I have 3 batches fermenting right now and I got this crazy idea. Taking samples from buckets and filling a cylinder can be a bit of a pain and when your making 5 gallons, it can eat into the volume of the final product. I have heard of the "fast ferment" test where you take a sample and put it on a stir plate for a while and see what the potential fg may be of the rest of the batch, before the rest of the batch is finished fermenting. This is sort of a twist on that.
I took a sample put the hydrometer in it and it read 1.019. I left the sample with the hydrometer in it on my kitchen counter, and the next day it reads 1.014 after twisting the hydrometer again. Are these numbers valid compared to the rest of the batch? I have a feeling that the sample sitting on my kitchen counter at 75 ish degrees is fermenting faster than the fermenter in my chest freezer set at 67. I bet the sample is ahead of the rest of the batch a bit. Even so, if I read the same sample over and over each day until it stops dropping, I probably have a good idea that the rest of the batch is pretty much done as well. In other words, if the sample reads the same for three days, the next day, a new sample will probably read the same. This allows me to track gravity without having to constantly grab new samples, which both risk contamination and reduce the bottling kegging volume.
Anyone see any issues with this?
Another thought: I suppose if I leave the sample in the fermentation chamber it will stay at the same temperature as the rest of the batch and will probably be closer in readings.
Anyone else doing something like this?
I took a sample put the hydrometer in it and it read 1.019. I left the sample with the hydrometer in it on my kitchen counter, and the next day it reads 1.014 after twisting the hydrometer again. Are these numbers valid compared to the rest of the batch? I have a feeling that the sample sitting on my kitchen counter at 75 ish degrees is fermenting faster than the fermenter in my chest freezer set at 67. I bet the sample is ahead of the rest of the batch a bit. Even so, if I read the same sample over and over each day until it stops dropping, I probably have a good idea that the rest of the batch is pretty much done as well. In other words, if the sample reads the same for three days, the next day, a new sample will probably read the same. This allows me to track gravity without having to constantly grab new samples, which both risk contamination and reduce the bottling kegging volume.
Anyone see any issues with this?
Another thought: I suppose if I leave the sample in the fermentation chamber it will stay at the same temperature as the rest of the batch and will probably be closer in readings.
Anyone else doing something like this?
