Hydrometer broke - first batch

[DonnyBenét]

Hey guys.

Brewed my first batch Sunday and after I cooled down my wort, I took a sample in my hydrometer tube. However, when I went back to get my hydrometer, it was broken

That means I couldn't measure the OG. Now, I know that I can't rely on final gravity to know when fermentation will be over...

What should I do now?

Thanks

 

[magno]

You can still rely on FG to tell when fermentation is over. If you take gravity readings over a period of a few days, and they haven't changed, fermentation is over.

You just won't be able to know for sure what your ABV is, or your mash efficiency (if doing all grain).

No biggie. RDWHHB

 

[jleiii]

Save your OG sample (unless it's too late), seal it and refrigerate it. That would keep it from doing anything spontaneous till you can get another hydrometer, or borrow one.

And when you get one, buy 2. As soon as I bought a backup, I've not broken another. Pbly 3 yrs now.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Northern Brewer is offering a plastic hydrometer now. I've broken a number of the glass ones over the years, so I'm considering the plastic one.

 

[DonnyBenét]

second question: I haven't seen any air bubbling in my airlock. I tried pressing on the lid and I can feel some air expelling from the airlock. Everything is tightened correctly... I opened the lid two days ago and it had a white-browning foam.

This morning, I opened it, and it was brown sludge. It didn't really thicken.. I am starting to wonder if everything is going fine or not... lol

 

[jtratcliff]

It'll be OK.... air lock activity is not a measure of fermentation...

Let the wee yeasties do their thing unmolested...

If you have foam (Krausen), you have fermentation. Wait another week or two. In the mean time get a new hydrometer. After a couple weeks, pull a sample to measure gravity. Wait a day or two, then do it again. If both readings are the same and near where you expect them to be (+/- 5 gravity points or so), then fermentation is complete. Bottle or keg.

Edit to add:

You are not alone: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=148083

 

[DonnyBenét]

It'll be OK.... air lock activity is not a measure of fermentation...

Let the wee yeasties do their thing unmolested...

If you have foam (Krausen), you have fermentation. Wait another week or two. In the mean time get a new hydrometer. After a couple weeks, pull a sample to measure garvity. Wait a day or two, then do it again. If both readings are the same and near where you expect them to be (+/- 5 gravity points or so), then fermentation is complete. Bottle or keg.

Thank you very much for your suggestion. I will surely do that! I am one of those extremely anxious guys, and I am scared I messed it all up lol!

I can't wait to try it though, because i'm really hooked to the whole process!

 

[jtratcliff]

] I am scared I messed it all up lol!

So were we all in the beginning

Remember the mantra: RDWHAHB

 

[balrog]

Relax. Seriously. Go for a walk for 3 weeks and come back. It'll be beer.

If you're a total data-phile like me, you can (during your 3 week walk) get Amazon to send you a refractometer and hydrometer, and measure the finished product using both tools to find the original gravity of the beer. It's not perfect, but if you really Really REALLY have gots to know, it's a method.

 

[RM-MN]

Hey guys.

Brewed my first batch Sunday and after I cooled down my wort, I took a sample in my hydrometer tube. However, when I went back to get my hydrometer, it was broken

That means I couldn't measure the OG. Now, I know that I can't rely on final gravity to know when fermentation will be over...

What should I do now?

Thanks

If this was a kit beer with extract the broken hydrometer might be the best thing that happened to you. Extract kits will have the expected OG listed (usually anyway) and you can count on yours being very near that if you measured the water accurately. Often the initial reading on an extract kit is wrong because the extract wort is so dense it doesn't mix well and then the hydrometer reading is off and new brewers worry about that.

Go buy 2 hydrometers, one to use and one for a spare. Since I did this I haven't broken one so I still have a spare five years later.

 

[tmendick]

Northern Brewer is offering a plastic hydrometer now. I've broken a number of the glass ones over the years, so I'm considering the plastic one.

Don't waste your money, I bought one and it was about 6 points off from my other hydrometer. I could deal with that, because it was consistently off by 6 but after about 3 months of use I realized that it was 2 pieces that were "glued" together. I found this out by dropping the hydrometer in the tube and it sinking all the way to the bottom, when I took it out there was a puddle of wort in the bottom of the hydrometer...so it went in the trash.

 

[balrog]

If this was a kit beer with extract the broken hydrometer might be the best thing that happened to you. Extract kits will have the expected OG listed (usually anyway) and you can count on yours being very near that if you measured the water accurately. Often the initial reading on an extract kit is wrong because the extract wort is so dense it doesn't mix well and then the hydrometer reading is off and new brewers worry about that.

Go buy 2 hydrometers, one to use and one for a spare. Since I did this I haven't broken one so I still have a spare five years later.

+1
And I further suggest that one of them be the expanded scale/limited range type. They go 1.000-1.040 or 1.000-1.100, for instance, but they are *SO* much easier to read.