Wine Thief or Straight in the Bucket?

[mcmillb1]

My beer is on day 10 of primary fermentation in my plastic bucket - I was planning on taking a gravity reading tomorrow (day 11), followed by another reading in two days after that to see if it's done fermenting before moving to secondary in my carboy for two weeks.

Anyhoo, I bought a wine thief, and can absolutely see myself using it for measuring a sample of my secondary fermentation from the carboy (due to the container itself), but, for measuring my gravity tomorrow, why wouldn't I just sanitize my hydrometer and dip it directly into my bucket instead of worrying about taking a sample? If it's sanitized, it's not much different than sanitizing the wine thief (or sanitizing a mug to get a sample as other options have been suggested), right?

Just curious for other thoughts. Thanks!!

 

[rgarry]

It's harder to get a good read in a big bucket with hydrometer. Use a cylinder to see meniscus or thief to measure on refractometer

 

[mcmillb1]

It's harder to get a good read in a big bucket with hydrometer. Use a cylinder to see meniscus or thief to measure on refractometer

True...guess I would be all hunched over trying to get a good reading - much easier just getting up to a comfortable level.

+10 for using "meniscus", also.