How do you take a gravity reading? infect your brew much?

Williams 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
George MacDonald

George MacDonald

Member
Joined
Dec 2, 2018
Messages
20
Reaction score
9
I have been wondering how other home brewers extract gravity samples without infecting the primary vessel's carbon blanket and aerating the wort...

I basically run a sample from the tap since I ferment in a bottling vessel with a tap. I guess I need new fermenters since I am dealing with my first infection... still... I am wondering if my gravity reading methodology is not way too ignorant as to cause my infections...?

as I run sample into my hydrometer, air bubbles up through the wort and may infect the brew....

so... HOW do you take a gravity reading without compromising your sanitation protocol?
please advise.

I would like to avoid this in future...
2b313540-a940-4c74-9829-13f743981c5e (1).jpg
 
99% of the time, I ferment in a carboy. Prior to owning a tilt hydrometer, I would use a turkey baster to pull a sample. I would make sure it was washed and sanitized. I'd usually let the baster sit in the sanitizer for 5 minutes or so while I get everything else ready. I would gently pull the rubber bung out, slide the turkey baster in (already compressed, as to not blow bubbles into the beer), let the baster suck up the beer, pull out and empty into the hydro jar. It usually takes about 2 turkey baster fulls to fill the hydro jar.

If you have a spigot on the bottom of your fermenter, it shouldn't blow bubbles up into the beer when you open it. Perhaps it's not on tight enough?

And yes, if that's a plastic fermenter, I'd replace it. No sense in risking future batches.
 
A
christyle said:
Get yourself a wine thief. I've never gotten an infection from sampling via a marginally sanitized wine thief, even one i also have used for sampling sours. I'm thinking it was something else in your process.
Click to expand...
AAAAAAAAAAAAWW!!!!!!!!! Wow man that is so cool!!! it is like a big syringe! Ok I have never seen anything like that at my local brew suppliers so I will enquire if they could order some in. FANTASTIC Christyle!! thank you so much man. This will make a world of difference... I think I can start fermenting in sealed buckets with this device!
 
Rob2010SS said:
99% of the time, I ferment in a carboy. Prior to owning a tilt hydrometer, I would use a turkey baster to pull a sample. I would make sure it was washed and sanitized. I'd usually let the baster sit in the sanitizer for 5 minutes or so while I get everything else ready. I would gently pull the rubber bung out, slide the turkey baster in (already compressed, as to not blow bubbles into the beer), let the baster suck up the beer, pull out and empty into the hydro jar. It usually takes about 2 turkey baster fulls to fill the hydro jar.

If you have a spigot on the bottom of your fermenter, it shouldn't blow bubbles up into the beer when you open it. Perhaps it's not on tight enough?

And yes, if that's a plastic fermenter, I'd replace it. No sense in risking future batches.
Click to expand...
well I brew in Buckets because most of the southern world does... it is cost effective and risky but it works mostly... I suppose I was a bit sloppy with my hygiene and **** got dirty on me real quick but I am all for trying better (and possibly also affordable and available) means of doing the beer juggle... I love the brew and much like smoking a pipe and owning and collecting briar pipes, making and fermenting beer is a real skill and a niche project...

Thank you for your input... I have had a look at rubber pipette bulbs and I think that could be the answer if i can get a big enough rubber bulb to extract the amount required for my hydrometer readings... i will mission to get one big enough to do what I need done in a sterile fashion....
 
fwiw, I ferment in 6.5g glass and on the odd occasion I want to know what the current gravity is I tilt the carboy out of the fridge far enough to sip a half milliliter or so with a sanitized transfer pipette, then put a few drops on my refractometer and bang the result against a compensation calculator...

il_570xN.1538660116_qnea.jpg


Cheers!
 
day_trippr said:
fwiw, I ferment in 6.5g glass and on the odd occasion I want to know what the current gravity is I tilt the carboy out of the fridge far enough to sip a half milliliter or so with a sanitized transfer pipette, then put a few drops on my refractometer and bang the result against a compensation calculator...

il_570xN.1538660116_qnea.jpg


Cheers!
Click to expand...
refracto meter, tilting fermenters and banging.... sounds like porn to me bro...
 
