Hydrometer going all the way to .999 or less

[tnshurtm]

I just came down in the basement to siphon my Midwest Supplies SNPA clone into the keg after 17 days of fermentation. I figured it should be good to go now. I normally wait three weeks for it to ferment before kegging, but I want my weekend to be free to brew another batch.

I was going through and sanatizing everything and then I heard a bubble from the blow off tube....weird, I thought. The recipe says to leafe it for two weeks total.

I figured I would take a hydrometer reading like a good boy and see if I am at the final gravity that it says it should be (1.010-1.012) I didn't want to take it three days in a row and figured that since it is a kit, it is hard to miss.

Well, I just dropped the hydrometer into my tube (yes, I am using the tube it came in) and it sunk all the way to the top of the paper. I pushed it down, and it came back up to the same spot. I spun it, again and again, and it is always ending up at the end of the paper (off the chart)

What should I do? I can certianly wait, but don't know how to take the hydrometer reading....

Thanks,

Marc

 

[Yooper]

The first thing I'd do is double check the hydrometer's accuracy by measuring water. It should read 1.000 in distilled water, close to that in tap water. Sometimes those papers slip down.

If the beer is actually at .999, I'd be concerned that an infection took hold, like lactobacillus since ale yeast doesn't ferment as much as lacto does. How does the beer taste?

 

[tnshurtm]

I think you are right. With tap water, it is even higher off the paper. It tasted good. A little bitter, but it is a green SNPA.

Any tricks of the trade to "re-calibrate" my hydrometer...i.e. tap it until the paper is where it reads 1.000 when measuring water????

Thanks,

Marc

 

[tnshurtm]

...just spent the last 15 minutes tapping the hell out of my hydrometer and got the paper back up to where it was supposed to be. As I did it, I could see a line (of dust or something inside the glass where the paper used to be)

Now, the blob of red stuff and BBs are about a half inch off the bottom of the glass...BUT, I tested with water and got 1.000 and now my beer says 1.010-1.013.

Thank you for your help Yooper!!!! (my Chevy Shook a ****)

 

[Yooper]

I think you are right. With tap water, it is even higher off the paper. It tasted good. A little bitter, but it is a green SNPA.

Any tricks of the trade to "re-calibrate" my hydrometer...i.e. tap it until the paper is where it reads 1.000 when measuring water????

Thanks,

Marc

I just bought a new hydrometer when that happened to me, but I'm glad you were able to fix yours! I always have a couple of hydrometers on hand, because it seems like I break them at the most inopportune times. But one is always .004 off- I just have to remember which one!