Beer after gravity reading?

[AAIndigo]

So I moved my lager from primary to secondary this weekend. Took a gravity reading before hand and was about 4 points higher then FG. I have a few questions.

1) can I assume that 3 to 4 more weeks in a secondary will help my beer come down to the 1/012 reading that its suppose to be at and

2) What do you guys do with the beer that you pull out for testing. Everything was sterilized, do you pour it out or back in. I played it safe and poured out.

Hate to waste good beer

Archie

 

[Clann]

Drink the sample so you don't "waste" good beer

 

[JonM]

Yep, drink it. If you pour it back, it poses an infection risk, even if you sanitize everything.

 

[stratslinger]

Also - when making true lagers, tasting them along the way is VERY important!

Lagers can tend to develop a compound called Diacetyl, that tastes like butter and gives the lager almost an oily mouthfeel. The only way to know if it's there, at least for us homebrewers, is to taste it! If you have signs of Diacetyl when the beer is 75% or so fermented, then you perform what's called a Diacetyl rest; you raise the temperature of the fermenter by about 10 degrees for 2 or 3 days, allowing the yeast to become more active and remove that Diacetyl for you.