For my first brew (which turned out amazingly well!) I completely forgot to take any OG readings, so I have no idea about its strength! With my second brew I took the reading and have noted it.
This time I sealed my [Wilko's] carboy properly with Vaseline and its been glooping away merrily (love the noise! :-D ), so I'll be able to tell a lot better when the fermentation has stopped.
So, bearing in mind that the carboy has its top firmly screwed on, nicely sealed with the little heater keeping the beer at a constant temperature I'm wondering two things:
1. Some people seem to talk about taking gravity readings a few times to be sure that it's settled down at a good value before bottling. There seems to be a trade off though against exposing the beer to the atmosphere and letting bacteria in. Is it a better thing to leave the whole thing sealed up for a few days after the glooping has stoppped and just take one reading to find its FG? Assuming the FG is sensible of course.
2. I have one of the little aroma hop teabags - a few grammes of Fuggles that it suggests putting in a day before bottling. Would it be best to just unscrew the lid pop the hops in and take the gravity reading the day after? Or good to take it before putting the hops in to ensure there really is only a day to go?
Thanks! Am loving reading through the posts, getting a feel for other people's experiences and problems, what a great site and community! :
This time I sealed my [Wilko's] carboy properly with Vaseline and its been glooping away merrily (love the noise! :-D ), so I'll be able to tell a lot better when the fermentation has stopped.
So, bearing in mind that the carboy has its top firmly screwed on, nicely sealed with the little heater keeping the beer at a constant temperature I'm wondering two things:
1. Some people seem to talk about taking gravity readings a few times to be sure that it's settled down at a good value before bottling. There seems to be a trade off though against exposing the beer to the atmosphere and letting bacteria in. Is it a better thing to leave the whole thing sealed up for a few days after the glooping has stoppped and just take one reading to find its FG? Assuming the FG is sensible of course.
2. I have one of the little aroma hop teabags - a few grammes of Fuggles that it suggests putting in a day before bottling. Would it be best to just unscrew the lid pop the hops in and take the gravity reading the day after? Or good to take it before putting the hops in to ensure there really is only a day to go?
Thanks! Am loving reading through the posts, getting a feel for other people's experiences and problems, what a great site and community! :
