Gravity readings scared to take

[irishwater]

I am kind of scared to take them. I know I need to, but I am worried every time I open the fermenter. I am letting Oxygen into the fermenter. I am also scared that if I keep introducing clean and sanitized equipment I might by some odd chance contaminate. I have a thief, but it never seems like I get enough wort in it to get a reading. Another side question. I use star san. Can the foam in my thief change my gravity. Sorry for going on and on

 

[Revvy]

If it ruined beer to take grav readings, Why we would recommend it so much?

Relax....It akes a lot to ruin your beer....Read some of the threads around here and you'll see that. You just have n00b Jitters.... People have shoved their arm up to the elbow in a bucket of beer to fish something out, people have got hair into their beer, theirs and their pets...And other things, and their beer has turned out fine. It is not some weak thing that will get sick if you look at it.

It is protected by a layer of co2 that is heavier than oxygen this keeps stuff from landing on it. As long as you sanitize your wine theif or turkey baster, and draw your sample, then close it up after you'll be fine.

I take about 3 readings per batch of beer and have never had any problems.

 

[irishwater]

what about the question I had about star san foam in my thief?

 

[Revvy]

what about the question I had about star san foam in my thief?

I don't use starsan, so I can't answer that one...I use Iodophor.

 

[irishwater]

what are the pros and cons of that sanitizer? Thank you and yes I am a newbie. I am on my fourth batch

 

[Yuri_Rage]

How often are you taking a reading? You really only need a few of them - one before pitching to get the OG, and then a few more right before bottling to ensure that it's finished and determine the FG.

The foam will have a negligible effect on your readings.

 

[irishwater]

I try to get a start and final but, I always mess up the start and then I take one final. I know I need to work on that

 

[Revvy]

what are the pros and cons of that sanitizer? Thank you and yes I am a newbie. I am on my fourth batch

It's really a matter of prefrence more than anything else. There's plenty of threads on here discussing each...use the search rather than "re-inventing the wheel, by soliciting everyone's opinions...They're already on the forum in plenty.

I recommend people listen to the Basic Brewing podcasts and make up their own mind.

March 22, 2007 - Sanitizing with Iodophor
Murl Landman of National Chemicals talks to us about sanitization techniques in general and using Iodophor specifically.

http://media.libsyn.com/media/basicbrewing/bbr03-22-07.mp3


March 29, 2007 - Sanitizing with Bleach and Star San
Charlie Talley from Five Star Chemicals tells us best practices in using household bleach and Star San in sanitizing equipment.

http://media.libsyn.com/media/basicbrewing/bbr03-29-07.mp3