When to measure OG?

[jdphillips73]

I was under the impression that you should measure original gravity after you boil your wart and it cools down. Is this the correct time to measure? If not, when is the correct time?

 

[pointcity-homebrew]

You got it.

Of course you want to make sure you are working with the correct volume.

Also make sure your hydrometer is calibrated, mine was a few points low initially.

 

[TallahasseeBrew]

That's when I measure it, right before I pitch yeast, or sometimes right after when I forget. But yeah when it's cooled, and at the correct volume is certainly ideal

 

[RM-MN]

if you are brewing with extract and you get a reading that is wildly off what you expect, don't blame the hydrometer or the kit maker. Most often it will be a batch where you use top off water and it didn't mix as well as you thought. The reading could be spot on or really low or high.

 

[jdphillips73]

what do you mean at the "correct volume"

sorry, im new to this.

by the way this was a all-grain Brew in bag recipe.

 

[RM-MN]

what do you mean at the "correct volume"

sorry, im new to this.

by the way this was a all-grain Brew in bag recipe.

Thanks for the extra info. I'll usually take a reading before the boil starts just to see how close I came to my projected pre boil gravity but I have a refractometer that makes it simple to take that reading. By doing so I could add some DME to the boil if I were lower than expected or water if the OG was too high. Otherwise, I take the OG when the beer goes into the fermenter.

The "correct volume" is what you expect to put into the fermenter. If you are doing a 5 gallon batch, then the usual is to put 5.25 into the fermenter to account for the loss due to trub.