Hydrometer question: do I need to use a sample tube?

[D0ug]

Silly noob question, and I apologize if it's been asked before but I didn't find much using the forum search.

I ferment my beer in pails, so instead of taking a sample with a thief from my fermentor, I have just been putting the sterilized hydrometer in it to take my gravity readings.

Is this bad practice, and if so how bad?

Thanks in advance for the advice

 

[gestyr]

Nope. Nothing wrong with that, as long as you can see it to take readings. I have heard of a lot of people doing this.

 

[Slider46]

Some may say bad practice, some may not.

If the hydrometer is sanitized then the only thing to worry about is oxygen. As the beer ferments it replaces the oxygen in the headspace of the pail with CO2. Excess CO2 goes out through the airlock. So with the fermenter closed, you have a protective layer of CO2 over top of the beer (since CO2 is heavier than air, it sits on top of the beer, keeping air off)

If you remove the lid, you take a chance of disturbing the 'blanket' of CO2 and letting in oxygen / bacteria / airborne things like dust. This is where a problem may lie - disturbing the protective blanket of CO2.

If you're careful, you may never have any problems. However, hastily popping the lid off or removing it multiple times could cause contaminates to get into the batch.

 

[Yooper]

What if you bump it against the side accidently and it breaks in your wort? That's my concern, so I use a turkey baster to pull out samples.

 

[azscoob]

I use a stainless baster to draw a sample, I use the tube that the hydrometer came in to do the measurement in,this is my method that I prefer in lieu of the afore mentioned broken glass situation.

 

[D0ug]

Thanks folks, I appreciate it. Puts my mind at ease, but I also appreciate the point about breaking it,I hadn't really considered that aspect. I should have, after all these things are notoriously fragile aren't they.

Thanks again.

 

[gestyr]

Here is a suggestion:

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/produ...=1227&osCsid=f531f75cd0a7f07870dc023b11138641

This is what I use. The hydrometer fits inside nicely.

 

[Shinglejohn]

I would be concerned also that your getting inacurate reading from the angle your taking them from. Unless you have a clear ferment bucket.

I say use your sample tube, plus you get to drinkthe sample!!!(or at least tatse it)

 

[BigJerk]

When I started brewing I thought I'd be a smarty-pants and just put the hydrometer in my carboy after pitching. a couple of issues: it's damned near impossible to pull a hydrometer out of a carboy, too many beers for me to think about that, and the krausen sticks to the hydrometer anyway, rendering it useless to read. this was about a year before I found this site, oh how many mistakes I could have avoided...

 

[rico567]

I just use the Fermtech wine thief; I take the sample, put the hydrometer in the thief, take the reading, and let the sample go back into the bucket*.

*Yes, yes, I know there are people out there who issue injunctions against ever putting a sample back in the bucket. Well, if the sample goes into something, or comes into contact with something that's unsanitized, then I can see it. Obviously, I sanitize my hydrometer / wine thief, so mine doesn't, so I don't.