A plethora of gravity readings - which one to believe?

Hello folks,

I brewed Stone's 7th Anniversary Ale yesterday, target OG 1.079. As the wort boiled down I took refractometer readings from the top of the pot, the final one being 23 brix. I cooled the wort to 74 and began to siphon into my carboy, and as I did I took a hydrometer reading of 1.095, which coincided with the previous refractometer reading.

After siphoning into the carboy, I realized that I had 5 gallons of super potent wort in a 6.5 gallon carboy, so I decided to weaken the beer and increase the quantity by adding 1gal water. After this I siphoned a bit of wort from the middle of the carboy and read a 1.060 with my hydrometer and confirmed the reading with a 14.5 brix reading.

This seemed awfully low, I didn't think that 1gal would weaken the beer to that extent. I pitched my starter, shook up my carboy, and decided to take another reading just for kicks. This time I used my thief and took a hydrometer reading of 1.075.

I woke up this morning to a big fermentation, so big that I installed my blow off tube just in case. This evening, as I admired the particles vigorously churning around in the beer, I decided that everything should be pretty uniform so I used my thief and took a 1.062 hydrometer reading. This reading was taken after approximately 18 hours of visible fermentation.

My question is probably obvious at this point - which reading to I trust!? I realize that immediately after boiling and cooling there is a lot of sediment floating around the beer and I'm assuming this has a lot to do with my variable readings. At what depth in the fresh wort is it appropriate to take readings? Any theory behind this would be appreciated.

Thank you for looking everyone.

 

(95*5)/6 = 79 Believe the thief.

 

I get your conclusion, but would you mind explaining how you arrived at it please?

 

1.095 at 5 gallons (95 gravity point times 5 gals = 475 total points) and now that is diluted you would have 475 points in 6 gallons which equals 79 points per per gallon or 1.079.

 

Thank you Step. Based on these responses I take it that you folks think the initial 1.095/23 readings are accurate. Can I assume that I only read a 1.060 after pouring in 1gal water because the wort just wasn't mixed enough? This would explain why, after aerating, I read a 1.075. It all makes sense now!