40watt said:Yeah, what about big beers that start and stall repeatedly over a course of a month or two. I'm also not interested in bottle bombs. It's not as if taking a reading is some big inconvenience.
Unless you have an insanely big beer a month long primary is a pretty good guarantee of not having a bottle bomb. I just wait until everything is brilliantly crystal and the yeast cake is solid, usually about a month.
Plus even with my big beers I don't worry that much. Good aeration and healthy pitching rates are a good way to make sure the fermentation doesn't start and stall repeatedly.
I take readings so that when I make something great, I know how to reproduce it later on.
40watt said:Luck runs out. We have twelve threads a day on here talking about "my krausen looks like..." or "my wort's not bubbling". Who cares what it looks like. Take a reading, and handle your business.
I'm not meticulous or particularly organized, but anything worth doing, is worth doing right. If I let an average sized beer sit for over a month, yeah it's probably done. If there is any question, a gravity reading will allow you to be sure. It feels good to be sure.
I think it's pretty insulting for you to insinuate that I'm not "doing it right" just because I don't obsess over gravity readings. Good finished product is good finished product whether you measured or not. Everyone has their own brewing style, that doesn't make one style right or wrong. To you it may seem laxadasical, but for me it works.
Furthermore "not bubbling" or dropped krausen is a far cry different from crystal clear beer with a compact yeast cake.
Also after almost 9 years of brewing.... I like to think that I have my system down pretty well.
40watt said:Nah. You're taking a general statement to be an insult to you.
If your system is dialed in, you likely make better beer than I do. What I do know as someone who has less than two years in the hobby, is that the only way to approach it is to be sure of every part of the process you can.
Surely, you would agree, that would allow you to refine your process. That way one can achieve your level of confidence, by building on a solid foundation.
My only point in responding to this topic, is hoping folks will avoid advising new brewers that readings are no big deal...Which the OP did on the beginner forum.
Unless I'm brewing something of an insanely high OG and need to make sure it attenuates well, or brewing something for a competition I don't either. I've been brewing long enough and have my system dialed in well that I trust that I hit my numbers within a point or two. Plus I'm not one that's all that concerned with exact abv.
How do you know that the '2.8% Session IPA' in your signature line is a 2.8% session IPA if you're not taking starting and final gravities?
How do you know that the '2.8% Session IPA' in your signature line is a 2.8% session IPA if you're not taking starting and final gravities?
How do you know that the '2.8% Session IPA' in your signature line is a 2.8% session IPA if you're not taking starting and final gravities?
I've been a brewer for about 2 years and I never measure gravity, I keep an eye on temps, that's about it.
Though I made a extract beer and misread the fermatables and had some beer bombs lol
wonderbread23 said:How do you know that the '2.8% Session IPA' in your signature line is a 2.8% session IPA if you're not taking starting and final gravities?
jesus16x said:Its just my style to not take readings, it wouldn't be fun if I had to. That being said, I'm currently boiling a dark wheat beer made from 10lbs red wheat, 1lb caramel malt, 1lb chocolate malt, Saaz for 20 min, tettnang for 10, safale 04 yeast, I'm pretty excited, maybe I will take gravity readings, it's probably gonna be around 6.5 to 7% abv
This is my first attempt at an all grain beer
40watt said:I am wanting a refractometer before I go all grain. That way it will be easier to check my wort gravity before I commit.
This is my first attempt at an all grain beer
BOBrob said:Good luck. If I were you I would use the hydrometer; rather than guessing at the efficiency of the crush/system you are using. If you do not take OG & FG how do you get ABV? The formula has to be accurate to be correct, not a guesstament.
Well it is an estimate, through a beer caculater,
BOBrob said:That is why we use the tools available to us. Without the known figures, the (tool) calculator is just guessing. I can get any answer I want if I guess enough.
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