help for a beginner please!!!

[gatekeeper522]

A very silly question follows this....
i have brewed 4 or 5 kits now by the basic method of cleaning everything...throwing it together, waiting abit till it stops bubbling....bottle it then in a week or two enjoy. untill now it as been lovely beer....someone now tells me it would be even better using a hydrometer. Now for the daft questions...What do i do with it...clean ansews only pleze :lol: Do i leave it floating take it out....i have a 40 pt geordie bitter in the tub at the minuete...what sort of numbers should i look for to get an even better pint....hoping for help!!! thanks ANDY

 

[Wez]

Welcome to the forum :thumb:

I'm not sure that a hydrometer will help you make better beer, what it will do is let you know how your fermentation is progressing and by taking an OG (original gravity) reading and a FG (final gravity) reading it will allow you to calculate the %abv of the beer.

This BrewFAQ may be helpful

brewingfaq.php#f11

I'd take a reading just before you pitch the yeast (the OG reading) then once the main yeast head has died down after a day or two drop in the sterilised hydrometer and leave it there - you can keep an eye on the SG (specific gravity) of the beer then. Typically you should aim for the beer dropping by 70% during fermentation, meaning that if your OG is 1.050 you would want to achieve a FG of 70% less than that, which is 1.015.

Hope that all makes sense :thumb:

 

[gatekeeper522]

thanks wez
It makes alot of sence, apart from the bit where og is 1.050 then 70% of that is 1.015...is it??? or am i just thick :wha: and how do you calculate the abv?
thanks andy

 

[Wez]

No not thick, it's not obvious.

yeast will reduce a wort's gravity by a certain amount, my belief is that kit's & their yeast reduce a wort by 70% of it's original gravity..So if your original gravity is 1.050 (drop the 1.0 bit to make it easier) so 50 70% of 50 is 35. So, fermentation is over when the gravity has dropped by 35 gravity points, 50 - 35 is 15 so add back in the confusing bit and you have 1.015.

To calculate abv we have an easy to use ABV calculator on the forum:

calculators.php

or you could just divide the gravity points dropped by 7.45 which will be there, or there abouts.

e.g. 35 points dropped 35/7.45 = 4.69 (4.7% abv)

hows that?

 

[gatekeeper522]

Brilliant wez, i get the jist now mate..thanks!!!!
Im sure it will come alot easier to me now im on here with people like you about, i will let you know how i get on thanks again
Andy...

 

[Wez]

Great, enjoy the forum :thumb:

 

[tubby_shaw]

As well as the great hydrometer advice from Wez
There are some other things that you can do to get the most from your beer kits, take a look here http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3216 :thumb: