Help reading my hydrometer

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mikechambers

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This is my first brew, and I am trying to learn how to read the hydrometer. I got some readings which seemed odd the first time, which i posted in this thread:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=72477

Tonight I took a reading, and I think it is:

1.014 - 1.016

You can see a photo of it here:

http://flickr.com/photos/mikechambers/2678633583/in/set-72157606001004577/

The wort temp was 66 degrees (i know, a little low).

I am brewing a nut brown ale, and it has been in primary for about 10 days. I have'nt seen much if any activity in about a week.

So, did I read the hydrometer correctly? Is that around where it should be?

thanks for any help...

mike
 
Most hydrometers are actually calibrated to 60, so that's actually just a bit high, but nothing to really worry about. I'd say that it's at about 1.014 or so, so it is pretty much done fermenting and it looks like you are reading it correctly now.

It's about time for secondary if your going that route.
 
Yes. I am planning to do a secondary. However, we had a heat wave here, and the ambient air temp was around 75 degrees, so I was thinking i might leave it in primary for an extra week (3 total) which would maybe help clean up any off flavors.

I was then going to do a week in secondary.

Thoughts?

mike
 
I don't think the esters from high fermentation temps really never go away, they don't get consumed like diacetyl and other by products. If your going to leave it another week in primary, I would just go ahead and bottle after that, because it will be pretty much completely settled out. You won't benefit as much from a secondary after that long in primary, and you should really leave it in secondary a minimum two weeks every time, otherwise it's just not really worth transferring, so just go ahead and bottle.
 
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