advise on hydrometer/ fermenting

[cask is best]

I have a slight problem. My Wife bought me a starter kit to get me up and running again. In the kit is a hydrometer. I had one many years ago made of glass with a glass tube to check the gravity. This starter kit hydrometer is cheap plastic with a cheap plastic tube which is impossible to check a reading as it is not see through. So to check a reading i put a sample into a tall glass but my hydrometer just sat on the bottom of the glass. Would it be okay if i placed the hydrometer in the fermenting bucket and tried to take a reading from there.

My second concern is my beer has been in the fermenting bucket for 9 days now and although it started off with noticeable bubbles rising now you have to look closely and they are tiny bubbles still rising. Granted the room it is in may sometimes drop to around 15c when the house is empty but on the night when the heating is on it will be up to around 20/22c. I know or think the low temperature will make my beer take longer to ferment but will it stop fermenting altogether or spoil it.

At the moment i have not got a heat belt for the bucket and leaving the heating on all day is obviously out of the question. Any hints or words of advice gratefully received.

:

 

[TheMumbler]

Firstly you are probably done fermenting after 9 days. The small bubbles you are seeing are most likely carbon dioxide from fermentation. However taking a reading is really the only way to be sure.

I take it the glass was as full as you could get it? You can take a reading in the bucket but it can be hard to get a good reading as there is often foam on the top which always gets attracted to the hydro and carbon dioxide bubbles in the beer may give the hydro some artificial lift. If you do go down this route don't forget to sterilise the hydro before placing it carefully in the bucket.

If I were you I would invest in a trial jar (mine is a cheap plastic job that cost a couple of quid), that way you can give the wort in the trial jar a good stir to get the CO2 out without oxidising a whole bucket full. Plus you don't have to worry about sterilising the thermometer and hydro. I use a sanitised turkey baster to draw the wort from the bucket. Then drink the wort to see how the beer is developing and to prevent yourself doing anything silly like pouring it back in the FV.

 

[cask is best]

Thanks for the advice The Mumbler. The bubbles did remind me off carbon dioxide very small like bubbles in your beer glass.

Yes the glass was as full as i could get it but there is no foam in the bucket[ is this a problem] yet there was in the glass.

Good idea about a trial jar. I will. I did send the wife out and she got me a turkey baster i drew it out and drank what was in the glass and to be honest it was not bad. I did use to pour the wort back years ago :whistle:

Thanks again.

 

[TheMumbler]

Yes the glass was as full as i could get it but there is no foam in the bucket[ is this a problem] yet there was in the glass.

I doubt the lack of froth in the bucket is a problem, probably just another sign that fermentation has stopped (or at least slowed right down). I think that the froth in the glass was probably caused by agitation releasing CO2 out of suspension when you transferred the wort, like when you pour from a bottle. I generally give the sample jar a good swirl and then either try and scoop the froth out with my finger if I'm in a rush or just leave for a while to die down before taking the reading.

 

[medlington]

I've just been dropping the hydrometer straight into the FV, I've not got a tap on my FV so would have to sterilise the trial jar anyway, also I dont loose any beer