Gravity Reading

[ShaneHed13]

Hey all, about to do my first post fermentation gravity reading on my first brew, a Muntons nut brown ale extract. I have the hydrometer but didn't have a container to test as little of liquid as possible.

Being a noob, I plan on siphoning off enough beer into as small a glass as I can to drop the meter in and test it out.

I am assuming that this beer should not be added back after testing in and things shouldn't be mixed up for this reading as hopefully the yeast mixed everything up well enough. It's been fermenting since the 20th of December, air lock has all but stopped and I hope to bottle by Friday so I want to check it a couple of times to make sure.

By advice from the home brew guy, I used the potential alcohol lines of my hydrometer but have since found that I should just be using the gravity lines. It was almost exactly on 5.5 potential alcohol, although in hindsight, I'm not sure I had everything mixed up as well as I should have so the reading could very well be low.

Just looking for some expert advice before I do this tonight. When I get home I'll double check where 5.5 potently alcohol falls for gravity on the hydrometer and post my findings.

Thanks all.

 

[Hello]

You want to measure gravity. What was your original gravity reading? I assume it was somewhere around 1.050 or there about.

You should buy yourself a test tube thing. It is easier to deal with than filling a glass. You need something tall and thin. You don't want to waste a bunch of beer on multiple tests.

If you can get something tall and fairly thin then you simply scoop up the beer in a sanitized cup and then drop your hydrometer in it. With buckets, I use a glass measuring cup that was sanitized. I don't let my hand touch the beer. I pour it into a test tube.

I do not pour the beer back into the bucket. For carboys I use a beer thief. Again, I just drink the sample. If I do 1 gallon batches I sanitize everything and do pour back in, but it's risky.

As for needing to bottle by Friday. Don't rush it. The yeast has a job to do even after fermentation. It starts cleaning up stuff and all that. At least you're giving it 2 weeks, which is more than some people tend to give when first starting out.

Read the part of your hydrometer that starts with .999 or something like that.

 

[Potamus]

There's no need to mix -- you don't want to stir it up and risk aerating the beer. Just draw off a sample and measure the gravity from the bottom of the meniscus. I wouldn't put the sample back in and risk contamination. Drink it and sample your new brew! As far as the alcohol lines on the hydrometer, I'm not sure how accurate they would be. The only way I've ever checked ABV is by (OG-FG)*131.25.

 

[ShaneHed13]

Appreciate it, there might be a turkey baster in the house cause it is in a carboy right now so I'll need to either siphon or use something thin. Obviously I'll sanitize whatever I use. Like I said, I'll have to check my hydrometer to see where 5.5 potential alcohol falls for gravity. But I assume it's the same on all hydrometers and everything I saw online reads about 1.45 to 1.46 but I'll double check.

 

[ShaneHed13]

So the bad news is that I don't have a test tube and I couldn't find anything that would have been suitable for a gravity test without wasting 32 or more ounces of the brew.

So notes for future brews, get a thermometer, a test tube, a turkey baster (siphoning it for a sample was not efficient...) and start using store bought water.

All the mistakes aside, I got my first test and there doesn't seem to be anything terribly wrong with it! It's dry, and has a good aroma. It is a little bit watered down tasting at this point but no off flavors or smells that I can detect at this time. It's cleared out pretty good and didn't notice anything floating around. I had my wife taste it and she didn't detect anything odd. When I taste tested at the store, I thought it was a bit watered down and over carbonated so I made sure to not add extra water, and will try to carbonate lower than what the gentleman suggested.

With everything I did wrong on my first batch, I'm excited that it might turn out drinkable!

Cheers Everyone!