Brewsncrabs said:
Based on what you state, I doubt the infection came from your sampling.
Click to expand...
So you reckon I was just being deliberately careless(of course I was... of course I would never admit to having been careless!!) JUST to see what kind of infection I can riley up!?..... well maybe you have a point... sometimes you have to embrace what you fear in order to understand it a bit better... I guess I am intrigued... and indeed I am... no beer from this batch perhaps but indeed a lesson learnt in aid of the community... r&d money... and someone has to foot the bill!

I guess due to my curiosity it has unfortunately come about...
i suppose i was trying to see how lazy I can be without losing all my beer.....
well at this point I have to admit I may have lost at least half...
 
I ferment in plastic buckets usually. I use a (new) turkey baster for taking samples.

Sanitize it, pull the sample, and close the lid. That's about it for the process. I try not to bump or jostle or otherwise increase contact with the air in the room, but it's pretty easy to just take the sample and then put the lid back on.

I haven't had a contamination issue, but I don't leave the beer in a fermenter with a wide headspace for all that long. I do make tons of wine in carboys, and I've never had a problem with those long term in getting an infection, but they have very little headspace in the carboys.
 
Beer Troll asking. How have you been doing cleaning with your equipment before , during and after brewing?.. it is your Brew House . sorry for the infection..dump it and learn to keep it clean
 
I used to use a turkey baster to pull a sample after racking....then I got smart.
While transferring to primary I just fill the sample tube with the auto siphon hose....One less piece of equipment to worry about introducing an infection.

I almost never check FG in the primary. If I got good fermentation I always hit Target FG
I transfer to keg and pull a sample tube from the tap before its carbed...no more turkey baster
 
Sanitize everything well. Turkey baster, small bowl, and hands.

Clean baster well (no dish soap)
Fill bowl with sanitized water
Sanitize baster
Fill baster with sanitizer water
Sanitize hands
Remove blow off tube
Empty baster back into bowl
Don’t blow air back into beer with baster
Fill baster with “beer”
Fill hydrometer container
Replace blow off tube with sanitized airlock
Gravity reading
Drinking

RPh_guy is right. It’s always risky but yes if you are bottling for sure take
 
Last edited:
George MacDonald said:
So you reckon I was just being deliberately careless(of course I was... of course I would never admit to having been careless!!) JUST to see what kind of infection I can riley up!?..... well maybe you have a point... sometimes you have to embrace what you fear in order to understand it a bit better... I guess I am intrigued... and indeed I am... no beer from this batch perhaps but indeed a lesson learnt in aid of the community... r&d money... and someone has to foot the bill!

I guess due to my curiosity it has unfortunately come about...
i suppose i was trying to see how lazy I can be without losing all my beer.....
well at this point I have to admit I may have lost at least half...
Click to expand...
Beer troll saying brave of you to post here,,,you will be roasted...yup
 
RPh_Guy said:
Uh, does the beer taste bad?
Click to expand...
well... I dont think it has a bad taste really... perhaps not what i was aiming for butI guess if it clears it should be drinkable at this stage... maybe I will rack to secondary for a week... if it tastes bad after that I will probably let it rest for a month and see then...
 
4of7 said:
Beer troll saying brave of you to post here,,,you will be roasted...yup
Click to expand...
as I realise now... there are no real shortcuts to proper sanitation and the fermentation process without the risks involved with any sort of fermentation... Things that rot can easily go off...
 
George MacDonald said:
well... I dont think it has a bad taste really... perhaps not what i was aiming for butI guess if it clears it should be drinkable at this stage... maybe I will rack to secondary for a week... if it tastes bad after that I will probably let it rest for a month and see then...
Click to expand...
I would not recommend secondary. Adding oxygen can only make beer worse.
 
George MacDonald said:
as I realise now... there are no real shortcuts to proper sanitation and the fermentation process without the risks involved with any sort of fermentation... Things that rot can easily go off...
Click to expand...
Beer Troll asking what is your fermentation vessel and going forward how are you planning on cleaning ? If this is your first few batches and it just happened...opps .. I like to watch the carboys myself when I started.
 
George MacDonald said:
as I realise now... there are no real shortcuts to proper sanitation and the fermentation process without the risks involved with any sort of fermentation... Things that rot can easily go off...
Click to expand...
I clean with oxy.free. rinse,rinse and starsan. I will do that before and after each brewday..stay strong and Brew on
 
My new Anvil fermenters have a racking arm an valve for samples I love it but prior I used a thief and never had issues from taking samples anyway
 
Before anything touches wort or beer, clean it well then sanitize. After use just clean it. Any sanitizing done then is just a waste of time since during storage it will no longer be sanitized.
 
