Hydrometer 101

[brewbama]

Is the trub in my hydrometer tube giving me higher OG hydrometer readings than it should be?

I am new to the whirlflock tabs and trying to get my beer clearer. I've always settled with cloudy homebrew. I have used half a tab on four 5 gal batches now and I am not having much luck whirl pooling the trub in the brew kettle to keep it out of the fermenter even though I strain the hops from the wort via a kettle valve and hand held mesh strainer. I've heard hop bags help and I've used one before, but I also heard it restricts hop flavor and aroma benefit to a degree. More importantly, I am concerned the trub is affecting my OG hydrometer reading.

I took this sample from the fermenter spigot right after I filled the fermenter yesterday. This is my sample this AM:

 

[freisste]

If your hydrometer is touching it, it is probably having an effect.

Pour your sample into a drinking glass and leave the trub behind. Then clean your sample tube, dump the sample from the glass back into the tube, and test gravity again.

 

[flars]

Try pouring from the boil kettle to fermentor through a BIAB grain bag. Have the bag resting in a funnel that contains a strainer. This can remove 95% of the hop debris.

May take a second pair of hands to hold the grain bag during the pour. A stand can be built to do the holding also.

You could take your hydrometer sample from the top with a turkey baster.

 

[brewbama]

If your hydrometer is touching it, it is probably having an effect.

Pour your sample into a drinking glass and leave the trub behind. Then clean your sample tube, dump the sample from the glass back into the tube, and test gravity again.

Though my hydrometer is not touching the trub in the tube, I thought this was a simple solution so I tried it.



It didn't affect the outcome much, if at all, so I guess the trub did not affect the reading.

Try pouring from the boil kettle to fermentor through a BIAB grain bag. Have the bag resting in a funnel that contains a strainer. This can remove 95% of the hop debris.

May take a second pair of hands to hold the grain bag during the pour. A stand can be built to do the holding also.

You could take your hydrometer sample from the top with a turkey baster.

I'll try these ideas next brew day. Thank You.

 

[arbiadya]

The hydrometer reading will not be affected. The trub will displace the brew up. So essentially the height of the liquid will be raised in the test jar. As long as the hydrometer is not embedded in the trub, you should be fine.

 

[unionrdr]

Also looks like you could have some cold break down there. It looks like crumbles to wet popcorn. I strain the chilled wort into the fermenter with a dual layer fine mesh strainer. Aerates well too. Then top off with spring water that's chilled in the fridge (or cold garage) for a day or two before brew day. This gets 75F wort down to 65F in very short order,creating cold break that looks like what you've got in the hydrometer tube. This settles out first after stirring 3-5 minutes roughly to mix wort & top off. Once that settles,I take my hydrometer sample. I also use Fivestar Super Moss in the brew kettle.