Hold back on S.G. Readings?

[crbice]

I have a couple brews doing their thing in the fermenter. I have a brown that started out at 1.046 and has been fermenting in a primary for over three weeks. I checked the gravity little over a week ago (at two weeks in primary) and was at 1.020. I'd like to get it bottled as soon as possible to free up brewing space. The topic at hand is should I take it easy on getting gravity readings? There is still some activity in the airlock and a decent layer of bubbles on the top. Will I hurt the fermentation if I take too many readings and expose it to the elements? I also have a stout with an O.G. at 1.118 its not even done with high krausen and I haven't touched it, should I hold off until its less active?


"Because life's to short to drink ****ty beer, and life's to ****ty to short yourself on beer." - A wise friend

 

[zach976]

I'm definitely not an expert but from my experience I wait until the krausen falls and most activity has stopped. Check it three days in a row for any change in FG.


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[m1batt1]

^ what he said. Also to answer your other question you won't hurt anything if you take samples during fermentation as long as you sanitize anything touching the wort/beer.

But as stated don't worry about checking gravity if you still have visible activity. Just let it sit until finished.

 

[MindenMan]

1.020 and bubbles? The ferment isn't finished, and if you bottled and primed now, you would have bottle bombs. I learned the hard way about bottling too soon. Boom, boom, boom, you get the idea.

 

[AnOldUR]

If a 1.046 OG ale isn't finished in a week, you have other issues that need to be addressed. Most likely pitch rate and/or fermentation temperatures.

 

[crbice]

If a 1.046 OG ale isn't finished in a week, you have other issues that need to be addressed. Most likely pitch rate and/or fermentation temperatures.

What kind of issues? I used one vile of white labs Irish. I pitched it into some starter wort and continually swirled it during the brew day. We decided last minute to brew so I didn't have time to build a proper starter. The temperature is on average middle 60's.


"Because life's to short to drink ****ty beer, and life's to ****ty to short yourself on beer." - A wise friend

 

[AnOldUR]

Really depends on the age of the vial and how it was handled up until you pitched, but there's a good chance that the cell count was low. As long as it didn't drop as the fermentation slowed, your temperature sounds good.

There's also wort fermentability. Extract or AG?

 

[crbice]

It was an all grain, hit all of our numbers well. I'm going to take a look at it tomorrow (the carboy is located at a friends) and see where the gravity is at. I have a zombie dust clone that I have been itching to get done and need this carboy


"Because life's to short to drink ****ty beer, and life's to ****ty to short yourself on beer." - A wise friend