Always amazed at how many people suggest dump it as a knee jerk reaction. My .02 is this. If you have the time, space etc hang onto this beer. It may turn into something good. It can also be used to blend future sour beers. Just do some research.

Do you keg? You said it tastes good, just not optimal. You could pasteurize this, killing the infection and preventing it from becoming worse. Then keg and force carb. Is it optimal? No. Will it get you beer? Yes.

Its worth a shot IMHO
 
When I (rarely) want to take a gravity sample from the primary - I usually just sanitize my hydrometer and drop it in the bucket. Doesn't work well if the krausen's not dropped yet, of course.

More often, I just let things ride for at least two weeks, then pull a sample as I'm transferring to my keg directly from the auto-siphon. I usually let the keg fill about half way or so, then fill my sample jar (careful to not cause too many air bubbles in the keg), then return it back to top-off the keg. And of course, drink the sample after the measurement's taken.

If I find the beer (now in the keg) has not achieved my desired FG, then seal the keg, keep it at room temp, and let er ride a little longer.

Regards,

Mark
 
RPh_Guy said:
For brewers that bottle, this is an unsafe generalization. Some very common yeasts like S-04 can easily flocculate and stall before reaching FG, even after fermenting like crazy.
Click to expand...
That's why I always do a fast ferment test: http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php/Fast_Ferment_Test

This way, I typically need to only take one gravity reading, on bottling day. I let my beer sit until all signs of fermentation are gone (and the some, depending when I find the time to bottle). Then I take a gravity sample from the spigot, confirm that gravity is the same as what I got from my fast ferment test, and bottle. I don't have to sanitize anything in this case to take my gravity reading.

Should, for some reason, I not get the gravity reading I expect, I siphon the beer into my (already sanitized) bottling bucked as I would have to do anyway, and it gets extended secondary time there. I use Speidels both for bottling and fermentation, so next time around the primary fermenter becomes my bottling bucket.
 
ApolloSimcoe said:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/easy-stove-top-pasteurizing-with-pics.193295/
Click to expand...
Right, that's pasteurizing after it's bottled and naturally carbonated.
Not something I personally would recommend, especially in this case because of:
Explosion risk (possibly higher).
Unknown number of PUs needed.
Possible negative affect on beer quality from heating.
Fresh sugar, oxygen, and warmth are still provided to the contaminants for however long it takes to carbonate.

Pasteurizing results in a logarithmic reduction in microbe population, but doesn't necessarily eliminate all viable microbes. For example, pasteurized milk still goes sour over time because of bacteria.
 
NitrogenWidget said:
I use a coffee cup, spritzed with sanitizer and just scoop the beer out of the bucket.
Never had a problem.
Click to expand...

Same here. And have the lid open for the shortest possible time. I don't take multiple samples during fermentation to check progress, since it lets some air in. One sample two days before bottling and another on bottling day.
 
I only test gravity when I package. I generally ferment for three weeks, take a sample using a sanitized measuring cup when I open the fermenter. If it's high I close it and warm a couple of days.
 
thank you everyone for the very useful and practical feedback. I think I should go and look if I can buy a wine theif...
 
I ferment in SS BrewTech stainless buckets and take samples from the valve. I use my refractometer and the Brewer's Friend calculator to figure out the SG.
 
Up till now, I've used my hydrometer. I don't like wasting that much on the sampling jar, so I sanitize the hydrometer and gently spin it to get the reading. I do the same to get FG, and leave it in there until I bottle a couple days later.
I've never had an infection I can trace to this. I've only had a couple infections, and I could easily trace where they came from.
I just got a refractometer, so I'll be just using a couple drops from here on out.
 
Last edited:

Similar threads

luckybeagle
Infected? Or just WY1318 London Ale III doing its thing?
Replies
11
Views
1K
sibelman
sibelman
S
To aerate a 2nd time for OG 1.088
Replies
14
Views
650
mac_1103
mac_1103
T
Acetobacter recurring infections
Replies
7
Views
713
Tancred the Brewer
T
Langerz
"Odd" Fermentation Gravity Change
Replies
6
Views
482
hotbeer
hotbeer
P
Taking FG reading
Replies
14
Views
810
Clint Yeastwood
Clint Yeastwood

Latest posts

Back
Top