Trub in hydro sample throwing reading off?

[nostalgia]

I've noticed the last few SG readings I've taken have been higher than expected. Today I realized that in an effort to not have to double-dip my wine thief I've been pressing it against the bottom of the carboy, of course sucking up a bunch of trub.

Now this will put a lot of stuff back in suspension and/or solution in the sample. Do you think it can artificially raise the hydrometer reading?

I was going to take a second sample today to test it out but decided to just leave it and test again in a week.

-Joe

 

[BigKahuna]

Nope.
Floaties won't make the liquid any "Thicker" than it is. They take up room, but don't actually have an effect on how dense the liquid is.
I suppose at some massive level (MUD), yes, but not in the quantity that you are talking about.

 

[TheFlatline]

Nope.
Floaties won't make the liquid any "Thicker" than it is. They take up room, but don't actually have an effect on how dense the liquid is.
I suppose at some massive level (MUD), yes, but not in the quantity that you are talking about.

+1 to this.

Stuff in solution will impact your SG readings. Stuff in suspension won't. You can take a sample at the height of fermentation and all the yeasties (what is it, like 150 million per cubic millimeter of beer?) won't do anything to your sample readings, and you'll have orders of magnitude more yeasties in suspension than a little bit of trub sucked into the thief.

 

[Donasay]

This is all of course assuming that you are not filling your testtube with like 50% trub and 50% wort....

 

[nostalgia]

This is all of course assuming that you are not filling your testtube with like 50% trub and 50% wort....

Heh, see that's what I'm wondering. I'm fairly certain I sucked up a *lot* of trub.

We'll see what the next reading is like. Thanks for the info,

-Joe

 

[TheFlatline]

Heh, see that's what I'm wondering. I'm fairly certain I sucked up a *lot* of trub.

We'll see what the next reading is like. Thanks for the info,

-Joe

If you've got 3 inches of pure trub in your sample, you have more pressing problems my friend.

 

[TwoHeadsBrewing]

Purely anecdotal, but for whatever reason I had a VERY bad day of sparging and my pre-boil sample had a veritable plethora of crap in it. That reading was 1.077...which I knew had to be WAY off since it was only a 11# grain bill on a 5 gallon batch. After the boil my sample read 1.065...and that one I am fairly certain is correct. I know the science about it isn't right, but that's my experience .