gallons (presumably), then the answer is no.

I've done that.

 

[ColoradoBrewMeister]

Okay...

I will chill the wort, add to the carboy mix with water, then draw a sample with my auto siphon into the hydrometer tube.

 

[cappy]

Be sure to mix really well after topping off. Shake, swirl, stir, lather rinse repeat.