solubles and specific gravity

[breweRN]

I was thinking. Do any other solubles (grain particles, proteins, hop particles, etc.) affect the specific gravity in addition to the sugars? If so, once they drop out of suspension, could that give an inaccurate FG compared to the initial OG where these particles were in suspension?

 

[beergynt]

From what I understand, all that stuff should displace and not throw off your reading...

 

[MalFet]

Grain particles, hop particles, and large proteins aren't soluble in water. Likewise, they won't generally affect a hydrometer, unless the water is truly mucky.

 

[microbusbrewery]

Those are in suspension (a mixture), but they're not dissolved in solution. They'll settle out over time and they don't impact specific gravity which is a measurement of the density of a liquid. That's assuming your hydrometer is free floating and not resting on sediment. For example, if you filled a test jar with distilled water your gravity would be 1.000. If you added a bunch of glass beads to the bottom of your test jar, the gravity is still going to measure 1.000.