Open the lid to your bucket and where do you put it??

[crazyworld]

It's a silly thing really ...

But when you open the lid to your bucket (assuming you use buckets), where do you put them? Do you guys sanitize the table, just plop em down or what? If I'm being good, I'll take the lid off, pull out the airlock, sanitize it, flip the lid upside down and put it back in the grommet from the other direction temporarily while I draw a sample with a turkey baster then put it all back how it was. If I'm feeling risky I do that stupid balancing act we all know.

I'm asking because I had a post-it note on the lid that fell off into my beer before taking a hydrometer reading. I have a thief which is a one hand operation deal (beyond me why I didn't use it). Not too worried about it but we'll just have to wait and see.

 

[Mojzis]

It's a silly thing really ...

But when you open the lid to your bucket (assuming you use buckets), where do you put them? Do you guys sanitize the table, just plop em down or what? If I'm being good, I'll take the lid off, pull out the airlock, sanitize it, flip the lid upside down and put it back in the grommet from the other direction temporarily while I draw a sample with a turkey baster then put it all back how it was. If I'm feeling risky I do that stupid balancing act we all know.

I'm asking because I had a post-it note on the lid that fell off into my beer before taking a hydrometer reading. I have a thief which is a one hand operation deal (beyond me why I didn't use it). Not too worried about it but we'll just have to wait and see.

You don't have to go overboard . I always think about how they used to brew back in the day...no sanitizer at all. I try to keep things sanitized that really matter. A sticky note or a lid..i'd bet won't matter at all.

If you're worried about the lid...I would go to your local store, buy a 1$ spray bottle and fill it with the recommended star san and water solution (what I did). Spray the table....that easy. Spray anything that touches. That's what I do.

Hope this helps.

 

[crazyworld]

Oh I gots the spray bottle. Best thing since sliced bread with regards to sanitation.

 

[Mojzis]

So if you're worried, spray everything. Can't hurt. Might tire your fingers out though.

 

[tommybjr]

Easy answer; don't take the lid off until you are ready to rack the beer. At that point it doesn't matter what the lid touches.

 

[crazyworld]

So if you're worried, spray everything. Can't hurt. Might tire your fingers out though.

I've actually already ruined the pump on one of my sprayers. No joke.

Easy answer; don't take the lid off until you are ready to rack the beer. At that point it doesn't matter what the lid touches.

It's very difficult to take a hydrometer reading with the lid on.

 

[philjohnwilliams]

I usually just draw my samples through the airlock hole. Pop airlock out with left hand and don't put it down, draw sample with thief in right hand, empty thief into hydrometer flask sitting on the still in place bucket lid, replace airlock. Total time, about 30 seconds.

 

[tommybjr]

Leave it for 3 weeks, take a reading when you rack it. I don't open the bucket for at least 3 weeks. No sense taking gravity readings until its done.

 

[helibrewer]

I place my airlock in a measuring cup with some StarSan in it, or just float it in the big StarSan bucket I always have around....then thief the beer through the hole in the lid. This works if you use stoppers and have a large hole, if you use grommets your airlock hole is probably too small to thief through.

 

[Braufessor]

Leave it for 3 weeks, take a reading when you rack it. I don't open the bucket for at least 3 weeks. No sense taking gravity readings until its done.

This.

Same here - Personally, never really understood taking multiple gravity readings. I would say 50% of the time I take a gravity reading when I am bottling or kegging (after 3 weeks in primary). The other 50% of the time I don't bother, or forget to take it.

The only time I open the lid is when I need to dry hop - and then I just open it far enough to get the hops in, so it never comes off. I don't even take it off when I am moving to keg or bottling bucket (I use bottling buckets for fermenters so I drain through spigot) - I just take airlock out.

 

[ajlee]

From what I read here it sounds like I'm becoming the minority, but I always use a secondary. It's easy to hold a carboy bung in one hand and the thief in the other. Some people use carboys for the primary, but that may be kind of an expensive fix to a small problem.

 

[DoctorMemory]

It's very difficult to take a hydrometer reading with the lid on.

That's what I used to think, before I got a brainwave. I took an old decorative piggy bank we had cluttering up the place, pulled the rubber "stopper" out of the bottom, then drilled a hole in the lid of my fermenting bucket the same size. Now when I want to take a gravity reading I just pop the stopper, dip the thief, then (carefully) put the stopper back in. Works a treat!

Tell the Nobel prize committee I'll be waiting at the bar... :cross: