taking a gravity reading?

[singleshotbuff]

Gentlemen,

My first batch has been in the fermenter since sunday, my fermenter is a 6gal bucket with a spigot, lid and airlock. Ii is still bubbling in the airlock, althought it has slowed quite a bit. I was just curious, would it be ok to take some of the beer out through the spigot to take a gravity reading? If so, anything I should watch out for? Noob question of course.

Thanks

SSB

 

[Orfy]

If you drain from the spigot it will draw air in throught the air lock and take in the water or what ever you have in the air lock!!!!

I guess if you want to do it that way, break the seal on the lid (or remove the airlock). The air that gets in shouldn't get past the CO2 on top of the beer.

That's my way of looking at it anyway.

 

[Walker]

good call, orfy. just pop the airlock out, draw the sample from the spigot, and then put the airlock back in. should be OK.

-walker

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

My suggestion would be don't do this. Reason being that you will get some beer residue in your tap which could get infected and then be transferred to your beer later. You can either use a thief/turkey baster to extract some from the top and test your gravity in a tube, or what I do is just take a gravity reading straight from the bucket with my sanitized hydrometer.

 

[david_42]

I pull the airlock and sample through the tap. Before I transfer to the keg/secondary, I'll clean the tap. A nipple brush works very well. [as in baby bottle nipple brush]

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

You can also take a spray bottle and fill it with sanitizer (bleach for me) and spray the spigot with it after you've cleaned it with a brush. I just let the bleach water air dry after that.

 

[singleshotbuff]

Thanks for all the replies gentlemen.

I think I'll do the baster idea.

SSB

 

[singleshotbuff]

Ok, took a reading, used a turkey baster. If I did it right I got 1.018 (corrected for temp). Is this anywhere near correct for a batch that was born on Sunday? Just curious.

I also couldn't resist "sampling" my sample. Other than being dead flat, and having a slightly medicine smell/taste, it wasn't too horrible. I was surprised. As a matter of fact, I poured it into a glass and set it on the counter next to the Dos Equis I was drinking tonight (also in a glass), the color was almost identical. So far, so good.

Sorry to ramble, just happy with my results so far.

SSB

 

[DeRoux's Broux]

pretty cool hu? just practice patience! it's tuff, but we all struggle with it!
keep us posted.

 

[singleshotbuff]

Thanks DeRoux,

Have to correct above post. Reading was 1.018, when correct to temp it is 1.021. Sound right??

SSB

 

[DeRoux's Broux]

sounds right. i'd let it sit for another day or two. i don't even check my SG anymore. i use a 6.5 g glass carboy for primary so i can see the activity, and let it sit a day or two after it's finished, then rack to secondary for conditioning and clearing.

what's the brew?

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

Yeah, what brew? And what was the OG? And what yeast?