Gravity Readings -- Leave it in!

[Hoptimistic]

your other option if your afraid of loss of beer form you batch is pick up a cheap refractometer from amazon for like $30.00 , and a package of a ton of disposable long pipets (like big eye droppers at least 12'' in length) $14.00-$17.00....

Not only does this solve the false reading problem and save you time degasing your sample as that is a problem. But..

YOU ALSO HAVE A REFRACTOMETER NOW.

you can measure the SG during anytime of the boil or fermentation and not have to worry about temperature correction at all. I LOVE MINE.

Most of all I'd say your best bet is to forget about your beer and check on it when its getting to be about time to bottle it. In the mean time you don't just have to sit around and wait. Give yourself other "brewery chores" to do in the mean time like; start making yeast cultures from dregs of your favorite beers, practice making starter worts with the correct gravity, try growing your own hops, keep a brew log, make a keezer, design labels, and of course you can always just brew more beer.

Whatever you do to keep yourself busy just leave your batch alone and eventually it'll be beer. But... If your like me and feel it necessary to be involved in your beer's early developmental stages and want to mess with it, get yourself a refractometer.

REFRACTOMETER
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AOCKWJI/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

PIPETS 1000 or 5000
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0081SWSFS/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[brewbike]

5 batches. Never have used the Hydrometer. Maybe I will be brave enough some day. As long as it tastes good...

 

[boydster]

5 batches. Never have used the Hydrometer. Maybe I will be brave enough some day. As long as it tastes good...

It's not about being brave. It's about using the right tool for the right job.

 

[Beergazzi]

I used to take multiple readings, now I just let it primary for 20-25 days, take one sample (its always been done) and bottle.

Im mostly at the point where the reading is only to figure out the abv% , after 3-4 weeks, unless you are doing something big, its done.

 

[boydster]

I used to take multiple readings, now I just let it primary for 20-25 days, take one sample (its always been done) and bottle.

Im mostly at the point where the reading is only to figure out the abv% , after 3-4 weeks, unless you are doing something big, its done.

The thing is, you can't be sure it's done. It might be at the target FG for the recipe, and maybe it should be done, but the yeast don't care what your target is and the malt certainly doesn't care about average sugar content. An infection, however unlikely and regardless of how fast- or slow-acting, also doesn't care about your targets. Without taking at least 2 readings with 3+ days between them, you don't actually know that your beer is done and safe to bottle. Until you accidentally bottle a batch that stalled a few points higher than it otherwise would have, or you bottle a batch that has an infection you didn't plan for, you probably won't realize that there is a reason everyone recommends checking gravity multiple times over several days to make sure it is stable before bottling.

 

[stpug]

I used to just play it by ear also. I used to only [not] use a hydrometer. It worked every time. I used to bottle.

I now choose to take reading and check FG. I use a refract and hydro. I now keg.

Processes change over time. I would have been better off doing it in reverse because at least I can easily vent pressure in a keg. I guess I care more about my beer now; I make better beer now too (not because of the gravity readings though but because of the process).

 

[jbaysurfer]

The thing is, you can't be sure it's done. It might be at the target FG for the recipe, and maybe it should be done, but the yeast don't care what your target is and the malt certainly doesn't care about average sugar content. An infection, however unlikely and regardless of how fast- or slow-acting, also doesn't care about your targets. Without taking at least 2 readings with 3+ days between them, you don't actually know that your beer is done and safe to bottle. Until you accidentally bottle a batch that stalled a few points higher than it otherwise would have, or you bottle a batch that has an infection you didn't plan for, you probably won't realize that there is a reason everyone recommends checking gravity multiple times over several days to make sure it is stable before bottling.

^ Is an infected beer likely to show any movement over 3 days? Nothing you said is wrong, but in terms of practical brewing, If you've got an ale yeast that hits its target after 3+ weeks, it's done. Yeah, maybe you can't be sure, but taking a second reading 3 days later can't give you 100% assurance either.

 

[boydster]

^ Is an infected beer likely to show any movement over 3 days? Nothing you said is wrong, but in terms of practical brewing, If you've got an ale yeast that hits its target after 3+ weeks, it's done. Yeah, maybe you can't be sure, but taking a second reading 3 days later can't give you 100% assurance either.

Point taken, but infection was just one small point that I made and there are some low flocculating yeasts that will drop a point or two over that same 3 day period when they near the end of fermentation and look like nothing is happening - and if you don't rouse the yeast, it might even settle out and look like it is done completely. I've got a batch going with S-33 that did just that and it's been in primary for more than 3 weeks. Taking a second reading with this batch (readings on day 14 and 17) was exactly what made me wait longer, and rousing the yeast after I took the second reading is going to mean this batch finishes properly instead of stalling before bottling. I don't think it would have created any bottle bombs, but it would have been overcarbed if I had just waited three weeks, took a reading to calculate ABV, then bottled.

Maybe this is just a personal thing, but I feel like this is a simple best practice to adhere to. After you've spent all the up-front time and energy crafting a beer, why would you decide to cut corners on taking a couple gravity readings at the end? It's so easy. To each, his own, though. Like I said, it might just be a personal thing for me and that is fine. The end result is always beer, and how great is that?

 

[BrewCrewKevin]

Really not that bad of an idea. I ferment in Ale Pails, and when I first started I would take readings right in the pail. I have never left it in, but same idea.

The Krausen lets up quite a bit by the time fermentation is done, so that was never a huge problem. Close enough for home brewing is what I think. And I've always just let it ferment a few weeks anyways, to make sure fermentation is complete.