When to check OG?

[agbrewer03]

I am a little confused when you should take the OG reading.

Right after you fill your fermenter and before you pitch the yeast? right after you pitch yeast? When?

 

[hellawaits77]

Once it's cooled down to your fermentation temp and you've put it in the fermenter, before you pitch the yeast.

 

[RLinNH]

I am a little confused when you should take the OG reading.

Right after you fill your fermenter and before you pitch the yeast? right after you pitch yeast? When?

Prior to pitching the yeast. Personally, I place a small glass in my Star Sans bucket, and once I kill the boil, I take a sample from the boil kettle and place it aside for my reading.

 

[3PegBrew]

As the 2 posts above said. I recommend getting a refractometer to double check your OGs if you are going to do this as a hobby. Same idea as a hydrometer, but it uses the brix scale (which is easily calculated with google from Brix to SG) Balance and check

 

[RandomBeerGuy]

+1 on the refractomenter uses less product and you look like a smart brewer when you pull it out "hmm let me see if my calculations are correct that's about 1.056 OG" said in a geek voice

 

[TipsyDragon]

Take an OG reading after you have topped up to your full batch volume but before you add yeast.

Also keep in mind that if your using extract it is nutritious for sinking to the bottom of the brew pot and not mixing well with the water. If this does happen and you draw your sample from the bottom of the pot it will give a false high reading. Conversely if you draw from the top you can get a false low reading. All SG readings need to be adjusted for temperature of the sample.

 

[HopHead_32]

Once it's cooled down to your fermentation temp and you've put it in the fermenter, before you pitch the yeast.

+1 After it's cooled down from the boil and it's ready to put in my fermenter. I take a small sample and that is my OG (before I pitch the yeast)