Check gravity before or after yeast?

[zickefoose]

So I usually check my gravity after pitching my yeast, but I thought I'd check this time before I pitch my yeast just for funsies. The difference was almost 10 points!

Which do I use, the number before or after yeast pitch?

I used a 2 liter starter by the way.

 

[Hammy71]

I check before I pitch. Make sure you decant most of the liquid off a starter that big. Your readings really shouldn't be different.

 

[EricT]

I always check right before I pitch.

 

[pwndabear]

i always check before i pitch.

when you make a starter, its up to you whether or not you decant the liquid and pitch only the yeast. i've seen people say both ways but regardless of what you choose, it's not going to hurt anything. with 2 litres though, you may want to decant some but again, its not gonna hurt anything if you dont.

 

[badmajon]

Before pitching is the normal way of doing it.

 

[frazier]

+1 on checking before pitching, and +1 on decanting before pitching. If you are dumping an entire 2L starter, that bumps the volume by 10% which is significant (probably a 3 or 4 point drop in gravity would be the result). Plus now your wort is probably not only diluted, but stratified as well, so who knows what the reading means.

 

[BrewThruYou]

I always check before pitching.

One time, I sprinkled dry yeast on top before checking gravity. Then I pulled a sample. Left the hydrometer in the test jar on my counter overnight because of laziness and had a big krausen the next morning. The tiny bit of yeast I pulled up fermented the test jar wort.

 

[pwndabear]

I always check before pitching.

One time, I sprinkled dry yeast on top before checking gravity. Then I pulled a sample. Left the hydrometer in the test jar on my counter overnight because of laziness and had a big krausen the next morning. The tiny bit of yeast I pulled up fermented the test jar wort.

you drank it... right?

 

[Revvy]

I check before I pitch, as soon as I am done racking the beer to the fermenter. Before I pitch my yeast. If it's an extract batch with top off water I usually wait til I've aerate my wort to try to integrate the wort and water better, but if it's AG just before I aerate.

 

[zickefoose]

Never thought about decanting my starter. I needed such a big starter because my OG was supposed to be 1.085. That makes sense why it would drop so much putting all that extra liquid. I hope it doesn't hurt it too much.

 

[joetothemo]

"That extra liquid" has alcohol in it. That is why I test OG before pitching my starter (I do the whole thing at high krausen if I can time it right). I can't handle the math on an already busy brew day and don't want to take a SG sample from my starter to really dig down.

When I am pitching 2L on top of a 5.5-6Gal wort, I presume the impact on the FG to be pretty minimal. Maybe it isn't, but I don't know if I could tell the difference between a 5.5% ABV brew and a 5.65% ABV brew.

 

[RugerRedhawk]

Before is what all of the kit instructions specify.

 

[BrewThruYou]

you drank it... right?

Nah. It was still actively fermenting and kinda made a mess on the counter. I should've put it in a corner, waited for it to finish and drank it.