Should I check gravity today?

Should I check my gravity today? I brewed 13 days ago, its a hefeweizen extract kit with some specialty grain. OG was 1.052. It's pretty well stopped bubbling, maybe a little one every couple of minutes now.

I've been good, and haven't even peeked once. I would really like to open it up and see, but if it's too early I don't want to risk an infection unnecessarily. Also, I don't plan on a secondary fermentation.

Thanks.

 

+1 yooper, joe RDWHAHB cracking the lid a couple times will not hurt your beer, and if I were you I would be itching to taste that sample

 

I most definitely am itching to try it. I don't really know when I am going to bottle. Whenever it's ready I guess... I don't really have a date set for it yet. And oh yeah Yooper, I was not going to dump out the sample.

I'll go put the turkey baster in starsan in a sec. Will a different temp of the liquid cause a skewed reading? It was 73 or so when I checked the OG on brew day, now its probably 64 or so.

 

You need to correct your readings to whatever your hydrometer is calibrated to, 68 or 60 degrees F. I'm assuming your 1.052 OG reading was at 73dF. That would be 1.053 corrected for temperature.

More information on correcting readings for temperature can be found at How to Brew - By John Palmer - Appendix A - Using Hydrometers

 

Ok I checked it. Other than being warm and flat (duh), it's not half bad. Lots of lemon notes. I'm quite pleased actually. It's a lot darker than a lot of hefeweizens I've seen, but I expected that b/c its extract.

The reading I got this time was 1.012 @ 61 deg F. I'll look up that appendix in Palmer and try to figure out what it all translates too (will I sip on the very first fruits of my home brewing labor!) Thanks again for all of your help.

P.S. I took a pic of the fermenter... how do I post it here? I clicked the insert image icon and it prompts me for a url.

 

This is a jury rig I came up with to keep the specialty grain bag off of the bottom of the pot.



Here's the fermentation 13 days in.

 

Lookin' good!

1.012 sounds like a good FG for a Hefeweizen. Check it again day after tomorrow; if the gravity is the same, you're good to bottle.

Bob

 

Good deal, I'm looking forward to the next batch!

 

Interesting timing, I JUST finished bottling my brewers best Hefeweizen about 10 minutes ago. One thing to try that helped my color is moving to late extract additions, It drastically improved the color of my hefe, with a 60 minute boil, and only adding 75% of the extract at 45 minutes in, I ended up with a very light yellow with at most a hint of orange. It's much lighter than that pic(sorry no pics)

 

I thought about that, once I read about late extract addition here, but I decided to follow the directions as closely as I could for the first go 'round. I might try it next time. Do you find any difference in flavor, or just color?

 

I haven't brewed this recipe before so I can't say for certain, but my impression is yes it's helped lighten the color compared to my previous batches(all 2 of them) in which I did it by the recipe.